Posted by Adrian Litvinoff on Jul 3, 2013
Leamington Courier This review of ‘Jazz Meets Dancehall’ is by Clive Peacock, 12-8-22 https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=489792253147101&set=a.414909237302070 Jazz Journal Here is Jazz Journal’s review of our recent gig at Kenilworth Arts Festival https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2021/09/21/interplay-at-kenilworth-arts-festival/https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2021/09/21/interplay-at-kenilworth-arts-festival/ Kenilworth Arts Festival Many thanks for being a part of our wonderful 2021 weekend festival and for getting the residents of Kenilworth dancing in the square! Alina Bzhezhinska Very grateful to you all who performed with me last Sunday and especially to Tony Kofi for being an amazing duo partner! Feel really great playing with you and it was fun working with the wonderful musicians from Interplay! This is the way forward – sharing, collaborating and making Live Jazz more accessible for everyone. Thank you Matthew for the review! Concert audience comments “…blooming amazing. Superb” “Thank you so much for such a great night with Alina, Tony and, of course, Interplay! Fascinating to hear a harp playing jazz.” “Fantastic night. Huge thanks.” Chesterfield Jazz Fan “Interplay were really cooking!” “A very tight band, great technical skills and a real joy in communicating their love of the music. Interplay were really cooking!” – Martin S, Chesterfield, March 2021 Jazzwise Magazine “Exciting and Engaging” Matthew Wright reports on In The Moment’s gig featuring Annie Whitehead and Interplay for International Jazz Day 2018 Jazzwise Magazine Norma Winstone and Interplay show how it’s done ‘When a top vocalist is in such high demand and performing in various places with local musicians…’ read the full review here Jazzwise Magazine JOHN ETHERIDGE, SI HAYDEN & INTERPLAY SALUTE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY A highly successful collaboration: read Matthew Wright’s full review here. Nick Ransford, Warwick International Jazz Day 2016 – Interplay with John Etheridge + Si Hayden What an amazing gig last Saturday! I was blown away by every one of you and have never heard Interplay play better. Hugely inspiring! Thanks for a truly great night. Dee Boom, Leamington International Jazz Day 2016 – Interplay with John Etheridge + Si Hayden Adrian – I just had to write to say how much my friend and I enjoyed the gig in Jephson Gardens last Saturday – a super vibe. I think it’s a great venue for you and the boys. I’m a regular at Ronnie Scotts in London but it so nice to have Jazz here locally. Please play more...
See MorePosted by Adrian Litvinoff on Jun 18, 2022
Jazz Meets Dancehall is our first gig in the ‘Musical Exchanges’ series that In The Moment are running in association with Culturefest 2022. This is the festival running alongside the Commonwealth Games here in Leamington and Warwick. Jazz and Dancehall are like old friends. They may not see each other for a while, but all the mutual respect and affection is still there. Interplay is welcoming back two fantastic guest musicians – Annie Whitehead (trombone) and Claude Deppa (trumpet). Claude is from South Africa originally, and Annie has worked with many South African musicians including Brotherhood of Breath. So we will celebrate the presence of South African music in British Jazz, and also the impact of Caribbean music via the infectious dance rhythms of Reggae and Ska. There is space for dancing as well as sitting, so if you want to move you can move! Family-friendly pricing In The Moment are keen to attract more family groups to its events and so for the first time are offering a discount to under 18s. They are also offering a free ticket for a carer to accompany someone with a disability. Check the ticket link for details. Music improvisation workshop Also associated with ‘Musical Exchanges’ is a series of workshops that link to the music in the performances. So Adrian Litvinoff and Alan Wakeman of Interplay are hosting a music improvisation workshop on August 13th, also at the Nelson Club in Warwick. More details of this and the other workshops will be available very soon on In The Moment’s Facebook page. Support In The Moment gratefully acknowledge the support of Warwick Town Council in making these events possible....
See MorePosted by Adrian Litvinoff on May 12, 2015
May is eagerly awaited as the true start of summer – at least in this house – because it bring the return of the Swifts. Almost the last summer migrant birds to arrive, they animate the sky over towns and cities as well as over open country. The sight of them wheeling and darting high in the air is truly invigorating, while their screams as they swoop low around the roof-tops are an essential part of summer’s sound-scape. It was on May 5th that I saw my first swift this year, and now they are back in numbers. Amazing birds The more I understand about these birds the more amazing they appear. For example after fledging and leaving the nest a young swift may remain airborne for as long as three years before touching down to begin building a nest of its own! Feeding, drinking, sleeping, mating, all are done on the wing. ‘Sleeping’ is in fact hardly the correct term – somehow they are able to continue in flight for hours in a semi-comatose state, often at very high altitude, and well out of the range of predators. Nest-guests We live in a very old house, and have been thrilled to see swifts diving straight through a small opening into our roof-space on several occasions. We don’t know if they have bred there – there is no way for us to get up so high, let alone see inside. But we are happy to have them there, especially given that nesting sites have become much more scarce as construction methods have changed. Fortunately some house builders are beginning to recognise the importance of providing bird-friendly access to nest space in new developments, so hopefully this decline can be reversed. ‘Swift Return’ It is great to see the swifts back again, and to feel the year turning towards its summer peak. I feel a tune coming on! https://interplayjazz.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/swift-return.mp3 If you want to hear the full track why not head over to Spotify and type in Interplay Global? You’ll be able to savour our whole album!...
See MorePosted by Adrian Litvinoff on Nov 13, 2014
This week Radio 6 Music is celebrating libraries, while indie band Everything Everything is hosting an arts festival in Manchester’s newly-refurbished Central Library. So it seems the perfect time to say my piece about libraries and the debt I owe them. At primary school aged 9 or 10 we were walked down the hill some 30 strong every week to the branch library in Keats Grove, where a kindly lady made us welcome and talked about the books and how they were arranged. Coming from a bookish family I was already a reader, and so the thing that really excited me was the catalogue. It dominated the middle of the room; tier upon tier of wooden cabinets containing draw after draw of index cards, each pointing to a particular book, all in alphabetical order. As I knew my alphabet I realised with a thrill that I could use it to look anything up in the catalogue and find whatever I wanted! Not only that, I would always be able to do this, because (I thought) libraries would always be here. I knew I had found a ‘skill for life’. Saturdays became a regular day for visiting the library. On our little bikes my brother and I would peddle off to Arkwright Road, or to Swiss Cottage, to change our books and explore what was waiting for us on the shelves. It was a liberating and fulfilling experience. We each had our own library membership; my first autonomous official transactions were taking books out and returning them, occasionally paying a modest fine. Leaving secondary school under a cloud (don’t ask!) I was fortunate to get a job in the record library at Swiss Cottage. What treasures! The first LPs I borrowed, Shelly Manne and His Men Live at the Blackhawk Vols 1 & 2, thrilled me with their vibrant, direct sound and the intensity of the band’s performance. I felt as if I was right there in the club in San Francisco! These albums became my touchstone for live jazz recordings, and live for me still. I was able to explore everything from Duke Ellington to Cream, Albert Ayler to the Incredible String Band and more. The librarian there responded to my interest and we discussed music all the time. He even asked me to suggest what to buy for the collection, and for a while we were staunch supporters of the Impulse! label. I felt for once that my musical tastes...
See MorePosted by Adrian Litvinoff on Nov 3, 2014
We’re launching a new Blog page on this site, so that we can share things with you that arise through our involvement in music even though they may lie slightly outside the activities of the band. Its hard to predict exactly what the topics will be, but music is a field of endless fascination so there should be plenty to interest you as we develop this new thread. As ever, we will welcome your views and feedback, and hope that through this process we can get to know each other a little better. You’ll find the Blog under the ‘News’ tab on the main menu bar. Our first blog post will be with you...
See MorePosted by Adrian Litvinoff on Jul 4, 2014
Dave met the great tabla master (and one of his heroes) Zakir Hussain at the Oleron Jazz Festival in France. Dave says “It was a great display of musicianship last night at the Oloron Jazz festival. Zakir was playing in duo with Oud player and vocalist Dhafer Yousef. He was very nice, I gave him a copy of our album Global as a thank you for all the pleasure his playing has given me over the years. I was embarrassed to say that I played a little tabla on one of the tracks. He joked that he played a little tabla too… I was very struck by how Zakir had integrated extra tablas, little tuned drums and percussion into his playing last night so it was very varied and interesting. Tablas plus. The technique as ever was formidable and impeccable, but his adaptability to the different musical environments ( so many) he plays in always impresses me. I mentioned that I was fortunate to meet and do a few classes with his dad the great Ustad Alla Rakha, best known I suppose for 30 years accompanying Ravi Shankar. It surprised him to meet an aging muso at a concert in Oloron who knew his dad! Alla Rakha flew the flag for the tablas in the west and taught Zakir from a very early age. For this and all his other many achievements I and many others are eternally grateful.” ...
See MorePosted by Adrian Litvinoff on Jan 16, 2014
‘Thanks for Monday. Really cool set. A mention and pic at www.everysmith.com and also an interesting comment! The second one I think.’ Max (Wilde’s)
See MorePosted by Adrian Litvinoff on Oct 23, 2013
Sunday evening was a really memorable night for Interplay, as a lively crowd of music fans, friends, music scene movers and the simply curious packed into LAMP, Leamington’s Live Arts and Music Project, to share in the launch of the band’s new album ‘Global’. Steve Steinhaus was in the compere’s chair to move proceedings along and the band got swiftly down to business with the Cuban classic ‘Amor Verdadero’. After a reflective ‘Hermitage’ it was time for the first of the night’s original compositions, ‘Autumn Magic’, followed by an outstanding version of ‘Weightless’ featuring Alan Wakeman on soprano sax and Dave Balen in exceptional form on tablas. ‘Fashion Statement’ made for a complete mood shift, calling up some fine trombone from Richard Baker, before the band wrapped the set up with their north African-tinged version of ‘Imam’. For the second half opener ‘El Cuarto de Tula’ the entire audience was equipped with hand percussion, leading to a riotous rendition. ‘Shapeshift’ followed, with Neil Hunter building an exciting extended keyboard solo supported by the whole band. We then welcomed saxophonists Ray Hinks and Onno van Winden to sit in on ‘Su Baille Nuevo’, producing a spirited four-horn improvisation. ‘Slow Flame’, the evening’s deep ballad, really seemed to draw everyone in before ‘Swift Return’ and ‘The Shuffle’ brought the night to a celebratory climax. Thanks to everyone who helped to make the evening such a success! To the 100 or so souls who packed the venue and responded to our music with such warmth and enthusiasm, to all those who bought albums – over 40 were sold – and to all those who signed up to our mailing list. Not forgetting the crew at LAMP, Steve Steinhaus for mastering the ceremony, Rob Bridge our brilliant photographer, our lovely crew of helpers on the night, and all those nearest and dearest to the band who support us with their encouragement, patience and understanding. Without you all it could not happen! And to top it off there is a cracking review of the night and the album by Sundari Cleal of the Leamington Courier. Please check it out, and of course add any comments of your own – we’d love to have your feedback too!...
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