Latvijas Radio Bigbends - Spikeri Concert Hall, Riga, Latvia

First published on jazzwise.com



Latvijas Radio Bigbends
Spikeri Concert Hall, Riga, Latvia
30th January 2020

Next to the Daugava river in Riga, an old warehouse has been transformed into one of the city’s most innovative new music spaces. And for two nights, the Spikeri Concert Hall was transformed again, into a giant live-room recording studio for a session from the Latvijas Radio Bigbends (Latvian Radio Big Band).

It was an intimate performance in many ways. Not only was the audience small – the 100 tickets for each show were in such demand that they were allocated by lottery – but the band themselves played entirely without amplification. Listening to the instruments without the adulteration of a sound system was a really liberating experience, and one that brought the audience much closer to the music in an emotional sense. In such close quarters, the feel of the massed horns takes on a physical quality as well as a musical one, although with the occasional downside of the soloists becoming drowned in sound during some of the more hectic moments.

The Big Band was as tight as you’d expect from a state-funded ensemble – not that that makes it any less impressive. The band’s line-up represents a distillation of the country’s varied jazz scene, with the sax section especially acting as a who’s-who of Latvia’s premier players. There were also special guests in the form of Gints Pabērzs on soprano sax, Lithuanian trombonist Jievaras Jasinskis, and Atis Andersons, whose Hammond playing was a delight throughout, his solos adding a classic bluesy hue to proceedings.

The programme of the evening was a set composed by the Big Band’s musical director, tenor saxophonist Kārlis Vanags, entitled Identitātes (Identities). The most striking element was Vanags’ use of contrast. While there were nods to big band’s swing origins, it was the unexpected juxtapositions that pricked the ears the most. In some places, shrill horn blasts pepper sumptuous sustained piano glissandi; in others, wordless vocals seamlessly blend into full-spread trumpet chords. In ‘Jaunā Dzīvība’ (New Life), quiet clouds of layered polyrhythmic sound provided an impressionist backdrop to Rihards Goba’s Santana-like guitar solo. And then, out of nowhere, we’re treated to a simple, elegant solo piano piece in the shape of ‘Iekšējā Balss’ (Inner Voice). The concert ended on one of those big, bold pieces that’s just perfect for a 70s cop movie, complete with wah guitar and a grooving organ trio section to top it off. With the repertoire constantly chopping and changing and catching the listener off-guard, Vanags’ compositional through-line meant that the concert had a conceptual unity that elevated it from a fun big band gig to an accomplished artistic showcase.

The performance was arranged as a live recording to become the ensemble’s forthcoming album, to be released on up-and-coming Latvian jazz label Jersika Records. It was live in every sense, too: the whole concert was mixed onto two-track tape as it was performed for a fully analogue experience; with no editing possible after the fact, there’s no hiding place. And they rose to the occasion. It was a night mercifully free of tedious retakes. Having performed (and recorded) the same concert two nights in a row, there was no need to hang on the audience’s patience by playing the same pieces over and over.

Along with the intimate venue, it all created a relaxed and friendly atmosphere for all involved – perfect for a live recording – and together with the top-notch performances and forward-thinking composition and concept, this was a very special show. Keep your eyes out for the album’s release in the late spring.


Photo: Kārlis Vanags conducts the Latvijas Radio Bigbends, by Kaspars Balamovskis.

GoGo Penguin - EartH Hall, London

First published on jazzwise.com



GoGo Penguin – Koyaanisqatsi
EartH Hall, London
21st October 2019

Godfrey Reggio’s 1986 film Koyaanisqatsi was a revolutionary piece of experimental cinema, and it remains both hugely influential among filmmakers and a potent reference point throughout popular culture. With no dialogue or plot, the film is driven by variously juxtaposed footage of the natural and the artificial, brought together in a way as to render the familiar abstract. Equally as well-known its own right is the film’s score, written by Philip Glass. It is a masterpiece of minimalism and rightly regarded as one of the greatest soundtracks of all time. When GoGo Penguin rescored Koyaanisqatsi, they had big shoes to fill. First commissioned in 2015, it was so successful that the group have continued to tour their rescore, with a live screening of the film itself, ever since. As part of their October tour, they brought the show to a sold-out EartH Hall.

Chris Illingworth (piano), Nick Blacka (basses) and Rob Turner (drums) have created a work of their own recognisable idiom, a cool combination of icy jazz, sparse electronica and that same minimalism as pioneered by Glass and his contemporaries, by way of driving cinematic funk and classic-style jazz rock. For the work of just a trio, the score fits the epic nature of the film to an impressive degree, and they’re not afraid to employ their own juxtapositions as well, most effective when countering frenetic visuals with forebodingly calm Satie-esque soundscapes. This way they reflect the film’s title, a Hopi word meaning ‘life out of balance,’ and the wordless laments of human destruction presented within.

Comparisons to the original music are unavoidable. In fact, the music was such an integral part of the experience of the film that it’s difficult not to hear Glass’s pieces in the mind’s ear during the most iconic sequences, the images acting as a mnemonic for the sound in a reversal of the usual order of things. GoGo Penguin’s score is gripping throughout, and especially so during the final third where driving grooves are alternated with hypnotic passages and culminate in a slow, poignant finale. Nevertheless, the original score was horrifying in its immensity and inevitability, emotions that the reworked version delivers with a little less power. Taken as a standalone show, GoGo Penguin have done a great job of scoring such an impactful film; it’s just a shame that Koyaanisqatsi’s original soundtrack casts such an indelible shadow that is hard to escape.