April 17, 2019 by mikeraggett

MEMORIAL MEMORIES

John Coltrane 50th Memorial Concert CD released

Coltrane poster In 1987 Alan Skidmore was honoured to be invited to play at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon at a John Coltrane memorial concert on the same bill as McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard and Elvin Jones who were regulars in Coltrane’s various groups. That concert celebrated his music 20 years after his death.

Then on 17 July 2017 Alan Skidmore joined the Paul Dunmall Sun Ship Quartet at Café Oto in Dalston, London in a special concert to commemorate on the day of the 50th anniversary of John Coltrane’s passing.

Cafe Oto

The evening was recorded and a CD featuring the performances from that evening has just been released on Mark Wastell’s Confront Recordings Core label. In addition to the Paul Dunmall and Alan Skidmore sets there is an opening piece from a newly formed trio of Danish flautist Julie Kjaer, Ståle Liavik Solberg a percussionist from Norway and Mark Wastell also on percussion. This trio also joins the Dunmall/Skidmore ensemble for a finale of Coltrane’s Ascension after all the songs from Sun Ship have been performed. This whole double CD set makes for a great listen and a fitting commemoration of Coltrane’s unique jazz legacy.

And on 17 July 2019 Alan will again return to Café Oto with his own quartet: Steve Melling at the piano, Andy Cleyndert on the double bass and Miles Levin at the drums with saxophonist Ed Jones making a special guest appearance. It will without doubt be another night to remember with the presence of John Coltrane inspiring the performances. You’d better book early.

November 8, 2018February 5, 2021 by mikeraggett

Sun Ship burns and fans the Flames

“It’s always nice to play a gig close to home,” said Alan Skidmore, “they are very rare and then like the buses, two come along at once.”

In his sixtieth year in the business, tenor saxophonist Alan Skidmore has travelled far and wide making his unique contribution to modern jazz music – Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Aylesbury, Huddersfield, Llandudno, London – and that’s just this year. Then in October he played twice at the Herts Jazz Festival 2018 in Letchworth all of half an hour’s drive from home. They were two gigs that showcased the amazing versatility of the veteran tenorist.

For the first gig he was the guest star with the Paul Dunmall Sun Ship Quartet which showcases the music of one of John Coltrane’s last albums, Sun Ship. This is post-bop jazz with fire and pace and fury from the classic Coltrane quartet in 1965 and it sounds as fresh, vibrant and spiritual today in the hands of these devotees of John Coltrane.

Howard Cottle, Paul Dunmall and Alan Skidmore play Sun Ship

Alan giving it some ‘welly’

As Skid says:

“It’s great music and gives you a chance to give it some ‘welly’ on the tenor.”

That welly results in streams of notes that make you wonder how anybody can play that fast or with such inventiveness. Very impressive blowing from all three. The Sun Ship set was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in the Jazz Now slot on 17 December. You can hear it as a podcast here.

Then the closing set of the Festival on Sunday 7 October saw Alan joining the line up with Georgie Fame’s New Blue Flames of which he’s been a member since 1970. Slightly less ‘welly’ is involved in the polished arrangements for the front line that surround Georgie Fame’s bluesy vocals. It is always a festival show-closing hit and Alan’s solos were met with great acclaim by a large and enthusiastic audience.

Georgie Fame Hammond Organ, Alec Dankworth bass (hidden), James Powell drums, Guy Barker trumpet, Alan Skidmore tenor saxophone, Tristan Powell guitar (hidden), Anthony Kerr vibraphone

Photographs: Graham Mullett

August 13, 2018August 13, 2018 by mikeraggett

60 Years a Blowin’

THEN

1958 Alan Skidmore aged 17 is playing one of his first professional engagements at Butlins, Skegness and his father joined him on stage as Alan says, “To show me how to do it”!

NOW

Photo:Kay Skidmore 2018

2018 Alan Skidmore waiting to go on stage at the Llandudno Jazz Festival in the Green Room known as “Barnes’ Boudoir”.

Alan’s early years were spent in big bands and he had a number of opportunities to play alongside his already well-established tenor saxophone playing father.

1960s

Alan played for many BBC Jazz Club broadcasts played in bands like Eric Delaney’s and toured and recorded with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated and John Mayall’s Blues Breakers where he says he truly learned his art. As he told Jazzwise in 2008:

“You have to be hungry to play and perfect your art. But before that you have to learn to play the blues. If you can’t play the blues you’re stuffed.”

And as the decade closed Alan’s Quintet was chosen to represent the UK at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, Harry Miller, Alan Skidmore And Tony Oxley won the International Press Prize for best band and Alan won the soloist prize too and Tony Oxley won best drummer.

1970s

Alan was winner of Melody Maker‘s best tenor saxophonist poll for four years in a row and had the honour of playing with Elvin Jones whose connection to John Coltrane meant a great deal to Alan who has been greatly influenced by Coltrane throughout his career.

Playing with Elvin Jones’ Jazz Machine

S O S

With the Ronnie Scott Quintet he played on the same bill as Thelonious Monk at the Royal Festival Hall in 1975. Throughout the decade he toured extensively with SOS the three-saxophone group formed of Alan Skidmore, Mike Osborne and John Surman. Alan also became a regular member of Georgie Fame’s New Blue Flames and would be for the next 40 years.

1980s

In a very busy period of playing and recording: a couple of highlights were playing in a duo at the 1985 Edinburgh Jazz Festival with Stan Tracey a musician with whom Alan had a long association and tremendous respect.

Alan with Stan Tracey at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival 1985

It was in the 80s too that Alan replaced Dexter Gordon in George Gruntz’s Concert Jazz Band an association that also lasted for many years. Alan worked and recorded with the WDR Big Band based in Köln which included a tour of south east Asia as soloist with the band sponsored by the Goethe Institut. Then in 1987 he was asked to play at the John Coltrane Memorial Concert commemorating 20 years since Coltrane’s death.

1990s

Recording The Call

In 1991 Alan began a long musical relationship with Colin Towns’ Mask Orchestra and his Provocateur Record label. Alan was the first musician to play in South Africa after the ending of apartheid when in 1994 he made a British Council sponsored visit. Alan returned with Colin Towns to record The Call with musicians from the band Amampondo who were to become the core of Alan’s own Afro-European group Ubizo.

2000s

Alan Skidmore’s Ubizo came to tour the UK and had residencies at Ronnie Scott’s in 2002 and 2003.

The noughties saw more recordings, more festivals including Cork, Brecon, Cheltenham and the North Sea and more tours with his own bands and others mainly in Europe. He made a trip to New York in 2006 as he was nominated for best reissue CD for Once Upon a Time in the Jazz Journalists Association awards at which his old friend Sonny Rollins was crowned musician of the year.

2010s

As he enters his sixth decade in the business things are slowing down a bit but only a bit. He played at the opening of the The Jazz Centre UK in Southend in 2017 a year which saw Alan again commemorating John Coltrane’s 50th anniversary by playing music from the album Sunship at London’s Café Oto. As Skid said at the time:

“He was playing this stuff when he was 36, here am I trying to play it when I’m nearly 76. I must be mad.”

But then he goes off on a Saxophone Summit Tour of Belgium and the Netherlands with dear friends that go a long way back which we reported in the blog at the time.

Luckily for all his fans Alan will still be playing his unique jazz music for a while longer yet.

60 years and still blowing strong.

March 11, 2018November 8, 2018 by mikeraggett

Low countries – high peaks

In late February and early March Alan Skidmore undertook a tour of the Netherlands, plus an excursion into Belgium, with his old pianist friend and colleague Rein de Graaff known in his homeland as Dr Bop.

Billed as The Saxophone Summit, the tour started in Rein’s home town of Groningen in the north of Holland before moving on to Tilburg, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Heist op den Berg south of Antwerp in Belgium. Skid took his trusty tenor throughout and was joined by Dutch jazz stars Benjamin Herman (who’s actually half British) on alto saxophone and Tineke Postma on alto and soprano. They were superbly driven along by Rein at the piano, Marius Beets on double bass and Eric Ineke on drums. This is the schedule:

28 February	Brouwerij Martinus, Groningen
2 March	Paradox, Tilburg
3 March	Bimhuis Amsterdam
4 March	Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht
5 March	Hnita Jazz Club, Heist op den Berg, Belgium

I was fortunate to be able to join the band for the sound check and concert in Amsterdam on Saturday and on Sunday in Utrecht. The set list varied from gig to gig but all gave each of the saxophonists a chance to shine individually as well as contributing to the ensembles when all three horns blew their lungs out in a series of scintillating solos and brilliant arrangements. Piano, bass and drums were also provided with many opportunities to shine. The tunes included Rogers and Hart’s Easy to Remember; Miles Davis’ All Blues; the Sigmund Romberg classic Softly as in a Morning Sunshine; the John Coltrane ballad Say It; Thelonius Monk’s I Mean You and Nutty and ended with Coltrane’s Impressions which drew peak performances from all three in the front line. Here are a few photographs to give a flavour of the tour.

Bimhuis is a modern music venue in Amsterdam’s East Docks area overlooking the River Ij

Saturday Sound Check

The three saxophonists just before showtime

Showtime – leaving the green room

Saxophone summit riding high Benjamin Herman, Tineke Postma and Alan Skidmore

Alan Skidmore soloing

Skid with a hint of Rein

Then on Sunday it was off to Utrecht and another impressive concert hall the Tivoli Vredenburg which has a number of different rooms for each type of music. Jazz was in Cloud Nine the blue semicircle at the top.

Tivoli Vredenburg Concert Hall Utrecht

On stage in Cloud Nine

Skid with Marius Beets and Eric Ineke

Words and photographs © 2018 Mike Raggett www.verbalists.uk

January 24, 2018 by mikeraggett

TREBLE DUTCH

In what is billed as the Saxophone Summit, Alan Skidmore will join alto and soprano saxophonist Tineke Postma and alto player Benjamin Herman in a series of concerts in the Netherlands during late February and early March. Alan is delighted to be reunited with the pianist Rein de Graaff’s superb trio with Marius Beets on bass and Eric Ineke on drums with whom he has enjoyed many gigs over the years. The two young saxophone partners in this series are also highly accomplished performers.

Tineke Postma studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music in New York. She has played with Greg Osby, Geri Allen, Scott Colley and Terri Lyne Carrington and has released six CDs to date. In 2015 she was awarded the Boy Edgar Prize the top award for jazz musicians in the Netherlands.

Benjamin_Herman_playing_sax In a similar pathway Benjamin Herman studied at Hilversum Conservatory before going to the Manhattan School of Music. His musical career has involved founding the New Cool Collective an eight-piece band with soul, jazz and Latin influences. He is also a recipient of the Boy Edgar Prize in 2003 and has some 20 albums with the New Cool Collective and a similar number as leader of a variety of small groups.

Dates so far announced are Bimhuis Amsterdam on Saturday 3 March at 20:30 and

Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht on Sunday 4 March at 16:00

Others will be added as they are announced but these are bound to be memorable concerts with Alan’s brilliant tenor playing added to two talented younger players and a trio that has backed Alan on numerous occasions. There’s no better excuse for a quick trip to Amsterdam and/or one of the Netherlands’ hidden gems the wonderful city of Utrecht.

November 30, 2017November 8, 2018 by mikeraggett

New CD release

Saturday 25th November saw the launch of a double CD of music by two of Alan’s quartets by Uli Blobel’s German label Jazzwerkstatt. One CD features a concert recorded in Berlin in 2007, the other a 2011 gig at the Boxford Fleece which was Alan’s last opportunity to work with long-time drummer collaborator, the late Tony Levin.

Jazzwerkstatt held a two-day festival at the Vortex Jazz Club in Dalston featuring artistes who were also releasing new CDs. Alan played an all-Coltrane set with his customary enthusiasm and vigour to a rapturous reception. It’s perhaps worth noting that Alan is nearly twice the age of John Coltrane when he played these numbers.

Photographs: Graham Mullett

Alan also features on one of the tracks Mr Skid. on the new album from the Leo Richardson quartet and will be guesting with the band at the Pizza Express Jazz Club on 12th December.

October 24, 2017November 8, 2018 by mikeraggett

Alan Skidmore honoured

Saturday 7 October 2017 saw the official opening of the Jazz Centre UK at the Beecroft Gallery in Southend. The Centre houses an impressive collection of important jazz memorabilia including Louis Armstrong’s trumpet, John Dankworth’s first piano and the complete Humphrey Lyttleton archive.

Alan and Digby Fairweather admiring Jimmy Skidmore’s tenor sax

It has a programme of screenings of jazz films and other events.

It also has a display which includes Jimmy Skidmore’s tenor saxophone which Alan donated to the Centre.

Digby salver

During the opening celebrations, Alan was presented with a silver salver recognising his 60 years in jazz. At the presentation founder of the Centre Digby Fairweather praised Alan for his contribution to jazz and his generosity to the National Jazz Centre. Alan replied, “I’ve given six decades of my life to this art-form and I appreciate its full celebration here in words and deeds”.

Playing He then played a set to the delight of the crowds attending this significant event. Alan was especially pleased to be in the company of the next generation of jazz musicians as members of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra followed his performance. The Centre will maintain close links with the orchestra to develop jazz in the future as well as displaying its past.

Alan Skidmore

Tenor saxophonist