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| POSTED BY: johnrae | POSTED ON: 26 Mar 2005 03:06 PM | ||
Jam meets rant in a joyful noise
MUSIC REVIEW Jim Gilchrist (The Scotsman)
John Rae's Big Feet & Islay Pipe Band ****
QUEEN'S HALL, EDINBURGH
YOU wouldnt have heard it at Ronnie Scotts. As sax player Julian Arguelles expounded soulfully, the rest of drummer John Raes rumbustious folk-jazz big band murmuring behind him, pipers started wandering, droning, into the hall, until there was a full pipe-band, drummers an a, crammed onto an already packed stage.
It might have made for an aural nightmare, but as the Islay pipers broke into a reel, to be peremptorily answered back by the Big Feet horns, the whole thing became a rather wonderful, uncontained yell of massed brass and reeds.
Strange and wonderful things happen in this little-explored territory where jam meets rant. There was Brian Kellocks no-nonsense boogie, escorted by a swirl of sax and accordion, bringing in Raes smaller, Celtic Feet sextet for a sparking, sizzling opening set. There was Neil Gerstenberg, later to give us a fine, loose-limbed sax solo, warbling soulfully on that well-known jazz instrument, the penny whistle. And there was American trumpeter Warren Vache (aka Sporran Washy), looking bemused to find himself both be-kilted and reeling alongside full-tilt fiddler Eilidh Shaw, before tearing a full-throated solo out of the situation.
As many as 19 Big Footers took the stage at one time, flexing their hybrid muscles with joyful exuberance - brass belling out over a taut mandolin line before erupting into yet another reel. Gentler-toned moments too, such as Findlay Macdonalds low whistle calling soulfully over a drift of horns and stalking double bass, before things proceeded, via a punchy little number titled Sectarianism and the Loch Ness Monster, towards the high and heady commotion of a conclusion which was still in riotous encore as I left to meet the deadline.
I counted them out - more or less, reckoning around 40 musicians on stage during he finale - and I counted them in again. No casualties, although there may have been some shell-shock cases among front-row listeners: that blast of sound ... those unaccustomed kilts.
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| POSTED BY: johnrae | POSTED ON: 18 Sep 2006 01:03 PM | ||
published: August 08 2006 01:50
Scotland's top jazz drummer has recently moved to new zealand. 'at the moment i'm spending around half the year touring in europe and the other half in new zealand. i just trying to avoid winter!'
LEADING UK JAZZ DRUMMER MOVES TO THE BAY
John Rae might have played in countries all over the world, but he thinks HB is one of the most beautiful places he has been and has some fantastic musical talent.
John and his NZ wife and family moved to NZ in October 2005 from his home country Scotland , but has spent the past 5 months working all over Europe, both as a teacher and a musician. Now he is back in Hawkes Bay and ready to start business here, both as a tutor and band leader.
through Thick-Skinned Productions I hope to have some very exciting projects happening in the Bay. Apart from my individual drum tuition I will be forming a world percussion ensemble involving over 20 percussion players of all abilitys, playing rhythms and instruments from around the world. I will also be forming an alternative pipe band that involves traditional bag pipes but with an eclectic drum core that will be using not so traditional rhythms and instruments.
John comes from a large musical dynasty. Both parents are musicians and 5 of his 6 siblings are jazz musicians. He has played jazz drums since the age of 5 and formed his first band at 18 The John Rae Collective. Since then he has been a key player on the UK jazz music scene, both as a band leader and a player and has recorded over 30 albums with some of the worlds very best jazz musicians.
In 2005, he won the acclaimed Herald Angel Award , presented by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for his collaborative group with celtic and Hungarian Musicians. He has been a key player on two Albums of the Year in the prestigious BBC Jazz Awards, the UKs main awards for jazz musicians and been nominated three times.
the bay is attracting many good players to it and although a lack of opportunitys to perform is a problem, hopefully musicians can come together and change that. At the moment Im looking for a suitable venue to start a club night that will have live DJs with musicians and be able to attract a crowd. A five nights a week dedicated music venue could dramatically change the cultural scene here in the Bay..
As a tutor, he set-up a UK company Thick Skinned Productions to teach jazz improvisation to primary & secondary students as well as music teachers
Its important that our children have opportunitys to experience all kinds of music. I plan to set up a jazz ensemble comprising HB musicians to play educational concerts in schools and offer children workshops on how to improvise.
The jazz improvisational programme has been run successfully in schools in Scotland as well as the Singing Drum a six week programme aimed at primary schools that involves song writing, singing, drumming and performance. In 2007 Thick-Skinned Productions will be launched to schools in New Zealand. Meanwhile, John is loving living in Hawkes Bay, playing with the fantastic talent here and is now offering private tuition.
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