Dave Stapleton Quintet tour of Bratislava & Budapest

Dave Stapleton & Ben Waghorn played a terrific duet gig at the Klarisky Hall, Bratislava, Slovakia on Wednesday night.  The venue a beautiful church that doubles as a performing arts centre, was perfectly suited to a concert of DSQ material specially arranged for piano and sax.  With a wonderful sonorous sound the sell out audience were very appreciative of the music - which for the first time at a gig  saw Dave play a non original tune (Herbie Hancocks Watermelon Man) which went down to really well.

The Slovakians were really friendly and knowledgeable and special thanks to the members of the audience that stood us a round at the wine bar afterwards!  We will be back!

The following morning we boarded the train that took us from Bratislava to Budapest.  The very pleasant journey took about two & a half hours and after checking into the hotel we were taken for a sound check at the large area where the Budapest  Jazz Festival takes place. Set on the banks of the Danube with fab views over the city this is a great place for a festival - there are two stages one on the river bank (where DSQ played) and one on a boat moored just a little up river.

Paula, Elliot & Jonny flew out Thursday morning from Gatwick via Luton to meet up with me Dave & Ben and after a quick second sound check we were ready for the terrific vocal crowd who were waiting for the gig to start.

It was great to see a capacity crowd for the gig and the band played what they all agreed was probably the best set they have played as a band.  It must be said that the audiences really help the atmosphere at these gigs with their enthusiasm for music and the warmth and friendliness shown by everyone involved.

We had a great time chatting with people afterwards (who all speak great English btw) and left with the undoubted impression that we will be back playing again here very soon.

Caption Competition: A signed print of the DSQ for the best suggestion as to what Jonny has just said to Paula in the photo below (please try and keep it clean!)

Bourne Davis Kane - Vortex Review

January 2008 gig reviews by Chris Parker Bourne, Davis, Kane Tuesday 15 January

Pianist Matthew Bourne is chiefly celebrated for his solo performances, during which he is likely to dazzle and amuse by means of witty interjections into his recitals of everything from film themes to classical snippets Í sudden musical incongruities or the application of extraordinary virtuosity to the ostensibly inconsequential Í but operating in a trio with like minds, bassist Dave Kane and drummer Stephen Davis, he ploughs a slightly straighter furrow.

True, there are passages of sporadic communal humming and odd bursts of musical banter, but for the most part, the trio concentrates on producing a group sound that uncontrivedly incorporates the cluttered, tumbling imaginativeness of a free player such as Howard Riley, the musing dreaminess of more straightahead piano trios in their quieter moments, and the knowing contemporary clatter of, say, the Bad Plus.

Written passages frequently provide the springboard for collective improvisation, but mostly this is music characterised by democratic trio interactiveness, the nervy rumbustiousness of the group's overall sound more important than its individual components.

The trio's debut album, Lost Something, to be released in spring 2008 on Babel, should prove well worth the wait.

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