In Sand at The Sanctuary

In Sand, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Went to The Sanctuary Cafe in Hove last night for 'One Voice', an evening of poetry (from The South) and improvised music (from the Safehouse Experimental Music Collective), starring my old mate Gus Garside on double bass (is there a single bass out there, I wonder?). I was half anticipating the sound of strangled cats, but it was all rather lyrical and soothing. First up were Voyages Ensemble, comprising guitar, two tenor saxes, a flute/alto, violin and a trumpet - echoes of Jimmy Giuffre's 'Four Brothers' in there somewhere. In between their two sets were two poets - Tom Cunliffe and Lorna Thorpe - and the music won I'm afraid. These poets seem to be stuck in the 60s somewhere (and Lorna was rude about cyclists!) and the dull delivery, which could have added a counterpoint to the music, didn't. After the interval we had four fifths of 'In Sand', a string band with Gus on bass and sampler, Richard Padley on guitar, Danny Kingshill on 'cello and voice, and Satoko Fukuda on violin (who also played with the first half band). Absent was Thor Magnuson on laptop. Sublime! In between sets we had John 'Shed Man' Davies, backed in part by Gus and Satoko, and 'performance poet' (does that mean she reads from memory?) Bernadette Cremin. A great evening, and moving to the (nearer for me) Open House soon. More photos on Flickr.