It’s certainly a good Friday here at DGMLive as the first, second and third nights of ProjeKct One’s Jazz Café residency are finally released for download. Now all four nights of these remarkable concerts are available at long last.
Anyone who saw the gigs will remember the excitement and hothouse atmosphere created by P1 on those chilly December evenings. Of course, it wasn’t to everyone’s taste. Within about ten minutes of the band starting up, I recall seeing a group of shell-shocked punters getting up and leaving. “This isn’t jazz!” they complained to the service staff. Well they got that right, but it wasn’t rock either and nor was it entirely King Crimson. The one thing that was definite in all the uncertainty of the ProjeKcts, was the exhilaration of seeing these musicians close up, creating and carving out their musical futures.
Over the last few weeks, DGM engineer and part-time drummer, Alex “Stormy” Mundy, has been preparing these tapes for releases, enjoying the twists and turns of each gig. “I was only there for the first show, but what a treat! For me it was a delight to see and hear Bill Bruford. He is such a musical player with a great ability to pickup on a riff from his fellow players, and take the idea on board and run with it. Equally he’s very happy to start a piece and get the next improv going! He also supports the other player’s, almost knowing ahead of time what is going to be played, and what he should play next, a great skill.
Although I was working, I did manage to get a chance to take in some of the performance as a punter. One of the memorable moments was a visual one. Tony made his way over to Bill at the kit, and Bill played Tony’s bass with his drum sticks! It got a real laugh from the audience, and, I think that set the tone for the gig. Fun!”
Another aspect of the concert that struck Alex was the degree of interaction between Gunn and Fripp, the duo just having recently recorded Space Groove. “They were very supportive of each other helping to build each section when they took their respective solos. As for Tony, I don’t think that I have ever heard any bass player who can sit on a groove, even a one note groove, and be such a centre of strength for a whole performance!
Having listened to all four nights at the Jazz Café over the years, and of course for these down loads, I would have to say that I wish I had been there for all the four shows! There are, of course, moments that don’t quite make it, but hey, this is music on the fly! But equally there are moments that truly go beyond the call of duty. Fantastic!” Fantastic indeed.
