20 March 2025 (gig)
20 March 2025
Concert Review
Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis
Guy Barker, Xhosa Cole and the CBSO
Birmingham Symphony Hall – Thursday, March 20th
In 1959 trumpet player and composer Miles Davis released Kind of Blue, an album that would go on to become one of the most influential, and best-selling Jazz albums of all time. With only five tracks, that took in modalism, as opposed to a more chordal organised approach, and musicians of the calibre of Davis, saxophonist John Coltrane, and pianist Bill Evans the music went on to become an integral part of the musical landscape, influencing jazz, blues, classical and minimalist composers.
Kind of Blue is known for its minimalist structure, and intimate sound as the musicians, with no prior knowledge of the sounds that Davis wanted recorded the album in a matter of hours.
For this concert, there were two sections, the first was a re-imagined set of tunes by Thelonius Monk. Led by the saxophonist Xhosa Cole, with support from pianist Pat Thomas, double bassist Josh Vadiveloo, drummer Jim Bashford, trumpet player Byron Wallen and saxophonist Rachael Cohen, they gave the challenging music that Monk produced in his lifetime a good showing. The muscular rhythm playing and the band playing without any form of amplification was an interesting sound, and although the music of Thelonius Monk is not really for the squeamish, these talented musicians all gave it a characteristic sound, with some fine soloing and ensemble playing.
The second half of the concert was a re-imagining of Kind of Blue by the trumpeter Guy Barker, who conducted this performance. Adding sympathetic string and orchestral parts to a jazz score is always going to be something of a poisoned chalice, but some good musical challenges were added, with the orchestrations for strings adding a lot to the previously solo piano parts. The opening So What added flourishes to the main theme, and allowed for some fine playing. The alto saxophone of Rachael Cohen and the trumpet of Byron Wallen were also well played above the orchestra. Although purists might have had a few qualms, it was a successful attempt to show familiar music in a new light.
