John Thomson's turn as Louis Balfour in The Fast Show's Jazz Club skits may not have been to all tastes, pandering as it did to the stereotype that Jazz is loved only by pretentious pseuds in roll-neck sweaters, but they had a side-effect of programming the brains of those that watched them to utter the words "nice" or "great" whenever the J-word is used.
That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Despite never owning a roll-neck sweater, or smoking a pack of Gauloises in a dark cellar, I must confess that I'm partial to some flavours of Jazz. The works of Tord Gustavsen, The Bad Plus and the late Esbjörn Svensson all sit comfortably amongst the selection of Indie, Alt-Rock, Electronica, Rap and Pop in my record collection. However, despite that, I can wilt under the excesses of some performers (Courtney Pine for example), excesses which cause said stereotypes to flourish and my tapping foot to steer clear. News that Southsea's CoastguardStudiohas partnered with Chichester's La Havana Jazz Club, to bring Jazz to the heart of Portsmouth in 2019, could well get me to direct my Converse to The Strand for an evening of mellifluous delights (especially asPortsmouth's long running Jazz club is shuttering in December).
The monthly club night promises international artists (the excellent Gilad Atzmon is amongst the initial tranche announced), supplemented by local DJs spinning vinyl. Not to further reinforce a stereotype but all I can say is great.
Dublin's Fontaines D.C. have been causing a bit of a stir for a while now, gaining a London following on strong word of mouth, leading to a support slot with Shame, plus they've had love lavished upon them from the likes of Steve Lamacq and the NME(I know, I stopped reading it when it from a Libertines fan club magazine to a freebie doled out in Top Shop, but they it still get it right occasionally). New single Too Real is a weirdly brilliant rollercoaster of rhythm (THAT guitar sound is a wonderful thing) and lyrics, jarringly catchy, polished off with a refreshingly disaffected vocal delivery. To be honest it may as well come with a neon sign attached flashing "We're Ones To Watch, See You Everywhere In 2019".
Fontaines D.C. are currently playing the smaller venues on the circuit (they rock up at Southampton's Joiners in January) though I'll wager that, come the end of next year, you'd be lucky to find them playing anything smaller than an 1800 capacity venue.
This Saturday, 10th November, Southsea's Wine Vaults hosts Old Guard 18/19, a musical fundraiser for charity No More Durty Water. Fifty DJs will descend on the venerable Albert Road pub, spinning thirteen hours of music across three sounds systems, raising money to aid the charity's efforts to end water poverty.
Since its inception in 2010No More DurtyWater has, through parties, gigs and raffles, fully funded the building of 10 protected springs in southern Uganda. The charity was founded by local DJ Monkey P who, inspired by the fundraising activities of music students at South Downs College, realised that he could involve Southsea's musical and artistic community to raise both money and awareness. Sadly Monkey P died in 2015, the work of the charity he created continues however.
In addition to the DJs spinning out tunes there will be a raffle, with over thirty prizes supplied by local businesses, a record fair and a sale of Monkey P's record collection (some of which was sold at The Wedgewood Rooms back in May). The poster, below, riffs on the classic Mexico '86 World Cup logo (which reminded me that, back when I was a small boy, I had a model of Pique that I assembled out of a Kinder Egg).
