Things Happened Here
| Things Happened Here | ||||
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| Kansas Smitty’s studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Ever /! K7 | |||
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Format (s) |
LP |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
40.25 |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
London |
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Things Happened Here is a jazz album by the Kansas Smitty’s formation . The recordings made in London in 2019 were released in June 2020 as a long-playing record or as a download on the Ever /! K7 label.
background
Kansas Smitty’s is a live music bar on Broadway Market in Hackney , North East London. It is also the name of the seven-piece band that was formed in 2012 and now runs the venue and uses it for their performances. The group is led by the American saxophonist and clarinetist Giacomo Smith . Things Happened Here is the band's third album, which is characterized by the fact that the band created their "own music" for the first time; previously released - in addition to several EPs - The Kansas Smitty's House Band (2015) and Broadway 2018 , where the band “oriented itself towards various artists, re-enacted early jazz and all possible facets of jazz”. All of the pieces on the album were composed by band leader and founder Giacomo Smith.
Track list
- Kansas Smitty's: Things Happened Here (Ever Records EVER101LP)
- Riders
- Dreamlane
- Two dancers
- Sambre Et Meuse
- Alcazar
- Temple of Bel
- Sunnyland
- Things Happened Here
- Judgment
reception
According to Dave Gelly, who reviewed the album in the Jazz Journal and awarded it four stars, the orchestration with just three wind instruments is ingenious and effective. “Kansas Smitty sounds what it sounds like when the band members are really into the music. I played this album repeatedly because it is so personable, unpretentiously safe and pleasant. "
Dave Gelly said in the Guardian that Kansas Smitty’s is a band that doesn't sound remotely like any of its contemporaries. "She plays an understanding intimate, sometimes a bit lopsided patchwork of jazz styles from the past , filtered through listening habits and understanding the 21st century." This is neither satire nor a parody, it sounds rather refreshing and often make fun. This is the band's most ambitious album so far. The various patches are now so well integrated into the whole that their origins often only seem like faint, fleeting echoes. It is the textures, the harmonies, the sudden, lively flash of a clarinet that characterize her music, says Gelly. Outstanding among the nine titles are the brooding, vaguely Ellington-like opening number "Riders" and the irresistibly groovy "Sunnyland". This piece, with great drumming by Will Cleasby, is dedicated to the blues pianist Sunnyland Slim , but also manages to introduce a touch of the Caribbean. One of the joys of Kansas Smitty’s is that you never know what's next.
Dave Sumner named the album one of the best new releases of the month in Bandcamp Daily and said it was “addicting as the Kansas Smitty's ensemble opens the door to each song with a dense, lockable melody and then rushes enthusiastically to the other side to see where it all leads. ”There is a good balance between new-school and old-school sounds, and none of them really overshadow the others. This group brings the electricity of a live show to the recorded medium in Things Happened Here , according to the author.
Peter Jones ( London Jazz News ) noted that the spirit of Duke Ellington in particular played an important role throughout the company, especially on this album, on the plaintive and tightly arranged “Sambre et Meuse” with its different tempos and rhythmic styles that were inspired by the Swing era to bop and back again. These variations turned the melody into a mini-suite, and a similar technique is used for the title track. But there's a lot more going on here than retro jazz - in places you can hear Miles Davis-style modes, blues, some boastful funk, and even a touch of Caribbean music. Sometimes the music is "eerie, then magical, impossible to hold on to," Jones sums up. Here is a diverse joy to experience, from the beginning to the end.
Graham Clark wrote in the Yorkshire Times that this cinema-like album contains influences from over a hundred years of jazz history from Django Reinhardt to Ahmad Jamal , mixed with the musical mood of Claude Debussy and even Brian Eno . The opening title "Riders" sounds like it comes from the French film soundtrack of the 1960s. “Sambre et Meuse” is apparently inspired by a battlefield in World War I and the two rivers of the same name that flow in Belgium. “Temple of Bel” comes with an Eastern European touch built around a brass-led hookline . The track is one of the most attractive on the album.
Web links
- Information about the album at Bandcamp
- Listing of the album on Allmusic (English). Accessed January 1, 2020.
Individual evidence
- ^ Giacomo Smith based on Ensemble Kansas Smitty's (Radio Bremen)
- ↑ Dave Gelly: Kansas Smitty's: Things Happened Here. Jazz Journal, June 25, 2020, accessed July 17, 2020 .
- ↑ Dave Gelly: Kansas Smitty's: Things Happened Here review - irresistibly groovy. The Guardian, June 27, 2020, accessed July 17, 2020 .
- ↑ Dave Sumner: Best Jazz on Bandcamp, June 2020. Bandcamp Daily, July 15, 2020, accessed June 17, 2020 .
- ↑ Peter Jones: Kansas Smitty's - "Things Happened Here". London Jazz News, June 25, 2020, accessed July 17, 2020 .
- ^ Graham Clark: Kansas Smitty's - Things Happened Here. Yorkshire Times, June 25, 2020, accessed July 7, 2020 .