In short, a great concert - Joshua is right, Steve Swallow is a MONSTER! (in the most tasteful way!)
It was a long night though - the concert finished at about 9:30, but my train ticket home was booked for 11:40! It was about 2.30am when I got back to my house!
It was worth the journey though, both for the music and the thrill of meeting the legendary Robert Wyatt, who sat in front of me for the concert!
We were in our seats early enough to see Steve come out and tune up before the show - unamplified, his tone was metallic and similar to an acoustic guitar - not surprising when he uses a copper plectrum on fresh strings. Amplified, his tone was very warm and round.
Equipment:
Steve played the latest version of his Citron AE5 (think this is his third or fourth). The bass has no magnetic pickups and no controls apart from a single volume knob mounted on the upper horn. The bass had a dark wooden scratchplate mounted both above and below the strings - the amount of wear he puts on instruments is strange, as his technique is so clean.
The neck looked to be not much wider than a typical P-bass neck.
He played through a Walter Woods amp (green-light model) into an SWR 4x10" cabinet, raised up to waist height.
Technique:
The cleanest plectrum-playing I have ever seen! He keeps the ring finger and 'pinkie' of his picking hand planted on the body at the end of the fretboard at all times. The picking hand looked completely relaxed. SS favours the 'up-pick'. Apart from the plectrum, his background in double-bass is clear in his fingering, note choices (uses open strings a lot, like a DBer would) etc. Perhaps this is why he is one of the few jazzers to play EBG so convincingly.
The tunes:
They began with a suite based on the American national anthem - nice, but it kept coming back to a funky rhythm (nice double-stops by SS) that, after 10-15 minutes, was beginning to get a little tiring.
That was followed by an arrangement of 'Three Blind Mice', then a very nice reading of Monk's 'Mysterioso', with fiery tenor playing from Sheppard and some smooth walking from Swallow.
There was then a three-part suite, 'The Girl Who Cried Champagne', which featured an impressive display of circular breathing from Sheppard. Swallow's up-tempo walking and solos were very impressive.
The encore was 'Utviklingssang' - one of my favourite Carla Bley tunes - Swallow's solo got one the biggest rounds of applause of the night - it was
exquisite.
You can listen to the concert for until Friday here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzon3 - Click 'listen to the latest programme'.
just like the rest of the Garbarek group. Wish I could be there 
- enjoy!
