Captain Beefheart, jazz and creativity
Helena Summerfield with NGUVU at Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre
Captain Beefheart, jazz and creativity at the Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre
As Jazz North’s Learning & Participation Project Manager I feel that it is important for me to keep challenging my own creativity and to remain an active performer. I hope that my lifelong passion for music making transfers to the resources that I create encouraging young musicians and their teachers to engage with jazz.
It’s fair to say that I was delighted when NGUVU (the band that I play in) were recently awarded a Rooms to Live residency at the Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre. Rooms to Live is the first UK exhibition by collaborative artists Derek Tyman and Andy Webster consisting of two interrelated sculptural installations, Trout House Replica and So the Red Rose. Trout House Replica recreates the interior of the Los Angeles house where Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band wrote and rehearsed their seminal 1969 album Trout Mask Replica. So the Red Rose features a large, boat-like structure reinventing Vanda Chan’s fictitious marooned houseboat Arcadia.
The residency gave NGUVU the opportunity to create new material whilst working in the Trout House Replica room. The room is built to the exact specifications of the original house and painted in the same vibrant colours. Luckily the Trout House Replica room does not have a roof and the windows and door cavities remain as wooden frames so the space feels open and light rather than closed and oppressive. The structure is displayed in one of the ground floor gallery spaces and visitors are invited to walk around the balcony of the house as the residents rehearse.
“The space just seemed to invite creativity and risk taking”
At first NGUVU felt conscious of visitors being able to watch us as we improvised and tried out new ideas but we soon got used to it and actually rather enjoyed our creative process becoming an exhibit in its own right. It was really nice when people clapped as we finished a tune or came over to talk to us about what we were doing in there. Rehearsing in the Trout House Replica in the daytime made such a difference from our normal schedule of rehearsing in a practice room late at night after a day at work. The space just seemed to invited creativity and risk taking. I felt a renewed enthusiasm for exploring my instruments and developing my technique. By the end of our 3 days in the Trout House Replica NGUVU had created 4 new compositions inspired by our experiences. We premiered this music to an appreciative audience who were again able to walk round the house and peer in through the windows and doors as we performed.
The residency proved really special for NGUVU as a band. In the words of Jamal Lewis-Service (band leader) we didn’t know how much we needed the experience until it actually happened and he felt that it had brought the band closer together. I would certainly encourage bands to grab this type of opportunity with both hands if it comes their way.
Other bands taking part in the Trout House Replica Takeover between December 2023 - February 2024 are Joan the Wad & Thought Universe Collaboration, Celebratory Cake, Novacane & Shoehorn Collaboration and Britizen Kane.
NGUVU will now be returning to perform at the Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre on January 20th as part of Bury Met’s Emerging Showcase programme. Come and watch us! Tickets are available via this link
https://themet.org.uk/event/emerging-nguvu/
NGUVU are Tayo Weekes (vocals) Helena Summerfield (flute / saxophone) Ryan Edwards (guitar) Lucian O’Neil (bass) and Jamal Lewis-Service (MC / drums)
NGUVU @nguvuband
Rooms to Live @_rooms_to_live_
Helena Summerfield