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Piper At The Pearly GatesKelvin Christiane - tenor / soprano saxophones & flute
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Best of Unit 5Recorded by Nick Taylor at Porcupine studio 17th January and 28th February 1990. Remastered by Phil Scragg. Kelvin Christiane - tenor & flute
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Timelessrecorded live at the 606 club Chelsea London on the 1st June 2005 Kelvin Christiane - tenor saxophone and flute
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...nowRecorded live at the 606 club in Chelsea London on the 18th February 2004. Recorded by Dill Katz and mastered by Phil Scragg Kelvin Christiane - tenor saxophone and flute
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Allusions of Grandeurrecorded live at the 606 club in Chelsea London on the 21st May 2003 and featuring the Kelvin Christiane Quartet:- Kelvin Christiane - tenor saxophone and flute
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Universal Peace Suite
Kelvin Christiane - saxes flute, clarinet |
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Red Dawn - Kelvin Christiane Quartet
Recorded at the 606 Club London, 17 April 2002 by Dill Katz and mastered by Phil Scragg. With special thanks to Steve Rubie at the 6.. This is refreshing group of vituosi whose memory of bebop and hardbop is leavened by the spirits of both Coltrane, and more particularly, Roland Kirk. Christiane is an excellent tenor saxophonist, with a warm broad tone and clean, singing high notes which are highly emotive and with sometimes a Trane cry in his sound. He’s also a fine flautist. Perrin’s accompaniments are wonderfully varied and his piano solos never fail to sparkle. The rhythm section is also superlative with bassist Howles and Clifford – one of the master drummers. The repertoire is nicely eclectic- the title track is a powerfully swinging blues with an attractive and unusual theme composed by Christiane, and Tadd Dameron’s “Our Delight” gets a dynamic bebop airing. Carl Fischer’s lovely ballad “We’ll be together again” is given a tender and beatific performance with an outstanding tenor solo and a fine bass solo with very imaginative piano accompaniment. Christiane plays flute on Jobim’s “Corcovado” and solos with great panache. Two other blues with Roland Kirk connections are also given an airing. “Two for the Festival” has Christiane playing tenor and alto simultaneously for the theme. Then changing to flute for his solo which includes dramatic stop choruses in which he creates the hoarse flute tone that characterised Kirk’s untamed playing of the instrument. However, the most interesting and contemporary sounding piece is Christiane’s “Thunder Beings” which has a unique structure with changing tempos, angular phrases, big punctuations, strong solos and quiet elegiac passages. The album concludes with Kirk’s “Blues for A & T” which has urgent tenor and piano solos and terminates with a mighty drum solo and a wild ending. This album runs the gamut of the emotions. IAN CARR 18th May 2002 A most enjoyable, straight ahead, hardbop session recorded live at London's 606 Club this year. Kelvin Christiane is an excellent tenor saxophonist, with a round warm tone, which sometimes harks back to an earlier period in jazz. He is also a fine flautist. Roland Perrin's piano playing shines throught. his solos are full of inventive twists and turns. Dominic Howles contributes some thoughtful bass and the drumming Winston Clifford is as masterful as ever. The title track and opener starts with a slow section bursting into an energetic swinging blues. Claire Fisher's ballad We'll be together again gets a warm rendition with fine solos and Tad Dameron's Our Delight is delightful. Christiane pays homage to Roland Kirk (an obvious infuluence) on two tracks stating the themes on alto and tenore saxes simultaneously. Harrison Smith Musician magazine September 2002 |
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Awakening
"New to me, this is an excellent band of young British hard boppers who play with flair and enthusiasm. The leader's playing (he is heard mostly on tenor) is inventive and committed. As he is also composer and arranger of all titles this is clearly a young man to look out for and hear whenever the opportunity arises. There is also a great deal of drive and swing from the rhythm section. I particularly liked the opening track, Sam's Boogie, the hint of menace in the introduction to Joy Of The Spheres, and the elegantly introspective Faith. I would like to be able to tell you something about these musicians but the sleeve note simply lists titles, personnel and a handful of credits and acknowledgements. As the album is self-produced they seem to have missed a good opportunity for some valuable publicity. Anyway, it's the music that counts and, here, it counts for rather a lot. I look forward to more where this came from. Very good sound." Bruce Crowther, Jazz Journal International October 1992 |
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Heaven is Now
As the 21st century dawned, the consciousness of Earths inhabitants moved towards a common goal. Realising their own inner power, a positive future was forseen establishing a new world vision; 'heaven is now'. Enlightened- uplifting music channelled through the dimensions from a group of enlightened beings from the 'Pleiades'. This music was compiled from over four hundred hours of channelling by Kelvin Christiane and Philip Scragg over a period of two and a half years. The inner message throughout this music is to helping us to reach a new stage of evolution. Through working together in teams and becoming media and TV free........we will learn how to move beyond fear.... Production Phil 'Pip' Scragg |
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Live at the 6 ...
Recorded live at the 606 Club London by Dill Katz on 10th October 2001 Reviewing some early Blakey Messengers CD's recently it was re-inforced in my mind how much better those early bands sounded when recorded in clubs under favourable conditions. The same may well be true for Kelvin Christiane for although I haven't heard any studio sets by him, this live performance at the 606 in West London sparkles with good, modern jazz energy and commitment to the cause. The opening 'Violet Rain' is a hard, swinging workout for just about everybody and they all acquit themselves well. The leader has a very distinctive sound on tenor sax with a tone compounded of several parts Coltrane, a few Roland Kirk and his own penchant for dipping into the lower register effectively; a happy combination. Ohm's long solo is a gem of musical percussion, very well structured and skilfully executed. The tribute to Kirk, 'Blue Rd', has Kelvin playing tenor and alto simultaneously as Roland did and then going into a personalised alto solo full of unexpected twists and turns and well structured blues licks. Then comes a dark textured tenor solo dipping frequently into those subterranean regions that normally only contra-bass players inhabit. Perrin solos brightly, his touch light and scorchingly incandescent. 'Letting Go' is an atmospheric ballad touched by gloom and despondency if I read the leader's solo correctly. Even here though, there are flashes of optimism heralding fresh starts and new beginnings. Corea's '500 miles high' features fluctuating aspects of the flute sound in a varied solo using different ways of playing the instrument. The final 'In Walked Bud' is a heart-felt tribute to Thelonius Monk extracting the essence of the composer's quirky melody without slavish plagiarism. There is no fully understanding Monk but to dig him you need to love the music of the jazz world's major iconclasts and have a pervasive sence of humour. Kelvin and his sidemen appreciate him fully. Derek Ansell Jazz Journal International June 2002 |
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Salute The Sun
The work of had evaded me, but on this evidence hi is an impressive writer, showing a thorough and creative command of contemporary idiom. His compositions are variously reminiscent of M-Base players like Greg Osby and Gary Thomas (Salute The Sun), latter-day Wayne Shorter (River) and the straightahead post - Coltrane tradition (swing on Journey, Latin on Firefly), and he shows a virtually unfailing instance for musical development. He has assembled a very proficient crew to deliver music which often demands great precision, and he has, in Angilley, a very good soloist. The leader is a capable improviser too, perhaps at his best on River. As if to remind us that he is a fully rounded musical personality, he closes the set with a mildly incongruous conventional reading of "My One And Only". Altogether an impressive showing for a not overexposed talent. Mark Gilbert - Jazz Journal International September 1998 |
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Tribute to Roland Kirk
A musical tribute to the legendary multi - instrumentalist Roland Kirk
Barry McRae Jazz Journal Int. Nov 2000 |
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Great Spirit
From the moment you hear the punchy, Art Blakeyish ensemble exclamations of the opener by this classy British band you know you're in safe hands. It's appropriate that the young saxophonist and leader Kelvin Christiane should have made the second CD of his career for Danny Thompson's much-acclaimed new Jazz Label, devoted as it is to the independent spirits of British jazz - because Christiane is certainly one of them. A saxophonist and flautist who also studied composition at Leeds College of Music - a broad education reflected in the fact that all the tracks here are his own work - Christiane is one of the most promising of the players on the British circuit who take their inspiration from bop, Latin jazz and the great African - American soloists of the Fifties and Sixties. |
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Soho
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