Thaba Bosiu

To London - with some trepidation, as our last trip, ten days ago, had been seriously curtailed as a result of ill-health on my part.

On that occasion our plans to see Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing at The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace in the afternoon and Hansard at the National Theatre had been reduced to Amanda seeing the exhibition alone while I nursed a cup of tea in a Pret a Manger off Buckingham Palace Road, followed by an early return home - the play unseen.

I later worked out that my discomfort was probably due to post-viral fatigue following a stomach bug three weeks earlier, and that all that really ailed me was complete exhaustion; the results of a recent raft of blood tests will hopefully confirm this self-diagnosis.

Against this background we caught the 16.13 to London, during which I started a (very quick) reading of "Broadsword Calling Danny Boy":

a 'stocking filler' present from Amanda last Christmas, acquired during a visit to Hatchards:

As I read it and recalled each scene of "Where Eagles Dare" I remembered and missed once again my late friend and colleague C, with whom I used to exchange entire scenes of the film's dialogue from memory...

An uneventful journey, and upon arrival in London we took a leisurely stroll to Judd Books on Marchmont Street, from where, for just £5.95, I acquired this item from my current wish list; it's out of print now, and a similarly new copy on Amazon is listed at £30:

Out, and another slow amble to Russell Square, where we hailed a cab to the junction of Dean Street and Oxford Street and then walked the last few yards to our final destination - the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho.

When booking our table back in September I had asked for a table close to the centre of the stage, and we weren't disappointed, having a great view of the piano at one end:

the drums at the other:

and all points between.

We were happy bunnies:

The reason for our visit:

I became aware of American pianist Lynne Arriale nearly 20 years ago, and have since acquired a number of her albums. The Guardian once described her as “One of the most exciting pianists in contemporary jazz” and this promised to be a rare treat.

With the gig not scheduled to start until 20.30 we settled down to some food ("Pollo Pesto" followed by "Chocolate Fondant" for Amanda and "Lasagna Classica" followed by "Chocolate Fudge Cake" for me), and to enjoy the ambience as the club began to fill up.

At the appointed hour the band took to the stage - Wisconsin-born Arriale on piano, Jasper Somsen from the Netherlands on double bass and Enoch Jamal ("E.J.") Strickland from Florida on drums. 

After first apologising for the general state of the US ("we didn't vote for it"), Lynne announced that they would be playing two sets, with music in the first set taken from their recently released album "Give Us These Days" and in the second set from a "still being recorded" and "yet to be released" album, "Chimes of Freedom".

Some artists seem to delight in keeping their audience 'in the dark' in relation to what they are hearing, with some playing an entire concert without announcing the names of tunes, let alone how they came to be composed. Not so here; Lynne introduced each number and, for each of her own compositions, provided a vignette of its origins.

Set 1

Woodstock

Finding Home

Appassionata

Give Us These Days

Slightly Off Centre

Let It Be

Over and Out

In many concerts, even those played by musicians of this calibre, there are solos that outstay their welcome and other such longueurs during which I find myself checking my watch or thinking about the journey home. Not so here.

Throughout the entire first set my attention never wandered and I could only marvel at the flow of ideas from and interplay between the three musicians.

All too soon the interval arrived and Lynne announced that she would be staying in the room to sign CDs or just to chat with anyone who wanted to. I had hoped for just this, and had come prepared...

 
In the Maseru District of Lesotho there is a sandstone plateau called Thaba Bosiu. Its name can be loosely translated as "Mountain of Night" and it is a place of significant importance in the history of the country.

In the early 1990s, inspired by Thaba Bosiu, the South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (born Adolph Johannes ("Dollar") Brand) composed and recorded a tune called "The Mountain of the Night".

Around 10 years later, Lynne Arriale recorded an album called "Inspiration", which included "Mountain of the Night", and it was when I acquired that CD that I discovered this hauntingly beautiful tune for the first time. In the years that followed it remained one of my favourite tunes recorded by Arriale or anyone else.

With this in mind I had taken with me my nearly 20-year-old copy of "Inspiration", in the hope of getting it signed - which Lynne did with grace:

I told her how much I had enjoyed the first set, how much I was looking forward to the second, and then leaned in and said quietly "...and if you're stuck for an encore - "Mountain of the Night"!" She smiled, first at me and then at Jasper, who was standing nearby, and then gently indicated that they hadn't really thought about that...

A few minutes later, the band took to the stage again. Lynne began by announcing that, although they had their set-list planned in advance, "people are more important than set-lists" and that, following approaches by a couple of audience members, they would be playing a tune called "Arise" from another of her earlier albums, and (if they were encouraged to) might play "Mountain of the Night" as their encore…

Set 2

Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

Journey

The Dreamers

Three Million Steps

Hope

"Of the People" (working title)

Arise

Reunion

and the band took their bows:

after which Lynne returned to the piano and announced, "And this, for the wonderful man who requested it, is "Mountain of the Night"":

and your correspondent finished the evening in Seventh Heaven. A video of Lynne playing "Mountain of the Night" with a different band a few years ago can be found here.

With the bill paid and our coats on I briefly sought Lynne out again to thank her, after which a brisk walk back up to Oxford Street, where we caught a cab back to St Pancras.

On the 00.15 home - Amanda seemed also to have enjoyed herself:

while even the thought of having to fast for nearly 12 hours until after my scheduled morning blood tests couldn't wipe the smile off my face:

Home safely and to bed around 02.50; still smiling...

A short video taken in the club by Jasper Somsen on the previous evening can be found here.