Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club Presents the Ronnie Cuber Quartet January 17, 2007
Perhaps I’m a bit spoiled in being from the East Coast of the USA – there are a half dozen top-notch jazz clubs in Boston alone, and anyone who knows jazz knows that New York rules the night. Luckily for the jazz scene in London, and more particularly my own night, the featured performer at Ronnie’s on Wednesday was out of this world. I do mean this in all senses- the man is a complete nutter, but also one of the greatest baritone saxophonists in the world. Ronnie Cuber has played with nearly every big name in the music world (from Frank Zappa to Paul Simon to Aretha Franklin) over his 48-year career in professional music and it is immediately clear why to anyhow who hears him. Combining a Laser sharp sound with breathtaking facility on the elephant of the saxophone family, he tore the club up for about an hour and a half. In between numbers, he danced, complained about the heat in London in general and the room in particular, and made small talk with the French family sitting next to the stage. During some of the songs he ran to the microphone to shout ‘yeah!’ ‘Alright!’ and assorted phrases in Spanish. He even went so far as to rearrange the drum mics in the middle of a tune. Despite his antics, he never ceased to impress musically, delivering spot-on performances of bebop classics, Latin dance tunes, and an arrangement of the ‘Godfather’ theme for jazz quartet. Strong performances were also turned in by his side men: Kelvin Sholar (who dazzled us with a strong interpretation of ‘Alone Together’ on the piano), Boris Kozlov on the bass (whose Russian heritage Cuber seemed particularly amused to proclaim) and Mark Taylor on the drums, a native Brit and a southpaw to boot. I for one give this show two thumbs up for stellar musicianship, a wonderful scene, and great dance moves by a fat man with a saxophone.
Introducing ‘Necro Sadistic Goat Torture’…
King’s Bench: Describe your sound.
TS: Well, it’s death metal with thrash influences. Its aggressive technical music… but still melodic.
KB: Is there a big metal scene in London?
TS: Compared to other places in Europe the underground metal scene is quite big here in London. But you can never have enough, can you?
KB: How do you balance university and being the front woman in a touring band? Or is it work hard/play hard?
TS: Easy I guess, everyone has their own commitments next to uni. Sometimes the band is more important and you skip lectures, other times uni is a priority. I’m happy if I manage to sober up before the lectures.
KB: What does the future hold for NSGT?
TS: We just released our mini album ‘The Maniac’s Banque’, buy it! (haha) and are planning on touring Europe later this year. It’s all on our website www.necrosadisticgoattorture.com, visit to support the metal ALCOHOLOCAUST!
From the first jangling, drawling chords of Northern Line through the disparate other worldliness of ‘Do You Ever Feel?’, Jamie T and his band of cohorts staged an exhibition of musical dynamism to be reckoned with.
Hailing from Wimbledon and boasting a solid background of live performance, Jamie T is probably best described as Billy Bragg in a vintage baseball cap, swaggering to reggae tilted keyboards and spitting infectious rhymes brimming with social commentary. As the voice of a dissident, T is engaging and emotive. As a musician, his sound is nothing but empowered by the addition of a full band.
At a venue closed for screening the controversy-fest Stanley Kubrick’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’ in 1993, The Scala was a smartly fitting backdrop to this tub-thumping buzz of a set. Undoubtedly Jamie T’s greatest accolade is the fact that in a lyricists’ culture over saturated with pretenders and unoriginals, his voice seems to have hit a chord. Possibly the very same one left tingling by Joe Strummer et al some thirty years ago.
Combining the ability to write convincingly about what it is to be young, falling headlong into some of the traps laid out for you but flinching from others, and watching your contemporaries fall into them is a rare feat. To do so in synch with a paced, pitched musical score is perhaps an explanation of why this gig was an unapologetic sell out.
Current single If You Got The Money amplified the unhinged energy of the whole affair, a fitting contrast to stationary support band Fear of Flying. The Nintendo reminiscent loop of the Summer 2006 release Sheila provided a fitting encore, capping an hour of rambunctious musical antics.
Jamie T and Co impressed. They impressed further onto an audience little more diverse than different age tiers of Oxfam-chic alternatives. The question of whether T will conquer the wider commercial spectrum will most likely lie in the palatability of his rock-infused, reggae-enthused offerings. I’d take his odds.
My verdict 4/5
Most of us on Guy’s campus have walked past this restaurant hundreds of times and never even noticed it. Opposite the back entrance of Greenwood Theatre, from the outside Champor Champor looks like a run down shop, and for years I didn’t even notice that it was a restaurant. However, on the inside it is like being teleported into a magical Malaysian world. The decorum is out of this world, from a large mural of a holy cow, to wooden carved pillars and artifacts of eastern creatures. It is original and quirky and the atmosphere is cosy and friendly. Unlike most restaurants, each individual table has its own unique set up, with intricate coloured fabrics. The restaurant is quite small and intimate and ideal for small groups.
The service was excellent – from taking our coats at the door, to watching us leave with smiles on our faces. The presentation of the food was beautiful with starters being served alongside exotic flowers and our main course being presented on huge banana leaves. The food is a Malay-Asian fusion. It is some of the best that I have tasted, absolutely wonderful – a taste sensation! There was a range of well known dishes as well as some of Champor Champor’s specials, such as roast fillet of Ostrich! The drinks list is like a tour of the world; Brazilian and Chinese wines alongside Thai rice whisky.
It is not a cheap evening out, an average three course meal, not including drinks comes to £36. Although it’s a little pricey there is no restaurant as exotic and fun as Champor Champor. So next time you walk past, why not treat yourself to the delights of the East!
To see for yourself – www.champor-champor.com
My verdict: 4/5
Champor Champor
London Bridge, 62 Weston Street, London SE1 3QJ
Nearest Tube: London Bridge
Tel: 020 7403 4600
Fact: London is home to over half of all the restaurants in the UK.
For students in London, eating out can go two ways. Avoiding the plethora of culinary delights in the capital really is a wasted opportunity – but doing the opposite by eating out too much can require the surrender of your beloved student overdraft.
The answer: www.toptable.co.uk. The website not only provides some of the most independent and honest reviews of thousands of London (and now further afield) restaurants, but is a ‘free and easy’ booking service.
The key for our purposes, though: the special offers. Updated daily, toptable’s special offers are quite simply outstanding. In this month’s ‘January Sale’, some of the best offers include 50% off food at Mango Tree (SW1X), The Terrace (WC2E) and Blue Elephant (SW6), £16.50 for 7 courses at Benihana (SW3, W1S or NW3), £30 for 3 courses at Marcus Wareing at The Savoy Grill (WC2R), or 3 courses and a glass of Cava for £15 at Covent Garden Grill (WC2E).
Eating out at some of London’s very best restaurants is entirely possible when using toptable. Be it a special occasion or a regular catch-up with friends, try somewhere new at some incredibly reasonable prices.
And finally… if you become a regular user, after just a few bookings you will be entitled to a free meal, – so even when eating out without a special offer, using toptable to book the meal can rack up points.
To see for yourself – www.toptable.co.uk
My verdict: excellent
‘Modern Indian Tapas’… ‘[A] godsend’… ‘[F]un and funky’.
Critics love Imli. It is different. But is it mismatched?
The tapas at Imli is varied and original, having the Tasting Menu allowed my guest and I to get a good feel for the philosophy behind the restaurant. It was certainly modern and casual but Imli isn’t somewhere to while away your night. The combination of flavours was balanced well and the dishes on the Tasting Menu complement each other. For the basic menu at £13.50 you get a lot of choice. The Chana Chat was excellent – although Imli isn’t the place for vegetarians.
The Smoothies and Lassis were outstanding, reminiscent of Busaba; indeed Imli’s dining concept has obviously sought inspiration from Alan Yau’s other creations, the infamous Wagamama and the only Chinese restaurant to boast a Michelin star, Hakkasan.
Imli is a one-stop-shop. It does not purport to preserve tradition. As such, a varied demography of staff and diners alike produce an ever so slightly uncomfortable combination. It does make for a refreshing change from Brick Lane and you should try it at least once, but it won’t create converts.
To see for yourself – www.imli.co.uk
My verdict 3/5
Imli
167-169 Wardour Street, London W1F 8WR
Nearest Tube: Tottenham Court Road
Book in advance: 020 7287 4243
Average Price: £17
‘Hip and modern but without pretensions’
Covent Garden Grill. A name clearly targeted at tourists. My guest and I visited on a Wednesday night, and were rather lonely in the basement. Nonetheless, the food was surprisingly enjoyable, and the ambience strangely satisfactory.
The menu is an odd mix of traditional British, Middle Eastern and Oriental. Sticking with the traditional British side, my guest and I both had an outstanding Chicken Liver Pate. It was light and discrete in texture but definitely full in flavour. I had the Calf’s Liver for Mains, and whilst there was a noticeable absence of gravy or jus, the Liver was cooked very well and obviously freshly sourced. For dessert, I thoroughly enjoyed the Vanilla Panna Cotta.
Covent Garden Grill has got portion control absolutely right. The servings were exact, and as a result we enjoyed a meal that left us refreshingly comfortable at the end.
To see for yourself – www.coventgardengrill.com
My verdict 4/5
Covent Garden Grill
16 Henrietta Street, London WC2E 8QH
Nearest Tube: Covent Garden
Book in advance: 020 7240 9600
Average Price: £30
In this style-obsessed age we live in, occasionally aesthetic hubris has a tendency to overtake substantive quality. ‘Smoking Aces’ is a prime example of such a divergence. It both tries to concoct a story replete with trendy and original hitmen, with a visual style littered with more BIG guns and gore than a bad day in Baghdad. The result? We watch an assortment of villains (a sassy couple of African-American women, a trio of redneck Nazis, a scarred sullen killer called ‘Soot’, and some Latin American mercenary loon) and a couple of good federal agents all descend on a Nevada hotel to find super-snitch Buddy Israel. They get there, they shoot each other, and they find love, blah blah blah.
The film’s plotline is so weak that we are constantly obliged to listen to long speeches by characters to tell us what is going on. Rather than the action unfold before us we are told who everyone is, what they are doing there, and then we watch it happen. Add to this the baffling number of irrelevant characters who appear to do little more than occupy space and pad someone’s CV, it makes the explanations even more essential to keep the audience focused on the pretence of a story.
The real question you walk away from this film asking is how on earth theoretically intelligent people managed to wash away however many millions on this claptrap and how can I get onto that gravy train?
To see for yourself: www.smokinaces.net
Verdict: 2/5
An interesting, if possibly romanticised, account of the adult life of the famous children’s author, Beatrix Potter. Renée Zellweger gets her Bridget Jones accent back to tell stories about bunnies, among other things, and against all odds becomes a roaring success to the shock of her fussy mother and pride of her dewy-eyed father. A pleasant performance from Ewan McGregor (who bumbles around as Mr Norman Wade, the publisher and love interest of Miss Potter) and tolerable acting from the child actors in the roles of young Beatrix and her brother.
Overall a lovely film that seems to overlook the somewhat sinister and obscure nature of Potter’s stories. I do not think this film has the makings of a classic, but it runs nicely and gives an example of a remarkable young woman who defies status and social expectation by becoming a huge success in her own right.
To see for yourself: www.misspottermovie.co.uk
Verdict: 3/5
‘A touch of Spice’ is a movie of love, history and recipes.
The film travels from Istanbul to Athens combining two worlds, assumed different, but so alike through people’s culture. Fanis, a Greek boy, being raised in Istanbul, is taught the secrets of cooking by his grandfather and Saime, a Turkish girl, teaches him how love feels.
During tumultuous times in Greek-Turkish affairs, all the Greeks had to be deported from Istanbul, including Fanis and his parents, meaning he had to leave Saime behind.
Many years later Fanis returns to Istanbul. Whilst there, he re-embraces the city, its flavours, its smells, its spices and its beauty, but also he faced facts he long tried to suppress: he comes across Saime again. Why did he stay away for so long? Was it too late for love?
The movie is in Greek, Turkish languages with English subtitles.
Verdict 5/5
