Wu-Tang Clan, Atoms For Peace, Akron/Family: this week's new live music Jul 20th 2013, 05:00
Wu-Tang Clan | Atoms For Peace | Akron/Family | Darius Brubeck Quartet | Wynton Marsalis | Daniel Barenboim: Ring Cycle
Wu-Tang Clan, Manchester & London
It's never too late for a bit of self-improvement, and that's just what this legendarily hit-and-miss hip-hop group has decided to undertake. After 20 years of cancelled engagements, second-string performers and some – to put it mildly – divergent interests, the New York band have decided to celebrate the anniversary of their 36 Chambers debut album by fielding a full-strength team and showing that they can still bring the ruckus. Even though pivotal member ODB is no longer with us, this, says star producer and sometime distinctly average actor RZA, is the time "to do it perfect".
O2 Apollo, Manchester, Thu; O2 Academy Brixton, SW9, Fri
JR
Atoms For Peace, London
Thom Yorke's "supergroup" Atoms For Peace are a good deal nippier than that description makes them sound. Since the recent release of their latest album, Amok, AFP have played gigs like DJ sets, where Yorke has sung and played accompanied only by Nigel Godrich and his arsenal of clicks and whooshes. This, however, is the collaborative Amok band (Yorke, Godrich, Flea from the Chili Peppers, drummer Joey Waronker and percussionist Mauro Refosco) in full effect. It's a new name, but it's not an unfamiliar project: as he has with Radiohead, in Atoms For Peace Thom Yorke investigates how to square the circle of dance with rock, and electronica with songs.
Roundhouse, NW1, Wed to Fri
JR
Akron/Family, On tour
In their 11-year career, Akron/Family have tried on a fair few hats. Apocalyptic Americana, gothic folk; there's even been a suggestion of confessional metal. This band, it's fair to say, are supremely versatile and unafraid to experiment. For all their open-mindedness, however, you'd have to admit the sound that seems to suit them best is heavy rock. It's not a fashionable part of town, for sure, but while this multi-centre group has an aptitude for surfing genres, this is probably the one for which they show most unbridled love.
The Haunt, Brighton, Sat; Broadcast, Glasgow, Sun; Hare & Hounds, Birmingham, Mon; Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, Tue; Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Wed
JR
Darius Brubeck Quartet, Marlborough & Edinburgh
When Dave Brubeck died last December, it wasn't just jazz aficionados who felt the loss. Anyone who had ever swung a leg to Take Five might have felt that a musician a lot bigger than any single genre had passed on. Being the keyboard-playing offspring of such a 20th-century giant is a tough call, but Brubeck's eldest son Darius bears the mantle well. He's a resourceful pianist with an advanced grasp of classical theories and jazz practice, an original composer and a world musician whose work seamlessly joins American jazz and the music of South Africa, where he taught and played for two decades. Brubeck Jr, bassist Matt Ridley and drummer Wesley Gibbens play a mix of originals, standards and Dave Brubeck classics on these appearances at the Marlborough and Edinburgh jazz festivals, joined by fine UK saxophonists Dave O'Higgins (at Marlborough) and Brandon Allen (at the Queen's Hall).
Marlborough jazz festival, Sat; The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, Tue
JF
Wynton Marsalis, London
He doesn't like funk or genre-bending and he suspects free-improv is for frauds, but if Wynton Marsalis has polarised listeners with his views, few of his critics have ever maintained he isn't a gifted trumpet player or craftsmanlike composer. When Marsalis was here last year, he had the massed ranks of the Lincoln Center Orchestra and even the LSO on his side, but with these club gigs he's back for the kind of small-band saunter that often represents the most engaging side of him. At Ronnie's in 2011 the repertoire was standard songs, swing classics, blues and a little Latin. This quintet (including saxophonist Walter Blanding, drummer Ali Jackson and pianist Dan Nimmer) is likely to repeat the mix. These shows were sold out within hours, but Tuesday night's performance will be streamed live on the club's website – a first for the venerable venue.
Ronnie Scott's, W1, Mon to Wed
JF
Daniel Barenboim: Ring Cycle, London
This summer's Proms may be spoilt for choice for musical anniversaries to celebrate, but it's the bicentenary of Wagner's birth that is casting the biggest shadow of all over the series. There will be no less than seven concert performances of complete Wagner operas, and the highest profile of them are inevitably the four that make up the Ring cycle, with Daniel Barenboim conducting the Staatskapelle Berlin. He has become a regular visitor to the Proms in recent years, but this will be the first time that he has conducted a Wagner opera in the UK. Another plus point is that Nina Stemme, arguably the world's greatest Wagner soprano, sings all the Brünnhildes.
Royal Albert Hall, SW7, Mon, Tue, Fri
AC
YOUR COMMENT
