I’ve just read a long CD review of a live recording from German band Shreefpunk (above) on Ian Mann’s Jazz Mann site, and I’m enjoying sound clips from the band’s Myspace site as I write. Bandleader Matthias Schriefl, 27 years old, clearly has the humour/personality of Django Bates as part of his musical fabric, and Bates guests on his live album.

Ian Mann writes:

“One of the most remarkable ACT releases of recent years was 2007’s “Shreefpunk Plus Strings” the extraordinary début recording by Shreefpunk, the group led by young German trumpeter Matthias Schriefl. Now twenty-seven, Schriefl has won a host of awards in his native country and his band have acquired a reputation as a formidable if unpredictable live act.”

On the continent they play big venues. The ACT label has its act together (ouch!). But wily Tony Dudley-Evans has booked them for a free gig for Birmingham Jazz later this month. They’re also being showcased at Jazz Expo Jazzahead in Bremen where there will be a major presence of promoters, the word can’t not get out.

What’s haunting me as I listen are thoughts about what happened to the Loose Tubes lineage. In this music is a strong memory of the spirit of Loose Tubes in the 1980’s. The high tide mark in the visibilty of which was the Proms appearance in 1987. Someone else is free to give LondonJazz a history lesson (???) …but I think that the anarchic group of strong individuals and amazing musicians set up by Graham Collier, which then rebelled against him, and subsequently rebelled against each other ….has not fostered a real legacy in bands with the same spirit. The musicians of loose Tubes went their separate ways, yes they have shone individually. But what I’m getting from Shreefpunk is a continuation of the Loose Tubes spirit.

Discuss?