At last Burnt Sugar has made it to London. I went to their gig at the Queen
Elizabeth Hall last night and loved it.
I have always been interested in Greg Tate since his ground breaking
articles on Miles Davis mid 70's music in Downbeat 1982. When the Wire
reviewed Burnt Sugar a few years ago I tried to get their stuff but it is
impossible in the UK. Now they play a largish venue in London and I finally
get to see what its all about.
At the risk of annoying NY residents who probably see this group regularly
here are a few brief words about Burnt Sugar.
First off last night it was a big band: 2 drummers, bass, 2 guitars,
sax/clarinet, flute, keyboard, turntables, violin, cello, trumpet and 2
female singers (one of whom distorts her voice - and I suspect the PA output
of the whole band - with some gizmo). The band are conducted by Greg Tate,
and I mean conducted, with a baton. To cut things short 3 elements
immediately came to mind: God Speed You! Black Emperor, Miles' Agharta band
and Sun Ra. The music clearly has heads and organised sections but then free
improvises while controlled by Tate. At its most dynamic he achieves that
sudden stop start of the beginning of Agharta. Often I was searching around
trying to work out where a sound, rising in the texture, was coming from.
They do a great version of Castles Made of Sand that, at one point, dropped
to a single vocal underpinned by stuttering drums that matched her beat for
beat.
The ensemble has that loose feel of some Sun Ra performances, players
scamper up to Greg Tate for a quick discussion before leading off the next
part. At the end they seemed to have played long over the allotted time and
frantic looks were being exchanged to the side of the stage. This was
followed by a less than elegant finish - but I like that.
I see from the album sleeves that Vernon Reid features among the huge
collective but I haven't heard the CDs yet.
Greg Tate also proved a very nice guy. Very willing to chat and clearly very
pleased by how it had gone.
The Residents tonight.
Richard Gardner
