May 2009 gig reviews by Chris Parker

Loz Speyer Timezone 'Cubailingual'

Thursday 14 May 2009

'Cubailingual' is the neatly punning watchword of trumpeter/flugelhorn player Loz Speyer's current Timezone band, and it refers to their penchant for incorporating the rhythms and textures of Cuban music into their sound.

Of course, 'incorporating' implies complete assimilation, but Speyer himself at one point compared the process with the linguistic adaptation of his stepdaughter who, exposed as a non-English speaker to London life, now speaks 'Hackney English' with great facility; and, since most of Timezone (completed by guitarist Jez Franks, alto player/clarinettist Martin Hathaway, bassist Zoltan Dukaney, conga player Alejandro Martinez and depping drummer Tim Giles) are rooted in jazz, this process might also be characterised as simply acquiring an extra skill that revitalises, but does not fundamentally alter, the band's basic art, the resultant music merely having its own special accent, rather like 'Hackney English'.

Which is all a roundabout way of saying that Timezone sounded freshest and most assured when they rooted themselves firmly in gutsy, straightahead jazz and allowed what might be termed a Cuban breeze (made manifest mainly by Martinez's subtle percussion interventions and embellishments, or Speyer's insistent clave) to sweep through their music.

Thus, pieces such as 'Snake Path' or 'Buy One, Get One Free' (the latter even including a free-ish scrabble unregulated by the clave) sounded more confident than the more overtly 'Cuban' pieces such as 'Katakusi' or 'Mood Swings', in which various musical elements occasionally seemed to jostle against each other rather than flow easily and naturally together.

Overall, though, this was a lively and enjoyable performance, both Hathaway and Speyer enabled to fire off characteristically vigorous, peppy solos over a loose but sparky rhythm section, and with Franks adding the odd slightly darker shade to the band's palette (and Hathaway's bass clarinet bringing welcome textural density to the mix), Timezone thoroughly entertained a decent-sized audience, even to the point of persuading them to sing along with the band's closing number.

May 2009
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Loz Speyer Timezone 'Cubailingual'

Thursday 14 May 2009

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May 2009 gig reviews

Gig reviews archive

Loz Speyer Timezone 'Cubailingual'

Thursday 14 May 2009

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May 2009
gig reviews

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