Programme
Coming soon
Directions
About The Vortex
News
Music
Hire
Ochre Works
FAQs
Gig reviewsAgency
CD reviews
Friends
Features
Book reviews
News feeds
Support The Vortex
Links
Contact
Musicians
Videos
Programme
A complete guide to events at The Vortex
Coming soon...
How to find the club
News
Music
Hire The Vortex
Ochre Works
CD reviews
Mike Gibbs 70th birthday concert
(at the Cadogan Hall, Chelsea)
By Chris Parker
As composer/arranger Frank Griffith pointed out in his programme notes, Mike Gibbs has been blithely ignoring what others regard as musical boundaries all his life.
Consequently, his music uncontrivedly incorporates (rather than, as seems to be the new millennium's way, archly borrowing from) everything from funk, rock, soul, township music, Messiaen and Gil Evans to Ellington and Miles Davis.
The extraordinary thing about his compositions and arrangements, though, is their utter individuality: as the irresistibly uplifting climax to this 70th birthday concert (at the Cadogan Hall, Chelsea) ’ a shrieking, crunching but joyous repeated orchestral chord ’ proved, a single moment of Gibbs's music is instantly identifiable as his.
Perhaps the quickest route to an appreciation of Gibbs for those unfamiliar with his musical world is via his late-1980s (Virgin Venture, rereleased on ACT) album Big Music, a delicious confection of jazzy, funky, life-affirming music involving two of this concert's crucial presences, guitarist Bill Frisell and alto player Chris Hunter, but even without playing anything from that album, the sixteen-piece band on this, the penultimate gig of a five-date UK tour, managed to distil the quintessential Gibbs: extraordinary power subtly wielded.
Apparently meandering, wispy themes coalesce almost imperceptibly into fierce, shouting climaxes; complex rhythms are juxtaposed with such skill that they sound almost organically melded; utterly distinctive harmonies emerge with complete naturalness.
Perhaps the best description of Gibbs's unique talent, however, is the late, lamented Richard Cook's characteristically pithy summing up: '[Gibbs makes] complex and daring ideas seem natural and inevitable. He [can] move from sun-kissed delight to moonstruck melancholy in a moment.' Exhilarating, rich, complex but immediately accessible music exuberantly but impeccably played: few concerts offer such unalloyed delights.
Join the Vortex
email list
To receive monthly gig details, news and ticket offers.
RSS feeds
For news, gig and CD reviews and information about the club.
Click on the link below to get the subscribe address
Vortex
news 
For more informaton about RSS see the
RSS help pages
Support The Vortex
Become
a friend, sponsor a gig, become a volunteer
Make a donation online through Charity Choice.
For more details see the donations page.
To
return to top | Phone bookings 020 7254 4097 | General enquiries 020 7993 3643 | Email Info at Vortex