Daily jazz blog, Marlbank

David Mrakpor on seriously impressive form at the Post Bar

You know instinctively that you have got lucky hearing the band at the soundcheck playing Herbie Hancock's 'Chameleon' so seemingly effortlessly. Then you double-up when a keyboardist as fine as the multi-instrumentalist David Mrakpor of Blue Lab …

Published: 4 Jun 2021. Updated: 3 years.

You know instinctively that you have got lucky hearing the band at the soundcheck playing Herbie Hancock's 'Chameleon' so seemingly effortlessly. Then you double-up when a keyboardist as fine as the multi-instrumentalist David Mrakpor of Blue Lab Beats goes into Herbie's 'Butterfly,' a piece that Robert Glasper has added his own spin on.

In the Glasper mould Mrakpor is pretty jaw-dropping I must admit hearing him live for the first time during the first set last night at the Post Bar, Tottenham. When the Triple Jam house band led by very tasteful trombonist-vocalist James Lawrence played 'Butterfly' it definitely took me back to 2008 and hearing Robert Glasper at Charlie Wright's in Hoxton because Mrakpor is in that sound swirl and has a lot of playing personality. Drummer Joe Allotta was an effervescent presence and soon his way with the offbeats got the head bobbing. The band's bass guitarist was, carefully and steadily, Edoardo Bombace.

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With the ''jazztronica'' Blue Lab Beats on 'Blow You Away (Delilah)' Mrakpor also plays guitar (it's quite a riff) and chatting very briefly before going on last night after the soundcheck he mentioned on the guitar side that he likes George Benson. Check out Blue Lab Beats and he's on the compilation Blue Note Re:Imagined playing keys and vibes on 'Montara'. Inspiring stuff on this showing catching this significant talent live. SG

Guitarist Chris Booth top left and keyboardist David Mrakpor at the Post Bar

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August release for Tony Coe-John Horler album Dancing in the Dark: 'Piece for Poppy' streams

Dancing in the Dark by a giant of jazz clarinet Tony Coe in duo with pianist John Horler on a live recording dating back to a church location in the Cumbrian town of Appleby in 2007 is to be released this summer. The Andy Cleyndert-produced …

Published: 3 Jun 2021. Updated: 3 years.

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Dancing in the Dark by a giant of jazz clarinet Tony Coe in duo with pianist John Horler on a live recording dating back to a church location in the Cumbrian town of Appleby in 2007 is to be released this summer.

The Andy Cleyndert-produced album includes a treatment of Bill Evans' 'Re:Person I Knew'. Coe recorded the piece on his classic late-1980s album Canterbury Song with pianist Horace Parlan, bassist Jimmy Woode and drummer Idris Muhammed. Cole Porter's 'Night and Day', Horler's 'Piece for Poppy', which is streaming ahead of the Gearbox album's 13 August release, and Coe's 'Autumn Leaves' contrafact (a new melody composed to the standard's chords) called 'Some Other Autumn' are among the tracks.

The title track is the Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz classic 1930s song 'Dancing in the Dark' first recorded by Jacques Renard and his Orchestra and covered by many down the years including famously Frank Sinatra on Come Dance With Me (1959). Horler has released a version of 'Piece for Poppy' with guitarist Phil Lee on the Hi-Hat Records album Unity. Coe and Horler have worked together extensively over the years and the version of 'Piece for Poppy' introducing the album is, let's be explicit, simply exquisite.