Saturday at Brecon Jazz Festival

8th August 2009

Now under the jurisdiction of Hay Festival the hastily assembled Brecon Jazz ‘09 was blessed with uniformly good weather and can only be classed as a roaring success. For a supposedly “stopgap” event there was still much fine music on offer and the festival promises to be bigger and better in 2010.
This years programme was based largely around British talent with some of the biggest and most popular UK names present-Courtney Pine, Stan Tracey, Alan Barnes Dennis Rollins etc. Some may argue that the line up was a little safe and predictable but everybody delivered and there was much excellent music to be heard. Abdullah Ibrahim headed a small cast of international players and Manu Dibango and Seth Lakeman proved to be inspired left field choices from outside the usual jazz spectrum.

SIXTET

One of the best features of the old Brecon was the way it supported Welsh musicians, giving them a chance to bring their music to a national and international audience. Although festival regulars the Heavy Quartet and the Root Doctors were absent for the first time in many years there was still a Welsh presence in the form festival favourites Wonderbrass plus Sixtet, a group of leading Cardiff based players assembled especially for the festival.

I was particularly anxious to show my continuing support for local musicians and made the Sixtet performance my first port of call on the festival Saturday. The event had originally been scheduled for the open air stage at Captain’s Walk but like all the other performances slated for this venue it was moved to the main house of the Theatr Brycheiniog. In many ways this was a good thing, although I missed the informality of the much loved Captain’s Walk all the bands effected benefited from playing in the improved acoustic environment of the theatre, particularly Alec Dankworth’s Spanish Accents group who appeared later in the day. However on one of the warmest weekends of the summer both musicians and audiences would have appreciated some form of air conditioning in the Theatr even if this was not practicable in some of the other venues.

Sixtet was a hastily assembled aggregate under the leadership of pianist Paul Jones and also featuring guitarist Richard Jones and bassist Mark O’Connor i.e. three quarters of the acclaimed Jones/O’Connor group. They were augmented by the wonderful bassist Paula Gardiner together with saxophonists Osian Roberts (tenor) and Kevin Figes (alto).

This Cardiff “Supergroup”  concentrated on original material from within it’s own ranks. Although they started a little tentatively they gradually hit their stride and in the month or so since Paul Jones was asked to assemble the group they had obviously managed to arrange a degree of rehearsal time. Granted these musicians are all familiar with each other’s playing but nonetheless the extent of their togetherness on a programme of all original material was impressive. 

In the main the material stuck fairly closely to the head/solos/head format which has historically formed the basis of jazz since the bebop era. This can sometimes become tiresome and repetitive but the freshness of Sixtet’s themes plus the pithy nature of the soloing meant that the listener’s attention was engaged throughout.

The group began with Figes’ “Little Miles” with solos coming from Richard Jones on guitar and Figes himself deploying an idiosyncratic tone on alto that sometimes recalled Jackie McLean. Jones’ straight ahead jazz guitar playing was also hugely enjoyable and considerably different to the more rock influenced sound he uses in the context of the more fusion orientated Jones O’Connor group.

The guitarist was responsible for the second tune “Spartacus” which featured his languid guitar playing plus the first of several excellent solos from namesake Paul Jones at the acoustic piano. Jones tends to deploy electric keyboards in the JOC group so it’s always a pleasant change to see him demonstrate his considerable abilities on the acoustic grand.
The next number was unannounced but featured solos from both saxophonists plus the two Jones boys on piano and guitar. Tenor man Roberts has been gigging since he was a teenager and still looks very youthful. His sound however is reassuringly old fashioned, he’s an excellent mainstream player who has clearly learned much from the masters of the past.

Two compositions by bassist Gardiner proved to be the highlights of the set. “Beneath Rioja Skies”  appears on Gardiner’s 2008 trio album “Hot Lament” featuring Mark O’Connor’s drums and the saxophones and flutes of multi instrumentalist Lee Goodall. The band really hit their stride on this dramatic composition and totally did it justice. Gardiner’s atmospheric flamenco bass intro was augmented by Paul Jones’ use of the piano innards. The two horns stated the theme, conjuring images of sun baked Spanish landscapes. The solos were magnificent, firstly Richard Jones, then Paul on piano with his best solo of the set and finally Figes’ soaring alto.
Figes’ own “No Reason”  followed with another memorable contribution from Paul Jones at the piano but it was Gardiner’s “No Coincidence” that proved to be the next real highlight. Also from “Hot Lament” this thirteen bar tune featured powerful solos from Roberts, Figes, Richard Jones, Paul Jones and finally an inspired passage from Gardiner herself.
An attractive untitled ballad written by Paul Jones featured tender playing from both saxophonists and the set was completed by the more upbeat “Natural Order”  with solos coming from Richard Jones on guitar and Osian Roberts on tenor.

With the announcements genially handled by Paul Jones and Paula Gardiner this was a commendably relaxed performance with some fine playing from all members of the sextet. O’Connor’s contribution should not be overlooked, his sympathetic, undemonstrative support helped to bring the best out of the soloists. Also vital to the success of the event was the quality of the writing from the group members. All the themes were interesting and inventive with Gardiner’s two pieces stealing the compositional honours. The group ably demonstrated the quality to be found on the South Wales jazz scene and were well received by an appreciative audience. It would be good if they could find their way into a recording studio at some point and make this music available on CD.

DENNIS ROLLINS-GRIOTS TO GARAGE
Dennis Rollins’ remarkable one man show From Griots to Garage took place in the Market Hall. An audio-visual production it made good use of the venue’s three video screens to show the arresting imagery that went with Rollins’ music.
From Griots to Garage traces in music and images the story of the African diaspora from pre-history to the present day via Africa, the Caribbean, the U.S.A., Brazil, Britain and more It’s a triumph for Rollins who plays trombone with a great physical resourcefulness but who also utilises a battery of pedals and pre-recorded FX. I’m not always a fan of such electronic gimmickry but in imaginative hand such as those of Rollins the performance is positively enhanced. Both the playing and the accompanying imagery (by vijay Nick Hillel of Yeast Multimedia) held the attention throughout in a though provoking show that educated and entertained in equal measure. 
As Rollins opened on solo trombone utilising both overblowing and electronic effects to obtain a surprisingly full sound the visuals showed life crawling out of the primordial soup. The images included fish, volcanoes, the breaking up of the super-continent Pangea, then the first men , the discovery of fire and tribal dancing in a virgin Africa.

Then came rain and storms, chains and the fear and horror of transportation to the New World. Rollins’ playing became more angry until, subdued, he finally fell to his knees reflecting the brutal imagery projected behind him. Industrial rhythms illustrated the drudgery of slavery and a depiction of a walled in United States depicted the country as the black man’s prison.
But this is a musical journey as well as an historic and geographical one and at this juncture Rollins introduced elements of the gospel sounds that have been influential in so much of modern popular music. As the visuals showed images of railroads and cotton fields he now introduced New Orleans style jazz, morphing this into Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing” and finally into bebop complete with images of figures such as John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.

The musical world tour continued as Rollins looked at parallel developments-Brazilian samba, township jazz in Soweto, the music of Cuba. Linking all these were the common qualities of rhythm and dance, the original African rhythms subtly mutating in the new environments their people found themselves in, creating new genres of music but always harking back to that original, African rhythmic root. 

If the visuals were compulsive viewing so was Rollins himself allying his use of the mute to loops and live sampling to create bass lines and echoes within a wall of sound. This was hugely impressive stuff that absorbed the audience right up until the short interval.

The second half of the show began with a refreshed Rollins playing the melodies of some of the great soul hits of the 60’s, among them Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”.

The sampled voice of Martin Luther King weaved in and out of an angry passage portraying the epochal Civil Rights campaign of the 60’s. Among the disturbing visual images were race riots, police brutality, the 1968 Olympic Black Power salute and the Klu Klux Klan. Above all came the message “Let Freedom Ring”. 
The sound of James Brown’s funk and soul mutated into seventies disco complete with images of mirror balls and even roller disco. 

Next stop Jamaica and the rise of reggae traced through the history of dance halls, sound systems, rastas and toasters to Bob Marley himself. Here Rollins blew trombone over a looped, syncopated beat, his horn sounding for all the world like Rico Rodriguez. The Windrush migration to Britain was also addressed in this section, including the ugly Notting Hill race riots that eventually followed. Our police revealed themselves to be no better than their American counterparts.

Then it was back to America and beat boxes, turntables and the rise of hip hop and rap. Finally came garage with the priceless imagery of Prince Charles trying to dance to it. However footage of presidents Mandela, Obama and Putin were subsequently woven into the music presumably to illustrate that music is the only truly universal language. A reprise of “It Don’t Mean A Thing” was a reminder of the importance of jazz in the continuing story of the African diaspora.

This was completely different to any other gig at the festival and drew an overwhelmingly positive response from a large crowd. The affable Rollins is an engaging personality and a great educator and this unique show was something of a personal triumph for him. The music wouldn’t work without the visuals or vice versa but as a unified package it worked superbly. There was perhaps an implied supposition that the audience knew the story already and arguably some kind of narrative might have been helpful but this would have made the event more of a lecture and less of a concert.

It’s not perhaps the type of event that would work second time around but all curious music fans should try to see this show once.

CLARK TRACEY SEXTET
Back at the Theatr Brycheiniog’s main house drummer Clark Tracey led his young sextet in a selection of material mainly drawn from their impending new album “Current Climate”. Clark had appeared on the same stage the previous evening as part of his father Stan’s octet, a show reviewed elsewhere on this site.
These days the younger Tracey has almost become an elder statesman of British jazz himself. In recent years he has made his policy to work with up and coming young players. Pianist Zoe Rahman enjoyed a stint in one of Clark’s bands and her role has now been taken by Kit Downes, another young rising star of the keyboard.
For this gig Downes was missing (he appears on the “Current Climate” CD) and his place was taken by the remarkable young musician Peter Billington. This talented multi-instrumentalist actually played bass in an earlier incarnation of Tracey’s groups but today he showed excellent abilities as a pianist. Another rising star, Lewis Wright was on vibes. This talented young musician is the latest recruit to the band Empirical and he is fast acquiring a reputation as one of the UK’s brightest young talents. Piers Green (saxophones) and Paul Jordanous (trumpet and flugel) formed the front line with Birmingham Conservatoire graduate Ryan Trebilcock at the bass. Tracey’s nurturing of young players has often attracted comparisons with the great Art Blakey, something re-enforced by Tracey’s love of the hard bop idiom. Most of his groups are based loosely on this style with the current sextet being no exception.

The group started with “So Near, So Far”, a composition by the great British drummer Tony Crombie in collaboration with writer, broadcaster and sometime saxophonist Benny Green. This served to introduce the members of the band but initially I found them to be a little tentative particularly Jordanous on flugel. Green here appeared on tenor but he was to feature on alto for the majority of the set.

“Bolivia”, a sturdy slice of hard bop written by pianist Cedar Walton saw the band and particularly Jordanous growing in confidence and authority. The trumpeter soloed at length followed by Wright demonstrating his prodigious four mallet technique on the vibes. Green was the second alto player of the day to remind me of Jackie McLean and Billington excelled as the group went into piano trio mode. Tracey weighed in with a series of crisp drum breaks. Good stuff.

Tracey dedicated the next piece to the late Jed Williams who did so much to get Brecon Jazz established on the international scene. The tune was Wayne Shorter’s “One By One” written during his tenure with Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and always associated with them. This formed the framework for a dazzling solo from Wright who was quickly emerging as the star of the group with superlative support coming from Trebilcock’s peerless bass walk and Tracey’s inspired cymbal choices. The bassist later took a short solo himself and Jordanous also featured on trumpet. 

Despite his absence the sextet featured Kit Downes’ composition “Export” with Billington handling the pianist’s role with aplomb. His solo piano introduction was followed by Jordanous on flugel and Wright on vibes before the pianist took up the soloist’s mantle in a hugely impressive display.
From the pen of Tracey came “Current Climate”, the title track of the group’s soon to be released CD. This was another driving piece of hard bop powered by the leader’s drums and featuring powerful solos from Billington at the piano, Jordanous on trumpet, Wright at the vibes and Green on alto. Trebilcock also featured on bass and Wright returned for a second flourish. I noticed that Wright was playing a Musser vibraphone, the make endorsed for many years by the great Gary Burton-a pretty good role model I’d say.
Finally came Tracey’s “The Devil’s Chair” from the 1987 suite “Stiperstones” and named for a dramatic peak in nearby Shropshire. This brooding, dramatic piece with it’s insistent rhythms drew a dazzling solo from Wright on vibes. At one point the band dropped out completely leaving the young prodigy to play entirely solo. This passage revealed the depths of his musicality and invention. Jim Hart remains at the head of the UK vibes pack but Lewis Wright is definitely a name to watch. Billington and Jordanous also featured plus Tracey at the drums, his solo more concise and focussed than the previous evening and all the more effective for it.

After a slightly shaky start this was an excellent performance from a highly talented young band and their mentor. Clark Tracey remains an influential figure on the jazz scene and his own playing is as sharp as ever. His patronage of younger players is invaluable and in Lewis Wright he looks to have unearthed another young jazz diamond.

ALEC DANKWORTH’S SPANISH ACCENTS
Alec Dankworth’s beautiful 2007 CD “Spanish Accents” is a charming and melodic look at the “Spanish tinge” in jazz and is reviewed elsewhere on this site. The album is bright and accessible but full of great musical subtlety and Dankworth and his talented group brought all these qualities to tonight’s performance in Theatr Brycheiniog’s Main House.
I saw a version of this band in Coventry a couple of years ago prior to the release of the album. Violinist Christian Garrick was present in this incarnation and also appears on the CD. Here his place was taken by flautist Andy Panayi and given Garrick’s major contribution to the group sound I was initially sceptical as to whether this substitution would work. I needn’t have worried. Panayi fitted instantly into the group aesthetic and his playing was inspired throughout. Completing the band at Brecon were saxophonist Mark Lockheart,guitarist Phil Robson and percussionist Demi Sabat Garcia on a set up incorporating kit drums, cajon and percussion. 
The material played by the group included a number of tunes from the album plus a selection of new pieces and arrangements. They commenced with Dankworth’s tune “Palmas”, the opening track on the CD. With Garcia subtly propelling the group by the use of hand percussion and cajon quality solos came from Dankworth, Robson, Panayi and Lockheart. The flautist fitted in so well I found that I didn’t miss Garrick at all. 

Another Dankworth tune, also to be found on the album, “El Levante” was up next. Introduced by Dankworth’s bass the piece included an inspired duet between Panayi and Lockheart to illustrate the east wind referred to in the title. Like it’s predecessor it’s a highly melodic piece played with great precision by a highly talented group of musicians. Played quietly and with an impeccable sound balance it was quickly becoming clear that this well crafted, eloquent music was shaping up to provide the gig of the festival thus far.

Dizzy Gillespie’s classic “Con Alma” (literally “with art or soul” as the well spoken Dankworth informed us ) also appears on the CD. Introduced by flute and tenor it became something of a feature for that fine and intelligent soloist Mark Lockheart with Robson and Dankworth also making substantial contributions. Once again the bassist’s abilities as an imaginative and innately musical soloist were being demonstrated to the full.

Dankworth has an obvious affinity for the music of Chick Corea, an American musician of Spanish ancestry. Corea’s “Captain Marvel” is a new tune in the Spanish Accents repertoire with Lockheart again prominent as a soloist alongside Panayi and Robson. The Partisans’ guitarist reels his rockist tendencies in in this context, playing elegant jazz lines and subtly hinting at the flamenco inspirations behind Dankworth’s arrangements.
Also new to the repertoire is the group’s version of “Flamenco Sketches” from the seminal Miles Davis album “Kind Of Blue”. Garcia played the udu here, not a Spanish instrument at all but one that fits perfectly into Dankworth’s visionary sound world. Panayi took the melody line on flute and also soloed alongside Lockheart and Robson.

The Catalonian pianist Chano Dominguez wrote “Naranca Y Canela (literally “Orange and Cinnamon”) yet another new tune for the group. Lockheart soloed on soprano here followed by Dankworth , Panayi and Robson. The triumph of Dankworth’s vision is the way he sets the head/solos/head template into a different format. It’s so refreshing and imaginatively done that you don’t really notice that that is indeed what’s going on. It’s jazz but emphatically jazz with a new address. 

An as yet unrecorded Vincente Amigo tune with the roughly translated title “The Afternoon Is Caramel”  was the vehicle for some syncopated hand clapping in the Flamenco style and also featured Garcia on udu.. As Dankworth informed us “Palmas” or hand clapping is considered a serious instrument in the Flamenco tradition. More conventional soloing came from Panayi’s flute and Robson’s guitar. 

From the album a good natured version of Chick Corea’s “Armando’s Rhumba” closed the set, the infectious tune bringing the final solos from Panayi, Lockheart and Dankworth. A dazzling hand percussion solo from Garcia was the real scene stealer here, Dankworth has found a seriously talented player to replace the departed Marc Miralta.

The group received the first genuine standing ovation I’d seen that weekend. The performance from five incredibly gifted musicians was flawless and Dankworth and his colleagues were besieged by eager fans afterwards. I’m sure CD sales were brisk.

Gig of the day without a doubt and for me the highlight of the festival thus far.

Critic Rating 4 Stars

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