The first set concluded with the trio’s nod to their hugely influential fellow countrymen Kraftwerk with a version of “The Model” with the three young Germans taking the motorik rhythms of vintage Krautrock and making them their own.

The Kraftwerk tune is yet to be recorded and the second set also included newer material including Wollny’s impressionistic “White Out” which featured the white keys of the piano only alongside Kruse’s bowed bass. The similarly atmospheric “Blank” also featured Kruse’s rich, dark arco sound with these two pieces being punctuated by the grooving, Cowley-esque “Wasted And Wanted”.

Kruse’s driving “In Water” was the last tune get announced as the trio increasingly got their heads down and “went for it”. Schafer’s lengthy, marvellously idiosyncratic solo drum introduction to the next number (which I suspect was his own “Etude No. 1”) combined impressionistic delicacy with rock power. The next piece (probably Schaefer’s “Arsene Somnabule”) re-introduced a touch lyricism through Kruse’s plucked bass solo but with Wollny’s avant garde classical flourishes and interior dabblings providing a suitably Gothic edge.

At this point the group left the stand but the enthusiastic reaction of a thus far highly attentive crowd ensured that an encore was inevitable. This was a tumultuous assault on the old live favourite “Gorilla Biscuits” featuring Kruse’s flamenco bass strumming, Wollny’s increasingly frenzied keyboard hammering and Schaefer’s volcanic drumming. Terrific stuff.

The long wait had been worth it. I was hugely impressed by [ em ] with their superb musicianship, control of dynamics and fiercely individualistic writing styles. Although Wollny handled the announcements in English they take a real pride in their German heritage and have developed a unique piano trio style that fuses classically derived techniques with contemporary jazz and rock styles and more. Their music worked superbly in the intimate club setting of the Pizza but one sensed that they would have no trouble adapting their performance for the larger concert stage, a supposition that their live album would appear to confirm.

My thanks to John Lyons and Matt Fripp at AIR for their company at the gig and to the three musicians for speaking to me afterwards. I was also honoured and privileged to meet Siggi Loch, the founder of the ACT record label and a great champion of European jazz. ACT is one of the leading labels in Europe with a hugely impressive catalogue. Siggi told me that the label celebrates its Twentieth Anniversary in 2012 and that a series of special concert events will be taking place in Germany to celebrate this landmark. It’s also hoped that something similar can be arranged in the UK.

Meanwhile the trio’s new studio album, to be titled “Wasted and Wanted” will be released in the New Year with several live dates already confirmed across Germany. It is hoped that the trio will return to the UK also, possibly for a short tour. Watch this space.

  THURSDAY NOVEMBER 17TH

EMILIA MARTENSSON, CAFE CONSORT, ROYAL ALBERT HALL

Today’s lunchtime freebie featured Swedish born, London based singer Emilia Martensson in the elegant confines of the Caf? Consort at the Royal Albert Hall. To date Martensson is probably best known for her guest vocal contributions on the first two albums by Kairos 4tet, “Kairos Moment and “Statement Of Intent”. That may all change in February 2012 when Martensson releases her new album “and so it goes” (Babel Records), a series of duets with pianist Barry Green that also features a number of guest appearances from such distinguished musicians as Julian Siegel (reeds) and Ben Davis ( cello).

Joining Martensson and Green for today’s concert, part of the “Festival on the Move” strand which had seen Martensson performing at venues across the city, were bassist Sam Lasserson and Kairos drummer Jon Scott. The programme featured a number of vocal/piano duets interspersed by quartet numbers and comprised of a mixture of Swedish folk songs and classy jazz arrangements of intelligent pop songs by writers such as Jacques Brel, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Billy Joel and Martensson’s fellow Swede the late Esbjorn Svensson.   

Martennson and Green work together her well, her flawless voice superbly complemented by the tasteful and versatile Green, surely one of the UK’s most resourceful pianists. Their intimate duets included Brel’s “If You Should Go Away”, the Swedish folk song translated as “Seasons Came This Year” and Gabriel’s “Washing Of The Water”, yet another example of Gabriel’s fondness for aquatic imagery.

During the quartet pieces Lasserson and Scott offered intelligent, sympathetic support with Scott’s drumming as delicately detailed as ever. Green has worked with Lasserson in saxophonist Martin Speake’s groups and the pair linked up flawlessly here with Lasserson contributing the occasional lyrical bass solo. The quartet repertoire included James Taylor’s “Something”, Paul Simon’s wittily acerbic “Everything Put Together Falls Apart”  and Billy Joel’s surprisingly good title track. In both the duo and quartet formats Barry Green’s solos were a constant delight, mixing lyricism and inventiveness in equal measure. He is a pianist with the ability to move seamlessly between the mainstream and the contemporary.

Spread over two sets this was a delightful way to spend a lunchtime and a large and attentive crowd listened well and gave Martensson and her colleagues an excellent reception. On the evidence of this performance the forthcoming album should be well worth hearing.

NEIL YATES TRIO, SOUTHBANK CENTRE, THE FRONT ROOM

By way of contrast to the recent slew of excellent big band performances in the Southbank’s tea time freebie slot tonight’s showcase featured a pared down trio line up under the leadership of trumpeter Neil Yates. A stalwart of the British jazz scene for many years the Manchester born musician’s musical interests also include brass band and Irish folk music with the latter strongly represented on his new Edition records release “Five Countries”. The title refers to the three musicians’ places of birth, places of migration and places of domicile. Joining Yates in an intriguing line up were Hungarian acoustic guitarist Zsolte Bende and Irish percussionist Cormac Byrne. A virtuoso, hard driving bodhran player Byrne is familiar to me from his energetic input into folk/rock groups such as Uiscedwr and the Seth Lakeman Trio.

Tonight’s programme drew entirely on the music of the “Five Countries” album beginning with Yates’ “Rainy Harbour” inspired by Rhos on Sea in North Wales and featuring his distinctive, breathy flugel horn stylings and judicious use of live looping techniques. With subtle support from Bende and Byrne this richly atmospheric piece set the tone for much of the music to follow.

Yates kept to the flugel for much of the set including “Seventh Sense” (in seven, naturally), a showcase not only for Yates but also for the excellent Bende who contributed a delicately picked guitar solo. Byrne’s low key virtuosity on the bodhran provided a beguiling rhythmic undertow. The album version segues into a version of folk flute virtuoso Michael McGoldrick’s “Waterman’s”. Born in Manchester of Irish heritage McGoldrick has been a considerable influence on Yates with the trumpeter’s distinctive style having been influenced by some of the techniques of McGoldrick’s flute and whistle playing.

If “Rainy Harbour” exuded a tremendous sense of place the same could be said for Bende’s “Frozen Forest”, a musical account of the hard winters around Budapest. The combination of the composer’s cleanly picked guitar lines, Yates’ subtly looped flugel and Byrne’s tinkling cymbal work evoked a suitably seasonal atmosphere.

The forces of nature also inspired Yates’ “Storm On The Irish Sea” with Yates’ intro evoking the sound of the wind and subsequently looping it. This formed the backdrop for some of the trio’s most obviously “Celtic ” playing to date.

“Izabella’s Dream”, a delightful dedication to the young daughters of both Bende and Yates was suitably playful and possessed a distinct dancing quality. Bende delivered a typically elegant solo and the impish Byrne produced the kind of energetic, jaw dropping bodhran solo that folk fans have already become well accustomed to.

Yates’ “Freedom’s Lost” was an expressive ballad featuring the composer’s rich, rounded flugel tones, a gentle palette cleanser before the closing “set” of tunes “Slipreel/Time & Tide” which saw Yates doubling on flugel and wistful whistle.

Although very different to the big bands we had heard on previous evenings Yates’ set was very well received by another pleasingly large crowd. He has developed a highly personal sound on the trumpet/flugel and together with Bende and Byrne he has created a unique trio. The music is still rooted in jazz and is often highly atmospheric but Yates’ use of folk elements is very much his own. 

MAGNUS OSTROM, C.A.M.P, OLD STREET

Drummer Magnus Ostrom was one third of E.S.T, arguably the most influential European jazz group of the last decade or so. The tragic death of pianist Esbjorn Svensson in 2008 terminated a group that was still very much at the height of its creative powers.

Since then Ostrom and bassist Dan Berglund have both emerged with their own solo projects with Ostrom’s ACT release “Thread Of Life” attracting considerable critical acclaim. Both musicians have drawn substantially on their rock backgrounds and both Berglund’s Tonbruket and Ostrom’s “Thread Of Life” group deploy a very “prog” sound- which is fine by me, like Berglund and Ostrom I grew up with the stuff.

The last time I saw E.S.T. was in the plush surrounds of Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on the “Tuesday Wonderland” tour back in 2007 (a show reviewed elsewhere on this site). The contrast between that palatial venue and C.A.M.P (City Arts and Music Project) couldn’t have been more stark. C.A.M.P is a grungy, graffiti covered, standing only basement beneath an office block on the City Road, possibly a former bank vault or cold store or some such. However it suited tonight’s performance to a “T”, make no mistake this was a rock show in a rock venue with Ostrom and his colleagues plugging in and turning up the volume. Album personnel Andreas Hourdakis (guitar) and Thobias Gabrielsson (bass, keyboards) were joined by keyboardist Jonas Ostholm who was deputising for the album’s Gustaf Karlof. Electronics were a substantial part of the band’s sound with Ostrom deploying an FX unit in addition to a rack of small percussion implements (bells,cymbals etc) plus his conventional drum kit. Hourdakis, Gabrielsson and Ostholm employed plenty of gizmos of their own in a high energy show that fairly crackled with intent.

The bulk of the programme was drawn from the “Thread Of Life” album beginning with “Afilia Mi” which featured the soaring wordless vocals of Ostrom and Hourdakis with the guitarist also producing the first of a series of scorching solos whilst riding Ostrom’s supple but powerful drum grooves. When the group played the Pizza Express earlier in the year occasional Jazzmann contributor Mark Albini commented on just how impressive Hourdakis had been. 

“Longing” featured a lilting melody and searing Pink Floyd style guitar from Hourdakis cushioned by a bed of rich keyboard textures courtesy of Ostholm and Gabrielsson. The studious looking Ostholm also weighed in with an engaging electric piano solo on his Nord keyboard.

“Ballad For E”, Ostrom’s moving dedication to his late band mate Esbjorn Svensson represented a particularly poignant moment in the set and Ostrom was perhaps pleased to get it out of the way early on. The album track features both Berglund and Pat Metheny- the American guitarist was a great friend and champion of E.S.T. The trio version here contained moments of genuine beauty with Hourdakis filling Metheny’s role with aplomb.

If “Ballad For E” brought with it a kind of tension the next piece (I think it may have been the forbiddingly titled “The Haunted Thoughts And The Endless Fall”) came as an explosive release with its thunderous drumming and Hourdakis’ wah wah “Shadows on acid” guitar.

There is an air of indefinable Nordic melancholy about much of Ostrom’s output and this was typified by “Weight Of Death”  with its funereal organ introduction and eerie, echoing guitar with Hourdakis crouching to manipulate his sound via the extensive use of a manually operated, floor mounted FX unit. This eventually segued into a powerful and brilliant improvisation centred around Ostrom’s volcanic drum grooves and Hourdakis’ gargantuan riffing as the twin keyboards of Ostholm and Gabielsson swirled and pulsed. Everywhere in the crowd heads and bodies were moving, evidence that Ostrom’s group are also not afraid to embrace elements of contemporary dance culture. “I don’t know where that came from” panted an exhausted Ostrom at the end “but it’s our thing”.  Patrick Hadfield’s review on Sebastian Scotney’s London Jazz Blog made reference to “house jazz” which summed this little episode up very nicely. 

The new tune “Through The Sun” included an extended feature for bassist Thobias Gabrielsson as the others drew breath. To close Ostrom then produced the ace up his sleeve in the form of the outrageously catchy “Piano Break Song”, a supercharged piece that embraces both old fashioned jazz fusion and contemporary hip hop grooves by gathering these seemingly disparate elements around a killer hook. Ostrom’s drumming was simply stunning in terms of speed, power and technique as Hourdakis once again headed for the stratosphere.

Although the basement was by no means full the enthusiasm of a young, noisy crowd ensured that an encore was inevitable. The new tune “I Think I Love Eternity” was a showcase for Ostrom who both introduced the piece from the drums and later delivered an astonishing solo that climaxed with him hurling his sticks into the crowd in a pure rock gesture. With the other players largely limited to textural roles this was Ostrom’s way of saying “I’m in charge”.

I thoroughly enjoyed this loud, high energy performance which combined attitude and adrenalin with a high level of technical skill. The basement space proved to be just right for Ostrom’s music (apparently the band rehearse in a basement, no wonder they appeared to be so at home). Sadly it wasn’t full, which given E.S.T.‘s superstar status was surprising, but maybe the venue-and to a certain extent the music-was a little too edgy for many jazz listeners. As for Ostrom he seemed to be more than happy at going back to basics and the group seemed to be a tight knit unit with the potential for plenty more music in them. The presence of a couple of new tunes in the set suggested that a follow up to “Thread Of Life” is sure to follow. It will be interesting to see how this sharply focussed group develops.   

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17th

JULIAN SIEGEL & LIAM NOBLE, ST. JAMES’ CHURCH, PICCADILLY.

The third and final concert Basho Music lunchtime concert at St. James’ Church featured a delightful series of duets between Julian Siegel on a variety of reeds and Liam Noble on piano. These two are old friends and their collaborations go back a long way. Noble recently appeared on Siegel’s latest quartet album, the highly acclaimed “Urban Theme Park” and today’s material was largely drawn from that album. I recently saw the quartet perform this music live at Dempsey’s in Cardiff ( a show reviewed elsewhere on this site) and it was fascinating to watch Siegel’s tunes being performed in a different context yet losing nothing of their inventiveness or dynamism. Together Siegel and Noble distilled these tunes to their essence, it made for fascinating listening.

Having learned our lesson on Wednesday at Gwilym Simcock’s solo piano performance we made sure we got there in plenty of time to secure a front pew which meant that we saw everything. Although not as rammed as for the Simcock concert the church was comfortably full by one o’ clock and all those present agreed afterwards that Siegel and Noble had served up a lunchtime treat.

It took a while for the duo to get used to the church’s slightly boomy acoustic but once they had the music was magnificent. Siegel stuck to tenor for most of a set which opened with Cedar Walton’s arresting “Fantasy in D”, the only outside tune on the “Urban Theme Park” album. As is often the case with Siegel this was a set short on announcements, he is a musician who just likes to get on with it and play so I decided to empathise and to concentrate on listening and enjoying rather than note taking. However I can report that other highlights included the lovely “Heartsong” with Siegel on clarinet and the coruscating 12/8 “One For J.T.” ( a dedication to pianist John Taylor) with Siegel on bass clarinet. They concluded a fine set with “Sandpit”, an appropriately playful tune and one that has become a staple of Siegel’s live appearances.

Following the McCormack and Yarde duo performance on Monday evening this was the second brilliant piano/reeds duo performance of the week. It was particularly interesting to watch Liam Noble at work as he combined the melodic and rhythmic functions of the piano. Noble has an idiosyncratic, highly percussive style that owes something to Thelonious Monk and is a superb soloist, accompanist and improviser. He exhibited all these skills here yet also brought a lyrical aspect to his playing that is not always so apparent in other contexts. Siegel was as accomplished as ever on his various reeds, his technical mastery of his various instruments is awesome. It was also a tribute to the quality of his writing that his tunes stood up so well in this exposed duo setting. An excellent start to my final day at the festival.

CHRIS MAPP’S GAMBOL / STEVE TROMANS QUARTET, BARBICAN FREESTAGE

The West Midlands took over The Barbican on Friday evening with Birmingham Jazz taking over the Freestage and with Coventry native Jerry Dammers’ Spatial A.K.A. Orchestra performing later in the Main Hall.

Birmingham Jazz have been co-hosting their Rush Hour Blues concerts at 5.30 pm on Friday evenings in the foyer of Birmingham Symphony Hall for a number of years now. These popular free events now attract national as well as local names and have done much to spread the jazz gospel in the Second City.

Tonight RHB came to London with Tony Dudley Evans of Birmingham jazz introducing two of the city’s leading contemporary jazz groups. Bassist Chris Mapp is one of the joint organisers of Birmingham’s adventurous annual Harmonic Festival and also leads his own group Gambol. I saw Gambol perform much of this music at the 2010 Harmonic Festival and a more detailed review of their music can be found in our festival coverage.

Mapp’s music for Gambol is largely inspired by the sights and sounds of Birmingham and this set began with “Second Hand Telly”, a wry reference to a particularly awful 1960’s promotion film for Birmingham voiced by Telly Savalas who had clearly never been anywhere near the place. Solos came from Mapp’s Harmonic colleague Percy Pursglove on trumpet, Dan Nicholls on piano and the composer on electric bass.

“Blues Blues” was a reference to Birmingham City’s ailing football team and featured Pursglove, young tenor saxophonist Lluis Mather and drummer Jim Bashford. Nicholls switched to electric piano for the quirky “Time’s Arrow”, featuring as a soloist alongside saxophonist Mather. 

Mapp’s bass gave much of this music an underlying funkiness and no more so than on “Bill’s Mothers”, a title borrowed from an old Black Country expression. Here he also deployed looping effects to give a rich rhythmic backdrop to the engrossing horn interplay of Mather and Pursglove with the young tenor man taking the main solo.

To close, the punchy but suitably eclectic “Locals” featured a superb piano/synth solo from Nicholls with the keyboard man doubling on both instruments followed by an extended drum feature from Bashford.

The crowd at the Barbican was a lot smaller than it had been for similar events at the QEH and the audience response was a little muted. Nevertheless I had once again enjoyed Gambol’s performance and it would be good if Mapp could get this music documented on record. This was Percy Pursglove’s first appearance with the band, taking over from previous incumbent Aaron Diaz, and he acquitted himself well.

Mapp switched to the double bass for a performance by pianist Steve Tromans’ quartet. Tromans group explored pieces by Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter and Thelonious Monk using Tromans’ “theme/open changes” method. Tromans, a great musical theorist describes the method thus;
“Theme/open changes’ concentrates attention on the melodic aspect of jazz standards’ themes, and forgoes strict adherence to the harmonic form in order to collectively explore the wider possibilities of each pieces’ melodic thematic character in relation with the complex nature of the music-making of the four musicians in the quartet - individually, and in their capacity considered singularly, as a band. Being a jazz practice, rhythmicity remains to the fore of the music-making. Complex, swinging, melodic interrelation”.

No arguments there as Tromans and Mapp plus Mike Fletcher (C Melody sax, alto flute) and Miles Levin (drums) dissected Charles Mingus’ “Nostalgia In Times Square” with Tromans dominating with his dense, feverish piano soloing exhibiting a strong debt to Monk and even Cecil Taylor.

A free-wheeling segue of Shorter’s “Footprints” and Monk’s “Round Midnight” offered space to Fletcher on both flute and saxophone and Mapp on arco bass with a lengthy passage in saxophone trio mode.

Tromans’ exhaustive explorations stretch out to a quarter of an hour or so at a time and the set closed with a feverish take on Monk’s “Straight No Chaser” with impassioned solos from Fletcher on saxophone and Tromans at the piano.

Tromans interpretations of the jazz greats are intense, often cerebral, affairs but there’s also an element of raw power in the quartet’s playing that helps to draw in the listener. Tromans is a versatile pianist with an enquiring musical mind and a strong understanding of the tradition. This was interesting, if occasionally difficult, stuff with a good level of musicianship all round. Between them the two bands had demonstrated that there is a strong, capable and adventurous jazz scene flourishing in Birmingham.

JERRY DAMMERS’ SPATIAL A.K.A. ORCHESTRA, BARBICAN MAIN HALL

Keyboard player and composer Jerry Dammers is probably still best known for his one time membership of The Specials, one of Britain’s most significant “pop” groups ever. A famously spiky character Dammers was effectively frozen out of The Specials’ recent highly successful reunion tour and has instead continued to concentrate on his twenty piece plus Spatial A.K.A. Orchestra, the very name a not so veiled reference to his former band.

However the Orchestra takes it’s cue not from The Specials but from Sun Ra, the famously eccentric American band leader. Ra died in 1993 but his Arkestra lives on under the guidance of his former saxophonist and lieutenant Marshall Allen and I saw them give a rather disappointing performance at the 2010 Mostly Jazz Festival in Birmingham. Having seen Dammers’ outfit on Jools Holland’s programme and enjoyed them I was expecting rather more from Dammers and from this aspect he didn’t disappoint. The Spatials have moved beyond the “Sun Ra Tribute” template to encompass other strands of music from rock to reggae and more and the line up includes some of the UK’s leading jazz soloists thus ensuring some excellent individual contributions.

In the Sun Ra tradition the Spatials show is highly theatrical with colourful Ancient Egypt meets Dan Dare style props, costumes and headdresses- even the photographers crawling around the stage filming the gig had to dress for the part. A series of often stunning film projections came from a variety of sources including Coventry based visual artist George Shaw.

Dammers presented a sprawling set of twenty five songs without an interval which proved rather demanding on the audience. To begin the band processed through the crowd New Orleans style with Jason Yarde belligerently honking his soprano sax at selected audience members. Vocals form a big part of the Spatials experience with vocalist/songwriter/performance poet Anthony Joseph one of the orchestra’s two principle vocalists. Joseph recited/sang his “Bleak Midwinter Blues” before being joined on stage by guest singer Edgar Broughton who lent his famously stentorian bellow to the Orchestra’s version of “Frownland”, Dammers’ tribute to the recently deceased Captain Beefheart (the song appears on Beefheart’s seminal “Trout Mask Replica”). Broughton’s appearance was a delightful surprise, strongly influenced by Beefheart they couldn’t have found a better man to pay homage to the good Captain. One of my early rock heroes Broughton originally hails from Warwick, just down the road from Dammers’ Coventry.

The Spatials second main singer Francine Luce then performed the gospel tune “A Walk With Thee” with saxophonist Denys Baptiste taking the instrumental honours. Veteran reggae singer Johnny Clarke came on no less than three times to perform “Blood Dunza”, “First Victim Of War” and “Peace In The Ghetto”, his powerful and energetic performances helping to galvanise the all seated crowd. I was impressed with the charismatic Clarke who proved to be an assured and confident performer.

There was plenty of jazz amongst all this with versions of Duke Ellington’s “Blue Pepper” (from his Far East Suite”) rubbing shoulders with Andrew Hill’s “Illusions”, John Coltrane’s “Naima” and of course a selection of exotically titled Sun Ra tunes. Here the instrumentalists came into their own with Alcyona Mick (piano), Roger Beaujolais (vibes) , Jason Yarde (soprano) and particularly Nathaniel Facey (alto) delivering fine solos. Joseph’s moving and poetic song “Generations” incorporated fine instrumental passages from flautist Finn Peters and saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings. 

All the while Dammers was conducting procedures with the air of an eccentric uncle. His Specials past wasn’t forgotten with Joseph providing contemporary and spiritual new lyrics to the immortal “Ghost Town”, now retitled “Ghost Planet”.

The charismatic Francine Luce produced an astonishing display of vocal gymnastics on Ra’s “I’ll Wait For You” which also included Dammers’ only keyboard solo of the night on suitably wonky sci fi sounding organ.

The instrumental “Straight Into Sampson” followed Johnny Clarke’s final cameo and kept up the reggae theme with a a skanking rhythm that got some of the audience members to their feet. We were into the home stretch now and Ra’s “Soul Vibrations” culminated in a string of solos from saxophonist Larry Stabbins (with a real slash and burn contribution), pianist Alcyona Mick, guitarists Patrick Hatchett and Guy Clarke, acoustic bassist Larry Bartley and drummer Patrick Illingworth. 

“It’s After The End Of The World” reintroduced all the singers with Broughton looking a little lost and also included a stunning trumpet solo from Robin Hopcraft. At this point the bulk of the band left the stage, exiting as they’d entered by processing through the audience. Luce returned to sing “I Hear A New World” with the small coterie of players who had remained on stage before exiting again to leave lone trombonist Harry Brown playing Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” (or the Hovis ad to most of us).

As the lights came up the audience bayed for more but logistics dictated that this wasn’t likely to happen. Instead Francine Luce and members of the horn section returned with Luce singing “Space Is The Place”. With the vocalist acting as pied piper we were led into the foyer where the party continued with the horns plus percussionists Steve Gibson and Crispin “Spry” Robinson providing the backing to Luce and Joseph. With the tube beckoning I had to leave them there but I?m told that the celebrations went on for quite some time. This seemed to be impromptu but I suspect that the “party in the foyer” may be a regular feature at all Spatials shows.

A performance by the Spatial A.K.A. Orchestra is certainly an experience and it’s one that overall I enjoyed. However it seemed to be a collection of great moments rather than the kind of integrated performances I’d seen from smaller musical units over the course of the previous few evenings. Of the five ticketed events I’d seen this was probably the only group I wouldn’t go back to see some time in the future as that initial visual impact would be lost and the big band format offers less room for flexibility and development than the small group. Having said that Dammers clearly likes to change things round and react to situations, Broughton’s Beefheart tribute was clearly a one off.

Also I’m not sure that The Barbican was the right place for this show. People were reluctant to get to their feet. A venue with some room for dancers may have been more appropriate. Nevertheless the Dammers experience is worth trying out at least once although I think many of his old Specials fans would find it rather perplexing. 

OVERVIEW

The 2011 London Jazz festival appeared to be a huge success both artistically and commercially with virtually every event that I attended enjoying very healthy attendances. Only the Magnus Ostrom gig at C.A.M.P attracted a lower crowd than I’d expected. The free events that I went to also drew reassuringly large crowds and hopefully attracted some new listeners to the music. My host Richard (not a jazz fan) commented that the Festival seemed to be much more prominent around London this year with substantial media coverage so hats off to Serious’ PR team for a job well done.

Artistically the festival scored with the sheer quality and variety of music on offer at an equally impressive range of venues right across the city. My ticketed events mirrored this with each evening offering a substantially different musical experiences from piano trio to jazz orchestra and with the venues varying from a sweaty basement through a more orthodox jazz club setting to the concert hall. The standard and variety of the free music also impressed and of the many performances I saw I can’t say that there was one that I disliked. With regard to the ticketed events I have to say that I chose well, although on many evenings I could have gladly been in several locations at once. Over the course of the first four evenings I couldn’t separate the varied talents of Michel Portal, David Sanborn, Michael Wollny and Magnus Ostrom, all very different performances but united by the quality of excellence. I could happily go to see any of these again. Musically I didn’t feel that Jerry Dammers quite matched these but his Orchestra’s gig was a unique experience and scored high on spectacle with the all star line up producing some memorable moments-and of course I loved the Edgar Broughton cameo. I was sorry not to be able to catch the Henry Threadgill concert on the Saturday but was suitably impressed by the subsequent Radio 3 broadcast.

Overall I’d say the festival was a huge success and it has certainly become a highlight of my personal jazz calendar. With a line up ranging from international stars to young hopefuls and with every style of the music represented plus the extensive range of free events the old clich? “something for everybody” seems particularly apposite. Well done to all concerned.