The Vortex Jazz Club, 11 Gillett Square, London N16 8JH | Bookings 020 7254 4097 | Enquiries 020 7993 3643 | Email Info at Vortex

November 2007
gig reviews

The Necks
Porpoise Corpus
The Chris Lowe Quintet
Evan Parker, Barry Guy
 Paul Lytton, Peter Evans
Ian Shaw
Radioplay
Fraud
Hih
Zoe Rahman Trio
Robert Mitchell
 and Corey Mwamba
Billy Jenkins and
 Steve Morrison

Gig reviews archive

 2008 gig reviews
 2007 gig reviews
 2006 gig reviews

 


 

November gig reviews by Chris Parker

The Necks

Sunday 4 & Monday 5 November

The Necks – given the fact that they came so highly recommended by the likes of the Guardian's John L. Walters (present in the audience), and that their two gigs were sell-outs, had a lot to live up to, and there was an almost palpable sense of expectation in the club as they took the stage.

On record (see CD Reviews), their music, while undoubtedly distinctive and absorbing, can seem a little monotonous; in person, however, they are captivating, utterly mesmeric, as they unfold their imperceptibly shifting collective improvisations with infinite patience and uncompromising musicianly persistence.

Apparently, their unique approach evolved naturally from the fact that they gradually realised that they derived more satisfaction from playing the introductory vamps to standards than from executing the standards themselves; this realisation, coupled with a penchant for Indian music and minimalism, led to their current highly individual modus operandi: their music shimmers, drones, hovers and slowly ebbs and flows in an irresistibly hypnotic manner, relying on the subtlest of textural and dynamic transitions for its extraordinary cumulative effect, rendering their gigs truly remarkable.

 

 

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