Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre, London
28 March 2001
Tonight’s Wire Session Live promises to present a few intriguing collaborations, and first up on the scene are Jaki Liebezeit and Burnt Friedman. The latter’s usual live minidisc setup is enhanced with a Korg analogue synth and another keyboard, from which he produces a series of smooth, almost liquidly funky electronic rhythms and grooves. With the added input of Liebezeit’s spare yet enveloping drumming, the short set they work through occasionally sparkles, sometimes wanders but is never dull by any stretch. The combination is almost exquisite, thanks to the percussive dexterity and the smartly-programmed and played electronics. Together they build short but hypnotic stretches of sinuous music out of deceptively simple arrangements, played by two master musicians of differing generations of innovation who are clearly enjoying themselves, as are the spellbound capacity crowd..
Baggily-besuited and geezer-hatted, Jah Wobble‘s first set is presaged by the booming bass emanating from his Marshall stack, and for this show the line-up of guests is pretty substantial, including Clive Bell on flute and other wind instruments, Evan Parker bringing some circular breathing sax to the fore, and Steve Beresford behind a collection of electrickery. Despite this, the long freeform music they play doesn’t quite gel as it could do, with the ever-present undertow of low end dominating, and Wobble’s son on drums, while good, suffers by comparison with the deftness of Liebezeit before. The ensemble make a half-Reggae, somewhat Improv effort, but it lacks real coherence.
Pole takes the stage alone, and Stefan Betke once again shows himself to be among the brigthest performers ever to work with a laptop. This is largely because it’s not just the computer which produces the warmly fuzzy Dub minmalism, but a series of boxes and a mixer for Betke to twiddle, tweak and generally shake the sound out of, often quite literally. The pre-set basics are supplanted by wahses and waves of echo, shifted across the stero picture in real time while Pole taps out a simple melody on the little keyboard or multi-handedly shifts the treble parts over a gear or two, brings up some sample which might once have been strummed piano strings or lets the bass rip under tight control..
A few decades back, there were predictions that one day, no doubt guessing at the Twenty-first Century too, musicians would be able to perform the sound of an orchestra through the direction of a computer alone. Naturally, this is now a commonplace, even trite, but Betke makes it entertaining and above all live through the interactions he weaves around the programming. When he takes his bow, it is with an almost humble dignity and to well-deserved appplause; a gentleman of Electronica.
Finally, Jah Wobble and company return, with Liebezeit and Wobble opening the last number in a much more enlivening bass and drum lead-off as the group join them in making something not all that dissimilar to the first appearance of the night. Still, somehow the bassline gets into the ears and stays there, riding low for the duration of the piece, which might well have lasted twenty mintues or so. The wind instruments and Beresford’s electronics make a fearsome shriek at times, and the two drummers get lost in the morass for a while, but generally it’s a definite improvement. Still, quite what the two women from the audience who desport themsleves in an almost cringeworthy display of gyratory, cod-Middle Eastern dancing along the front of the stage think they’re doing (apart from enjoying themsleves) is debatable.
Doubtless they could have played on for much longer, though it’s debatable if much of the audience would have remained; what they played was moderately sufficient, though possibly brought to a slightly premature end due to the South Bank’s early curfew. Wobble thanks the band with an air of some disappointment, and it’s suddenly all over. Maybe Wobble and company needed more time to develop their collaboration onstage, to drift off into lateral parts more than they undoubtedly did do here, but tonight’s performance by the group remains only good in parts and a little unsatisfying overall.
-Antron S. Meister –
