BOGGAMASTA III
Peter Vermeersch & David 9½ BovéeFor more than twenty years, Flat Earth Society Orchestra, the flagship of slightly deranged Belgian jazz, has wreaked havoc on national and international stages, with musical programs bursting at the seams, defying genre labels and confounding listeners with their multi-colored spazz jazz razzmatazz. Highlights? Too many to keep up with, really, but Boggamasta I (2017) was definitely one of them.
Bandleader Peter Vermeersch and David Bovée (an early member, returned to the fold) expertly gave birth to the album’s main character, the power addict and megalomaniac Boggamasta, who steered the eager and willing turbo orchestra to new areas of musical debauchery and connivery. The combination of XL band arrangements and this newly-found grit and growling groove worked like a charm and excited alert audiences and press all over Europe and South America. Jazz? “Yeah. Well, you know, like, kinda.” One London Jazz News reporter exclaimed: “It certainly is not music that should be judged with jazz criteria.” Splendid!
The freshly brewed Boggamasta III won’t satisfy those looking for answers, as our slippery lawbreakers concocted another batch of coruscating compositions and deceptive tales. Most of the classic FES references - Ellingtonia, viral smalltalk, Zappa, 21st century frenzy - remain intact, but are navigated through labyrinthian urban jungles and fiercely updated traditions. Boggamasta III oozes in generous gulps, drawing dazzling imaginary patterns, travels the spaceways with maps that unfold as they go along.
Make no mistake: even in its third decade, Flat Earth Society excels at creating deliciously unreliable music, full of absurd angles and thrilling twists. It’s a method, a raison d’être that remains as fresh and vital as ever and never fails to surprise. A tightrope act, voluptuous musical film and a cemetery polka combined, Boggamasta III is another triumph for Flat Earth Society and Bovée. And in case you’re wondering where Volume II went to: “It’s been three years since the first one, time’s running out.” Flat Earth Society stays ahead of the curve. By any means necessary.
BOGGAMASTA is
David 9½ Bovée - electric guitar, vocals & electronix
Peter Vermeersch - bass(clarinet), vocals & electronix
Mirko Banovic - electric bass
Kristof Roseeuw - double bass
Peter Vandenberghe - keyboards & piano
Gert-Jan Dreessen - drums
Wim Segers - percussion & vocals
Benjamin Boutreur - alto sax
Michel Mast - tenor sax
Martí Melià - tenor sax
Bruno Vansina - baritone sax & flute
Berlinde Deman - tuba & vocals
Bart Maris - trumpet
Pauline Leblond - trumpet & vocals
Peter Delannoye - trombone
Marc Meeuwissen - trombone
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Boggamasta Boogie on Down at Brussels Jazz Weekend
(by Martin Longley, jazzwisemagazine.com, 20/06/18)
The UK equivalent to the Brussels Jazz Weekend would be to hold a jazz festival in Trafalgar Square, something that's not too likely a prospect. The BJW has its heart in the Grand Place, right in the centre of Brussels, but its massive freebie programme also operates around three main zones, both indoors and outdoors. Uptown, downtown and the 'European district' are blessed with three days of open air gigs, shifting into an extreme infestation of clubs, bars and cafés during each of its three nights. This 2018 edition was the second, but the weekend has a two-decade history in a previous incarnation, as the Brussels Jazz Marathon. The event represents a massive jazz takeover of the capital. Even those attuned to the Belgian jazz scene would find a multitude of unfamiliar acts, so vast is the programme. Besides the majority jazz quotient, there are also many artists arriving from global-ethnic quarters, or from alternative rock/pop, hip hop and electronic music zones.
A highlight of the Saturday evening was the strange beast named Boggamasta, at Ancienne Belgique, one of the city's prime multi-genre music venues. This was the large ensemble usually known as Flat Earth Society, but acting under a special name, to signify the inclusion of guitarist David Bovée. He was an early member of FES, and also the central figure of Antwerpian global mulchers Think Of One. The repertoire for Boggamasta resides at the funkier end, incorporating a strong hip hop element, as if Frank Zappa had moved into avant rap music. Led by bass clarinettist Peter Vermeersch, FES have been together for over two decades, their deep rapport immediately visible, the line-up still including the likes of Bart Maris (trumpet), Michel Mast (tenor saxophone), Berlinde Deman (tuba/vocals) and Teun Verbruggen (drums).
The gig was only the second (or possibly third) occasion that this Vermeersch/Bovée music was performed, the latter impressing equally on lead guitar extremity and forceful frontman freestyling, complete with monsterised bass-flooded voice effects. Bovée was often partnered by Vermeersch, in a perverted manifestation of Run DMC's verbal ping-ponging. Humour and funk co-existed with power and complexity, while the big band's carefully woven layers were clearly discernible via the PA system's sharp mix. Twisted effects cloaked ensemble vocals, as most of the group tackled chorus refrains, as if in the midst of some twisted hip-hopera. Twinned drums kicked beneath charged horn parts, as Bovée battled with Peter Vandenberghe, vying for Cecil Taylor-esque freedom on a shared keyboard.
A chief pleasure during this weekend was its variety of locations: to stroll from a big show like Boggamasta's, down an alleyway into the Théâtre Royal De Toone, just off the Grand Place. It's a marionette performance space and a bar, where De Braave Joenges could be found, after the witching hour, playing downhome blues, but sung in the Brusselois Dutch-French dialect (and sometimes English), with acoustic guitar, harmonica, simple percussion and joint vocals. Complete intimacy, to close the Saturday night, with not a spare chair in sight.
