The Allsorts @ Jazz at The Priestley, Bradford Irish Club, 3 May 2013
''What a full-weight bunch of barn-storming jazzers are Katie Patterson's Allsorts. A band teeming with surprises of all manner and effortlessly capable of any musical genre, quite frequently within the same 'number'. A veritable musical smorgasbord with respect to both music and performers, yet so beautifully alloyed. An excellent choice of music, virtuosically performed ranging from a beguilingly 'laid-back' Holdsworth's "Fred" (and there was I looking for a full-on guitar blast from Mr Svela) to the hard-driving, games-console trip which is Russ Henderson's excellent "86'd" and yet another "where angels fear to tread" venture into the hallowed ground of Return to Forever with "Medieval Overture" with Oli Cadman wrestling with an unruly keyboard and big Russ saving the day. These people have no fear, and in my experience, no limit to their talents.''
-Martin Powell
Bebop Spoken Here Review - The Allsorts @ Splinter Jazz @ The Bridge Hotel 24/02/2013
"Lance Liddle, BSH’s Head Honcho, sped off into the night on the no.27. Meanwhile, back at the Bridge, an inviting pint of Mordue’s Rye IPA(6%) found its way upstairs to catch the second set from the Allsorts. First set, Patterson suggested that for some, the band played too much jazz, for others, too little. The second set certainly had a greater focus; Return to Forever, Brian Blade’s Fellowship Band, deconstructed Bob Marley and a high-flying Patterson original.
Bandleader Patterson alluded to the level of technical facility required to take on a Chick Corea composition. Well, The Allsorts had the chops, no doubt about it. Ironically, Brian Blade’s Stoner Hill featured guitarist Eirik Svela in Al Di Meola mode, selecting an appropriate pedal effect for good measure! The Marley number, re-titled (incorporating ‘bagel’ - don’t ask!), worked wonderfully (against expectations) and the self-penned Early Morning View From Above (it will be on the band’s forthcoming debut CD) featured the engaging Patterson. The latter number, inspired by the intrepid Patterson taking a hot air balloon flight high above the landscape of her native Canadian homeland, drew the best from horns, guitar, five string bass and birthday boy Oli Cadman (keys) and, of course, Katie Patterson."
-Russell.
The Allsorts @ Hebden Trades Club, Hebden Bridge 24/01/2013
"In the early C20, a penny a week from Hebden locals saw the birth of the Trades Club: A ballroom dance floor. With distressed walls, velvets and jumble-sale goods, today’s layout oozes the panache of an underground venue, providing terrain for everyone between Patti Smith and Zion Train.
At my first HX7- Jazz, I am feasting on an eclectic £3 casserole when a rainbow of curiosity engulfs me. The Allsorts enter, donning aprons. Patterson kick-starts a firm groove, driving us through her arrangement of 'Daily Bulls'. The festivity of this bass-heavy anthem almost extracts me from my booth, but I am stilled once more by a hi-hat resembling raindrops in 'Summer Rain'. Guitarist Svela’s composition pulls us under a sea of nostalgia, where we dream of picnics and air that is thick.
When 'Waiting in Vain for Bagels to Bake', we are brought into a world where there is as much emphasis on food as there is on music. “I hope Bob’s OK with that”, Katie reveals modestly, after Marley’s true frustrations are brought alive by Henderson’s hot-blooded sax lines.
Intensity is a rolling theme for this quintet. Power ballads pull on the heartstrings; players communicate in chattering harmony. Punchy bass riffs elevate; musical summits are reached and Katie exists in her element. Her soundscape of a personal journey on a hot air balloon exhibits these signature sounds, while allowing us to drift through sensitive, atmospheric writing.
I am carefree and coasting past memoirs of Patterson’s youth, when I suddenly face the tragedy that aliens have abducted the Allsorts. Cadman’s eerie synth sirens in 'Medieval Overture' bring forth equal amounts of panic and enjoyment. Yet the evocative display of 'Stoner Hill' revives a resonant connection between us and the players, a connection unfound in other gigs today."
-Mel Thompson
The Allsorts @ Seven Arts, Leeds 18/11/2012
"Canadian drummer Katie Patterson has formed a quintet featuring some of Leeds's finest young players. They play complex music effortlessly but unlike some bands in this genre they are very enjoyable. The colourful kitchen aprons the band wear are appropriate, they can stand the heat!"
-Steve Crocker 7Jazz
Bebop Spoken Here Review - The Allsorts @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle 8/11/2012
"Canadian Katie is not just a drummer/bandleader/arranger/composer but she is also a cook - I guess. Most bands have CD's for sale but The Allsorts have kitchen aprons which also happens to be the band's uniform. I remember a Clare Teal gig where her merchandise included Tea(l) towels - I guess it takes All Sorts (boom boom)! I'd been looking forward to hearing Russ Henderson but Russ, it would appear, is climbing in Nepal - as one does. Fortunately, the improbably named Riley Stone-Lonergan proved to be a more than adequate replacement. Indeed RS-L hit some harmonics on the tenor that were even higher than where the intrepid Russ was in Nepal! Seriously, he blew great tenor. Rollins, Coltrane, Brecker - he'd learned from them all and with a tone that could be lyrical or biting, tender or violent - a name to remember (as if one could forget!) Svela and Cadman also had moments of brilliance but, in the first set, they were marginally under amplified lessoning their impact. Gavin was solid on bass guitar and, without doubt Katie is an outstanding drummer irrespective of gender. Personal favourite was The Allsorts' take on Bob Berg's Friday Night at the Cadillac Club. Another number had a distinct hip-hop feel. Early Morning View was wild and yet tranquil. This was one of Katie's several compositions - drummers aren't supposed to be musicians yet this lass was Yorkshire's Young Musician of the Year in 2012. Tonight gave an indication why. I had to leave as 27 bus was already due to pass the Central Bar. I wonder if the driver popped in to catch Breach? - he was 3 minutes late...
An excellent session that deserved a bigger audience."
-Lance Liddle
The Allsorts @ Caroline Club, Saltaire 16/09/2012
"Rip-snorting gig! Enormous writing, Peerless playing and WHAT A BAND! - the way you did the Bob Marley arrangement - you slipped so seamlessly into and out of reggae without us mere mortals even realising. And Fred was ACE - not heard that one for a while live - Good Skills!"-Martin Powell (JATP)
"The Allsorts presented Saltaire Festival with a high-quality set of original items covering a wide range of moods and emotions, but in general exuding the joy of making music together. Katie Patterson leads an impressive array of soloists who support and bring the best out of each other. Her compositions build on traditions of modern jazz which combine tight and enticing ensemble playing with expressive and expansive soloing. I am tempted to say Weather Report meets Art Blakey...except Katie's smile is even bigger."-Eddie Lawler
The Allsorts @ Scarborough Jazz-18/7/2012
“The Allsorts” are an eclectic, jazz-influenced quintet: Ben Lowman on tenor sax, Pete Gavin on bass guitar, (Norwegian) Eirik Svela on guitar, and Aron Kyne on keyboards and synths, and they are led by the hugely energetic and technically flawless Canadian drummer Katie Patterson - though on this occasion Kyne was absent, and was (competently) replaced by Ollie Cadman. This band is young, both in years and spirit - the ‘standards’ in their repertoire were by Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Steve Khan and Tony Williams, and when the band betrayed stylistic influence, I was as much minded of Frank Zappa, Steve Vai and Radiohead as I was of the fusion pioneers, or of Sonny Rollins or Jimmy Smith. Above all, then, “Allsorts” music is ‘interesting’, per se; and that extends in trumps to their original material. They play fairly tightly arranged music, but by this I imply no criticism; Patterson’s compositions require tightness for them to hold their elusive, almost liquid quality; and I was struck by the strange impression that the more carefully I listened, the more I kept getting left behind, and as each of Patterson’s pieces came to an end I was immediately wanting to hear them again. Some new idea was always bubbling up behind the focus of the moment, and as themes moved from instrument to instrument, and as one idea replaced another, my attention was drawn deceptively away from where, perhaps, it ought to have been. But let me just conclude with ‘the obvious’: Patterson has chosen for herself a highly capable band, she plays the drums with a gloriously infectious joy, and she writes very cleverly, and it is no great wonder that she was voted this year’s Jazz Yorkshire Young Musician of the Year. Watch this space, as they say."
-Mike Gordon