A jazz band is where musicians can be their most expressive. A place where they can play off into improvisation knowing that the rest of musicians will follow them, take the initiative and even cover one another’s’ blunders. And what I saw at the Tav last night was everything a jazz trio should be but Wild Eyed, Wicked and Oblivious are not a jazz trio, in fact it’s difficult to say what they are; they don’t seem to know. A fellow musician commented that he doesn’t like the kind of music they play. But he really likes what they play!
With only three songs allowed and a rapidly thinning end of night audience they began the set with a solo. Not that a solo was planned but Pete in that jazz tradition just set off on his EWI, (electronic wind instrument) and a after a very short glance of confusion on Jane’s face she improvised to carry a guitar rhythm behind him. I think he was playing clarinet but the EWI can be whatever you want it to be, flute, oboe, trumpet, bagpipe? Pete stopped, turned to Jane and asked what they were playing, she reminded him that he’d chosen it, then he immediately dived into the first verse without a count and she with masterly composure, jumped in after him.
Pete sings in the strong soaked in experience voice of a Londoner concentrated by a journey through Scar, Punk and a thick strain of folk and English ‘Hay Noni Noni’, to my ear. Lyrics rhyme well and rise to simple repetitive choruses that can be quickly learnt by a willing audience.
Pete calls ‘C’mon. You know it by now, Sing!’ And we do.
There is a tension in this music fostered by those unscripted swings that might
bring it all tumbling down but Jane’s adaptability make that impossible. Islywn’s home made tea crate base is the brown paper and string wrapping that holds this trio so impregnably. A single string held taught above a hefty rectangular sounding box, something so simple shouldn’t be so good but it is. Younger audience members are fascinated to know how it works, they wonder, is he a professional base player? It’s a mystery. He certainly holds the straight faced certainty and total reliability of a pro.
These are powerful songs that fill a room with memorable lyrics.
‘The rose has long since faded,
And the brier long since dead,
I gaze upon a marble slab erected to be read,
It tells a tale of bravery, honor death and shame,
But in my eyes she was a rose by any other name.
(‘C’mon, you know it now. SING!’)
‘A Rose is Rose by any other name, a Rose is a Rose, is a ……….. ‘
Wild eyes are a great sound that is best left unclassified and consumed as a whole live package. Incredibly amusing to watch. ‘SING!’
By Gabe
Comments