London Jazz Festival - 4

By this stage, energy levels, and my ability to recall to mind all details of the day, had started to flag.

Breakfast at Pret on Euston Road and then a cab to the north end of Marylebone High Street.

First stop was one of my absolute favourite bookshops, Daunt Books.  It is a rare visit when I depart without having added at least two or three books to my wish-list.

Dodgy looking geezer checking out the window display:

Amanda does like a nice Christmas-themed thriller display:

A stroll down to Oxford Street to check out the furniture department in Marks and Spencer, which we were disappointed to find was no better stocked than the one at Fosse Park.

More walking to Piccadilly, where we visited another favourite bookshop, Hatchards:

More walking, back to the hotel to rest and freshen up and then out to the Tottenham Court Road branch of Honest Burgers:

and then on to Wigmore Street and Wigmore Hall:

Amazing decor and architecture inside:

We were there to see Swedish bassist Lars Danielsson and his band.

Left to right - French pianist Grégory Privat, Lars Danielsson, British guitarist John Parricelli and Swedish drummer Magnus Öström:

With the exception of Öström we had not seen any of this band before.  Seeing Öström again was bittersweet; he was the drummer in the Esbjörn Svensson Trio (EST) until, in 2008, his lifelong friend Svensson died tragically at the age of 44 in a SCUBA-diving accident. We had seen EST many times, and I can still remember the shock of Amanda relaying the news to me from the radio late one night.

Privat, Öström and Danielsson signing autographs after the gig:

Out, and a cab back to the hotel to pack in anticipation of our departure the next morning.

The trains being 'back to normal' we returned via St Pancras.

I have to say that this Eiffel Tower, made of expensive French perfume bottles and standing in place of a Christmas tree, did cause me to think that, when it came to celebrating the birth of the Saviour of mankind, the management at St Pancras couldn't have got it much more wrong if they had tried...

An uneventful journey home, exhausted but happy.

London Jazz Festival - 3

A day of rest, free of concerts (or so we thought).  Out, and along Euston Road to Pret for breakfast.  

St Pancras in the distance:

The British Library:

Out, and a long, slow perambulation down to the Strand:

and eventually into Trafalgar Square.  The view down Whitehall:

Dodgy looking geezer ("Psst - wanna buy an art gallery - going cheap"...):

Into Soho and to the Old Compton Street branch of Herman ze German:

Bratwurst and fries:

Bratwurst, fries, crispy fried onions, mustard and ketchup:

Over lunch we debated the merits of squeezing in another concert that evening.  New York pianist Emmet Cohen was playing at the Soho Pizza Express jazz club that night, and on the basis of the one CD of his that I had so far managed to acquire, this was a gig I was likely to enjoy.  On the other hand, at this late hour for booking the seats were unlikely to be prime, and it was supposed to be a rest day...

I called the venue; yes, they confirmed, there were tables available, but they were right at the back or side of the room.  I thanked them and hung up.  More discussion.  "Stuff it", I said, "I really want to see this guy - are you up for it?".  

I called back and made the booking.

Back out into Soho and down to Charing Cross Road for a visit to Foyles.

X marks the spot; if ever we can't find each other in the shop, this is our agreed meeting spot:

Back to the hotel for a rest and freshen up, and then to the Pizza Express.

As already indicated, our table was right at the back and on the side.  We sat and surveyed the room, and I realised that the table behind me would offer much better views.  I went back to the maître d and asked if we could swap; he checked his clipboard and agreed that we could.  

As I started to turn away I noticed a small pile of Cohen CDs on the table beside him; one of them was an album that I had long been trying to purchase, but which seemed to be out of print in this country and prohibitively expensive to import.  "Are those for sale?", I asked, somewhat redundantly.  "I'll take one - I loved the first one in the series and have been trying to get this one for ages".  "Bless you", said a voice beside me, and I realised that Cohen had been standing beside the maître d' all along...

CD acquired, we moved to our new table, with which we were well pleased:

Views of the room:

Every one of these tables was eventually occupied to capacity:

The announcer reminded everyone to switch mobiles, etc to silent and to keep all unnecessary noise to a minimum, noting that this was a concert and not "dinner with background music"; the band took to the stage and the concert started:

Mid-way through the first number two young women arrived, caused enormous disruption to everyone around them while they squeezed into their seats, ordered a bottle of wine... ...and then proceeded to discuss their respective days in voices that increased in volume the louder the band played...

The two young men on the table adjacent to them looked uncomfortable but said nothing.  I lasted about three minutes and then leaned over to gently admonish them: "Could you please shut the hell up - you're ruining it for everyone else".  They did (and at the end of the evening one of them had the good grace to come over and apologise).  It's all in a day's work for "Extraneous Concert Noise Monitor"...

Emmet between numbers:

Bassist Yasushi Nakamura:

On drums and occasional vocals, Bryan Carter:

Guesting on trumpet for a couple of numbers, British trumpeter Mark Kavuma:

The band take their leave; this being the London Jazz Festival the curfew had not been observed too precisely, and it was well past 23.00:

Out, and up to Oxford Street:

 where we eventually hailed a cab back to the hotel.

London Jazz Festival - 2

After just 24 hours at home, back down to London.  Once again the on-going works on the railways caused us to adopt new travel plans - Leicester to Narborough and then Narborough to Euston.

A straightforward journey and a short walk along Euston Road to the St Pancras Premier Inn.

Home for the next three nights:

A quick lunch at the nearby Pret a Manger and then a cab ride to Charing Cross Station, from where we walked down to the Embankment and then across the Golden Jubilee Bridge:

The first of today's two concerts:

After a great concert featuring music from their new album, Julia and bandmates took their bows:

and we headed out into the foyer:

Out, and down the side of the main Festival Hall building to Honest Burgers for an early dinner:

and then into the main Festival Hall building and into the Clore Ballroom:

A young audient makes himself comfortable:

and the band takes the stage.  Yes, it's the Julia Hülsmann Quartet playing a free 30-minute set, to be broadcast the following Saturday on Radio 3:

After the set, Julia was joined by BBC presenter Kevin Legendre for a short interview:

Out, and along the Thames towards Waterloo Bridge:

OK, it's the wrong bridge, but for me, when it comes to the London skyline, Wordsworth really got it right:

Earth has not any thing to show more fair:

Across the bridge and up to the Strand, from where we caught a cab to the Barbican:

We were there to see (for the first time) funkmeister Herbie Hancock:

It's not a Herbie gig until he straps on the keytar:

On bass, James Jenus - who we had last seen supporting pianist Makoto Ozone at the "Porgy and Bess" jazz club in Vienna in 2018:

On vocals and flute, 24-year-old Elena Pinderhughes was as impressive as when we had seen her supporting trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah at the Lakeside Arts Centre in Nottingham in 2015:

Guitarist Lionel Loueke and drummer Justin Tyson with the others for their curtain call:

Out, to find that our troubles with public transport were continuing; the Barbican underground station was closed for the whole weekend.  A walk to St Paul's station and a tube ride back to St Pancras, from where we walked across Euston Road to the Premier Inn.