The Hadouk Trio
The Hadouk trio from France are the latest visitors to Hebden Bridge’s highly successful HX7 Jazz Club on Thursday 22 September.
Winners of the prestigious award ‘Victoires de la Musique Jazz’ in 2008 with their fourth album “Utopies”, Hadouk are playing in the UK for the first time since the 1990s and visit Hebden Bridge the night before opening the Scarborough Jazz Festival. Despite their vast array of credits and overwhelming number of instruments on call, the band’s strength is its subtlety. Hadouk play their own delicious blend of acoustic jazz ? no note is wasted or overplayed. The band are currently promoting their 5th studio album "Air" - prepare to be blown away!
Band leader and saxophonist Didier Malherbe also plays doudouk (an Armenian oboe), flutes ocarina, and khen, and is best known as one of the founder members of legendary French band Gong - pioneers within the psychedelic movement from 1970 onwards. Whilst Gong incorporated elements of punk, swirling synthesisers, folk and wild guitar soloing in their sound, it was Didier who provided the effortless virtuoso soloing that enabled the band to crossover into jazz fusion territory in the mid-1970s.
Photo: Philippe Glorioso
Didier has continued to guest with Gong in the last 20 years and also recorded several acclaimed jazz albums of his own but from the late Nineties started to devote his passions to the Hadouk project.
Loy Ehrlich, who plays both keyboards and stringed instruments such as the hajouj (or gumbri, african bass), kora, sanza and gumbass - made his name in the 1980s with the likes of Tour? Kounda, Bill Laswell, Ginger Baker, Youssou N'Dour and Peter Gabriel. He also recorded and mixed the band’s most recent album.
Steve Shehan plays djembe, congas, sanza, derbouka and hadgini as well as a conventional drum kit and has performed with such luminaries as Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Nitin Sawhney and John Mc Laughlin. Malherbe describes Shehan as “ an amazing person, half American, half Swedish, half French - that makes three halves, which is just as well for him because he is superman!”
HX7 Jazz takes place monthly on a Thursday at the Trades Club in Holme Street, Hebden Bridge. There’s occasional Sunday lunchtime jazz in addition to the regular programme which sees powerhouse US drummer Robert Castelli’s Boom Quartet appearing on October 27th in what will surely be another outstanding and unforgettable club night.
More information is available at www.hx7jazz.com, where you can also sign up to be kept informed of developments as they happen. Doors open at 7.30pm with live music starting at 8.pm, and the headline band starting at 8.30. As an added bonus the venue provides excellent value curries from early evening. Phone the Trades Club on 845265 to book a meal or to ring to book advance tickets which are £12, and £9 for concessions and members.