{"id":6958,"date":"2017-05-22T15:19:35","date_gmt":"2017-05-22T22:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=6958"},"modified":"2017-05-22T15:19:35","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T22:19:35","slug":"john-williams-to-play-first-concert-with-his-pianist-daughter-kate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/john-williams-to-play-first-concert-with-his-pianist-daughter-kate\/","title":{"rendered":"John Williams to Play First Concert with His Pianist Daughter, Kate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Performances by the incomparable John Williams<\/a> are few and far between these days, so when he does<\/em> play it always constitutes an \u201cevent\u201d of sorts. Well, now we\u2019re hearing about an upcoming appearance which is certain to be special: On June 14 at the 606 Club<\/a>, a basement jazz venue in London\u2019s Chelsea area, Williams will be a guest of the group Four Plus Three<\/a>, which is spearheaded by Williams\u2019 jazz pianist daughter Kate Williams<\/a>. Four Plus Three is an intriguing group consisting of a jazz trio\u2014Williams, bassist Oli Hayhurst, and drummer David Ingamells\u2014and a string quartet\u2014violinists John Garner and Marie Schreer, violist Francis Gallagher, and cellist Sergio Serra (known collectively as the Guastalla Quartet<\/a>).\u00a0 Anyone who has followed John Williams\u2019 career knows that he has always ventured away from traditional classical guitar to embrace many other forms of music, so it\u2019s not too much of stretch to envision him playing with a group such as this.<\/p>\n

What makes it especially poignant, however, is that father and daughter have never played together before! In a recent interview with Sebastian Scotney’s wonderful online\u00a0London Jazz News<\/em><\/a>, Kate Williams explained the genesis this one-night-only performance:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the coming together of two different things. When I first started Four Plus Three, I always had it in mind that it could be a lineup that could be quite flexible. We would get different guests, and I would arrange everything around that\u2014last November we had [flautist] Gareth Lockrane and [electric guitarist] Mike Outram join us at the 606, and later this year we’ll be collaborating with [jazz vocalist and lyricist] Georgia Mancio.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it never occurred to me to ask my dad, because from the time when I first decided to go into music, I was aware of the \u2018Oh, I\u2019ve got a famous dad\u2019 thing. I was very careful early on to keep everything separate, and he always encouraged me to get on with my own thing. But I think sometimes those things then become a habit without you even really thinking about it. It never really crossed my mind to ask him to do anything with Four Plus Three.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat actually happened was, at the 606 a few months before Xmas last year, Steve Rubie [who has run the club\/restaurant since 1976] approached me and said, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m just wondering, would you ever work with your dad, or have you ever considered it, and if so, would you do something with the strings project?\u2019 My very first thought was, \u2018Well I haven\u2019t <\/em>really thought of it.\u2019 He said, \u2018Just think, if you never work together you might regret it. If you never ever did one gig<\/em>\u2026 Have a think about it and ask him?\u2019 And when I thought about it I realized it would be really nice, a great thing to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I asked my dad. You know, you ask someone a question in a way that leaves them a way out, in case they don\u2019t want to do it. So I rang him up and just said, \u2018Well you\u2019ll probably want to mull this over\u2026 don\u2019t give me an answer now… but would you be willing to do a gig at the 606 with Four Plus Three?\u2019 But he said yes immediately. No mulling over to be done. He was really pleased.”<\/p>\n

And so, Kate Williams is planning to write some new material as well as integrate her father into other pieces. \u201cThis is my learning curve at the moment,\u201d she told London Jazz News<\/em>, \u201cbecause classical guitar is an instrument that I\u2019ve never composed for, which might sound strange, but because we haven’t worked together before\u2026 So, I\u2019ve been kind of listening to various things. I was listening to some Joe Pass [jazz guitarist] the other day and trying to get his voicings, ‘steal’ some information that I could use in a useful way.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>We haven\u2019t decided the whole program. It will be a mixture of things\u2014there will be a collection of new pieces which I’m writing specially for it. I thought, ‘Let’s have a few things that are completely fresh’; no titles yet, but probably three or four short pieces grouped together. Then, at least one Bill Evans tune, but it won\u2019t necessarily be one from the album [Bill Evans and the Impressionists<\/em>], a tune or two from my septet CD [Made Up<\/em>], and Nuages<\/em>\u00a0by Django Reinhardt: something which was specifically written by a guitarist, I thought would be nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds like a magnificent night in the making! \u00a0\u2014Blair Jackson<\/em><\/p>\n

Below, Kate Williams talks about Four Plus Three and we see them in action:<\/em>
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