Great excitement at going to my first live gig for more than 15 years! Went to see the John Scofield Trio at the Cadogan Hall, Sloane Square. I have seen Scofield at least three times before. The first time was in the 80s at the Royal Festival Hall when he was with Miles Davis. The second time was again at the RFH when he had his own band. The third time was with his own band at the Forum in Kentish Town.
Before the concert, I went for a meal at the Sloane Square branch of Côte Brasserie, just around the corner from the Cadogan Hall. I sent a text to my wife saying, “just finished my meal but, no hurry, John Scofield has only just placed his order.” Someone who looked very much like John Scofield was at the very far end, with a chubby bespectacled black man. This made me wonder if I had misidentified the man with the grey beard and bald head. I did not know if there was a black man in the trio. I thought the bassist was Steve Swallow (whom I had seen before with his wife Carla Bley and with Jimmy Giuffre).
I had not realised there was a support act. John Scofield had plenty of time to finish his meal even though the concert started promptly at 7.30. Robin Nolan and Chris Quinn play gipsy style guitar, influenced by Django. They have made an album on George Harrison’s Dark Horse label using George Harrison’s guitars. They were good.
The John Scofield Trio came on without delay and played until 21.53 and came back for one encore number without the bassist. The bassist was not Steve Swallow. He was a bespectacled chubby black man. He was very good. His name was Vicente Archer. He has played with musicians such as Terence Blanchard, Kenny Garrett (saw him with Miles Davis), Wynton Marsalis/Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Stanley Jordan (saw him at the RFH London Jazz Festival) and Stefon Harris (saw him at the Cork Jazz Festival).
The drummer was Bill Stewart. He was very good. He has performed with Pat Metheny, Lonnie Smith, Nicholas Payton. He has also worked with the following whom I have seen at the Cork Jazz Festival: Larry Goldings, Joe Lovano, Michael Brecker, and Jim Hall. He has also played with Maceo Parker.
The trio played two numbers I immediately recognised. Bob Dylan’s Mr Tambourine Man and the Grateful Dead’s Uncle John’s Band.
The Cadogan Hall is a very pleasant venue, within sight of Sloane Square tube station. First opened in 1907 as a New Christian Science Church designed by Robert Fellowes Chisholm (who also designed the Napier Museum in Kerala), the Hall hosted congregations of 1,400 in its heyday. By 1996, the congregation had diminished dramatically and the building had fallen into disuse. Mohamed Fayed, then owner of Harrods, had acquired the property, but was unable to secure permission to convert the building to a palatial luxury house on account of its status as a listed building.. Cadogan Estates Ltd (the property company owned by Earl Cadogan, whose ancestors have been the main landowners in Chelsea since the 18th century (the nearby Cadogan Square and Cadogan Place are also named after them) purchased the building in 2000. It was refurbished in 2004 by Paul Davis and Partners, Architects at a cost of £7.5 million. The changes included new lighting and sound systems and bespoke acoustic ceiling modules in the performance space. (Thanks to Wikipedia).
Grand and intimate at the same time. A fine vaulted ceiling. There are no pillars, no restricted views and all the 950 seats are not too far from the stage. The resident music ensemble at Cadogan Hall is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the first London orchestra to have a permanent home.
Meself 