Photograph of Geoff Eales by Brian O’ Connor http://www.imagesofjazz.com

Saturday at Swansea International Jazz Festival, 13/06/2015

Today was the second day of the Swansea International Jazz Festival with an impressively diverse array of ticketed and fringe events to keep music fans of all persuasions happy. I set the scene for the festival with my Friday coverage so without further ado I’ll get straight on with describing the music beginning with;

THE BRIDGEND BIG BAND

It was an early start (11.00 am) for this fringe event held in the Theatre at the Dylan Thomas Centre, the smaller of the venue’s two performance spaces. The room was packed for this performance by the popular and well drilled Bridgend Big Band led by trumpeter Bill Davies. The BBB boasted a classic big band line up featuring five saxes, four trombones, four trumpets, keyboards, guitar, electric bass and drums and the band were joined on some numbers by the highly competent and alluring vocalist Irene Blower. Among the band’s principal soloists were Pete Phillips on piano, Anna Holmes on alto sax, Geoff Salter on tenor and Dave Cottle on trumpet, the latter best known as a pianist but here revealing yet another side of his remarkable musical talent.

The instrumental repertoire included the rousing “Sing Sing Sing” by Louis Prima, a feature number for drummer Gary Phillips plus Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” which featured Holmes, Salter and Cottle.

Vocal items included Dave Wolpe’s arrangement of “Come Fly With Me” and an Ella Fitzgerald inspired “I’m Beginning To See The Light”. “Pennsylvania 6500”  saw the audience joining in and other pieces featuring Blower’s confident vocals were “Blue Skies”, “The More I See You”, “On The Street Where You Live” and a suitably sparkly “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”.

The whole gig was presented with great good humour by vocalist Blower and the endearingly rambling Davies and the playing itself was hugely accomplished throughout. The audience gave them a terrific reception. What an excellent way to start the day.

GEOFF EALES QUINTET

Welsh born, London based pianist and composer Geoff Eales was a natural choice for this Festival. Billed as the Geoff Eales Quintet the pianist brought along his Isorhythm band, essentially the same group that recorded the excellent 2012 album “Shifting Sands”. Joining Eales were Bristol based saxophonist Ben Waghorn, Australian born guitarist Carl Orr, Fred T. Baker on electric bass and Malcolm Mortimore at the drums, the latter a replacement for the album’s Asaf Sirkis.

I saw the band, then still including Sirkis, give an exciting performance of the “Shifting Sands” material at Stratford upon Avon Jazz Club in 2012. Today’s two sets placed a greater focus on   conventional jazz material with a roughly 50/50 split between standards and originals but the music was still delivered in the exciting and imaginative manner we have come to expect from a band that essentially represents Eales’ “fusion” outlet.

The pianist’s arrangement of Victor Young’s “Beautiful Love” opened the proceedings and was a good introduction to the voices of the band with each member enjoying a period in the spotlight. Waghorn’s muscular tenor led the way followed by Orr’s high octane, rock influenced guitar. Eales’ own solo contained flourishes that referenced his classical background and he was followed by virtuoso bassist Baker, like Laurence Cottle the previous day a disciple of the Jaco Pastorius school. Former Gentle Giant rummer Malcolm Mortimore rounded things off with a series of colourful drum breaks.

Eales’ own “Sandys’ Samba” (apparently a dedication to his pet cat) sounded much as the title would suggest with the composer opening the soloing followed by Waghorn on robust tenor sax and Orr on turbo charged guitar. Baker’‘s solo also included moments that were positively guitar like (he’s also a highly accomplished player of that instrument) and Mortimore’s drum feature rounded off what was, in reality, a pretty rugged samba ? but one that was none the worse for that.

The epic “When The Spirit Soars” from the “Shifting Sands” album began with a passage of solo piano before opening out to include a suitably soaring tenor solo from Waghorn and a similarly stratospheric passage from Orr on guitar. This was the piece where Eales’ prog rock leanings came to the fore, something that’s perfectly OK in my book.

We returned to more familiar jazz territory with Horace Silver’s “Song For My Father”, dedicated by Eales to the late composer and also to his own father, appropriately also named Horace, who was seated in the audience. Eales Senior took a bow before his son’s group delivered an imaginative interpretation of Silver’s classic with solos from Eales on piano, Waghorn on tenor and Baker on languidly liquid electric bass.

The first set closed with a return to the “Shifting Sands” album and Eales’ “Getting Down With Dukey”, a dedication to the keyboard player George Duke that was actually written before Duke’s tragic death in 2013 aged sixty seven. Eales and Orr actually played with Duke and with Billy Cobham and the piece is very much a celebration of Duke’s talent. It was a high energy way to end the first set with its funk and rock rhythms fuelling some fiery solos from Waghorn on alto, Eales on piano (including a terrific boogie woogie section), Orr on guitar and Baker on fuzzed up bass. There were also some mercurial exchanges between Waghorn and Orr in the latter stages of the piece. Terrific stuff.

Set two began in intense fashion with Eales honouring his Welsh roots with the new composition “In The Name Of Coal”, a piece depicting something of the “blood, sweat and tears” of the coal industry in Wales and beyond. Strong riffs and grooves were given greater emphasis by the doubling up of tenor and guitar on the melody lines, the combination of power and intricacy reminiscent of Partisans at their best. Incisive solos came from Waghorn, Orr and Eales with Mortimore closing the piece out with a heard hitting drum feature. This was jazz packing a powerful punch and a political edge.

Eales’ arrangement of Thelonious’ “Blue Monk” was introduced by an extensive solo bass feature from Baker with the rest of the band joining in gradually. Subsequent solos came from Eales, Orr- in more of an obvious jazz vein than previously, then Waghorn on tenor and finally a reprise from Baker.

Eales’ ballad “Song For My Mother” acted as a counterpart to the Horace Silver piece in the first half and featured one of the composer’s most beautiful melodies. Here the focus was on lyricism with beautiful solos from Eales on piano, Baker on melodic electric bass and Waghorn on warm toned tenor.

A shorter second set ended with a version of the standard “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise” with Eales warning us - “like you’ve never heard it before”. The quintet certainly tackled it with gusto with solos from Orr on guitar, Waghorn on tenor, Baker on bass and Eales at the piano, the leader throwing in a string of quotes from both pop and classical sources. Great fun and an excellent way to round off a hugely enjoyable performance from one of the most exciting and accomplished outfits around. Everybody played well but I particularly enjoyed the contribution of leader Eales and the inventive and exciting guitar work of the rock influenced Orr.

GARETH WILLIAMS “Bill Evans Trio”

Over in the Theatre pianist Gareth Williams, heard to such good effect the previous day as a member of the Laurence Cottle Quintet, was leading his own trio in a programme that concentrated on the music of the late, great pianist and composer Bill Evans. It was particularly strongly focussed on that period in 1959-61 that saw Evans performing in a trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. It was a line up that was together for little more than a year but produced a series of exceptional live and studio albums that changed forever the perception of the piano trio in jazz. This was largely down to LaFaro’s unique approach to the bass, adventurous in terms of both melody and harmony he helped to “liberate” the role of the instrument for generations of musicians to follow. Tragically he was killed in an automobile accident on July 6th 1961 aged just twenty five but his musical influence still continues to resonate.

The idea for a band paying tribute to LaFaro was instigated by bassist Dave Green, a musician directly affected by and benefiting from, LaFaro’s musical legacy. His name for the project is “Short Journeys”, a reflection on the short lived but astonishingly fruitful creative partnership between Evans, LaFaro and Motian. Green and Williams often play the material associated with Evans and LaFaro as a duo but today they added drummer Steve Brown to the line-up, “tonight Steve Brown, you are Paul Motian” dead-panned Williams at one point.

The Williams trio played a relatively brief set in stifling conditions that were difficult for both musicians and audience alike. It transpired that somebody had attempted to activate the air conditioning in the theatre but had only succeeded in turning on the radiators instead! It was absolutely baking in there and Williams was quite visibly suffering. Nevertheless he managed to conjure an astonishing degree of beauty and lyricism from the Festival’s resident Yamaha electric keyboard. Green in the LaFaro role enjoyed plenty of time as the featured soloist, relishing the challenge of replicating something of LaFaro’s ground breaking style on the bass. His playing of the technically demanding bass parts was hugely dexterous and assured and a constant delight to watch and hear. Brown, a drummer who can really drive a band (as we were hear later) played with brushes almost throughout, his low key presence in the Motian role finely judged and eminently successful.

All of the pieces performed were associated with the classic Evans/Lafaro/Motian recordings and included “Spring Is Here”, the enduringly popular “Waltz For Debby”, “Come Rain Or Come Shine” and LaFaro’s own “Gloria’s Step”, one of the very few original LaFaro tunes to be recorded during the bassist’s lifetime. This latter was a feature for Green and included an extended solo bass intro. We also heard “Young And Foolish” and “Autumn Leaves” plus two or three unannounced items which I seem to recall including “Blue In Green” and “Detour Ahead”.
Both Williams and Green brought plenty of themselves to these interpretations while remaining true to the spirit and aesthetic of the Evans/LaFaro/Motian trio.

The performance was presented by Williams in his trademark, ramblingly eccentric style and included the revelation that Green had featured on a BBC Radio 3 programme about LaFaro’s life.  Green also spoken to LaFaro’s sister who curates her brother’s archive and has written a book about his life.

Despite the sweltering conditions you could hear the proverbial pin drop as Williams, Green and Brown played this beautiful music, the notes just seemed to hang on the air. The material was delivered as a single set, which helped to maintain the mood of quiet concentration and although the performance was probably truncated due to the heat everybody seemed to be delighted with what they had heard. In its own quiet way quite an exceptional gig.

ROBERT FOWLER’S GERRY MULLIGAN CONCERT BIG BAND

Next up in the main hall was another “tribute act” of a sort. Robert Fowler’s interpretation of the music of the late Gerry Mulligan’s Concert Big Band has been a popular draw on the UK festival circuit for some time and this performance was very keenly anticipated in certain quarters.

I seemed to have been one of the few people in a very sizeable audience to have seen the band before. Fowler brought a similar incarnation of the band to Titley Jazz Festival in 2013 with several of those musicians also appearing in Swansea today. Inevitably the repertoire was very much the same too, beginning with the opening fanfare of “Utter Chaos”, the Mulligan Band’s theme song.

Rodgers & Hart’s “You Took Advantage Of Me” featured an opening solo from trombonist Mark Nightingale who had also been a key presence at Titley. We also heard from Fowler himself in the Mulligan role, as bandleader his baritone sax was featured on virtually every tune.

The tune “Black Nightgown” was written by Johnny Mandel for the film “I Want To Live” and incorporated solos from Fowler, trombonist Adrian Fry and trumpeter Martin Shaw.

Mulligan hoped to maintain a big band with a small band mentality. He thus left plenty of room for his soloists as evidenced by his own tune “Motel” which today contained features for alto saxophonist Colin Skinner plus Shaw on trumpet, Nightingale on trombone and Fowler on baritone sax.

Mulligan worked with arrangers such as Bill Holman, A Cohn, Bob Brookmeyer and Gary McFarland. The latter’s “Weep” incorporated solos from Steve Fishwick on trumpet plus Fowler on baritone sax and Nightingale on trombone.

The Concert Big Band regularly welcomed guest performers, one of the most popular of these being Zoot Sims. Tenor saxophonist Alex Garnett performed the Sims role on an arrangement of “Come Rain and Come Shine” that begun as a lushly orchestrated ballad before gaining an injection of pace during the course of Garnett’s solo.

Brookmeyer’s slowed arrangement of Django Reinhardt’s “Django’s Castle” featured Garnett again alongside bandleader Fowler in a lush orchestration featuring the sound of muted trumpets.

From playing almost subliminally in his role as “Paul Motian” the versatile Steve Brown was now driving a thirteen piece jazz orchestra and his Latin inflected drums helped to characterise the arrangement of the Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer tune “Out Of This World” that closed the first set. Solos here came from Nightingale on trombone, Fowler on baritone and Shaw on trumpet as the first half ended on an energetic note.

A slightly shorter second set began with Mulligan’s tribute to Johnny Hodges “Eighteen Carrots for Rabbit”, “Rabbit” being Hodges’ nickname ? providence unknown. Sammy Mayne led off the solos on alto before Karen Sharp offered a fresh voice on baritone. We also heard from Green on double bass and Garnett on tenor sax.

Johnny Mandel’s “Barbara’s Theme” was sourced from the same film soundtrack as the earlier “Black Nightgown”. A noirish arrangement saw Sharp move to bass clarinet with solos coming from Fowler on baritone and Shaw on trumpet. Brown’s ominous mallet rumbles added gravitas throughout.

Al Cohn’s arrangement of Mulligan’s “As Catch Can” was much more rousing with the excellent Martin Shaw leading off the solos followed by bandleader Fowler on baritone sax. We also heard from the “engine room”, Green on double bass and Brown with a series of sparky drum breaks.

Arguably Mulligan’s most famous composition “Walking Shoes” incorporated a string of solos bookended by Fowler on baritone sax and also featuring Skinner on alto, Shaw on trumpet and Fry on trombone.

“My Funny Valentine” was a ballad arrangement featuring the deep sonorities of Fowler’s baritone sax. The concert concluded with a final Mulligan original. “I Know But I Don’t Know How” featuring solos from Nightingale on trombone and Fowler on baritone.

The band’s performance was rapturously received by the Swansea crowd and it was certainly a very well programmed show with Fowler’s baritone at the heart of the arrangements. There were also strong contributions from the other soloists, notably Mark Nightingale on trombone and Martin Shaw on trumpet. For me the impact was lessened a little because I’d seen a very similar performance at Titley a couple of years before. However I suspect that for most of the crowd this was the first time they’d seen this highly accomplished Mulligan tribute and the audience reaction spoke volumes for the band’s performance.

For the record the full line up was;

Robert Fowler ? band leader, baritone sax
Andy Greenwood ? lead trumpet
Martin Shaw ? trumpet
Steve Fishwick ? trumpet
Karen Sharp ? baritone sax, bass clarinet
Alex Garnett ? tenor sax
Colin Skinner ? alto sax
Sammy Mayne ? alto sax
Mark Nightingale ? trombone
Adrian Fry ? trombone
Sarah Williams ? bass trombone
Dave Green ? double bass
Steve Brown - drums

RADIO LONDRA

Radio Londra is quartet featuring an alliance of British and Italian musicians. It was originally put together by the Italian born, London based drummer Enzo Zirilli, a popular figure on the UK jazz scene thanks to his work with Gilad Atzmon, Frank Harrison, Sarah Gillespie, Alex Hutton, Brandon Allen, Quentin Collins and others.

Zirilli has been conducting an innovative exchange scheme with the intention of introducing Italian musicians to British jazz audiences and vice versa. Radio Londra features the young Italian guitarist
Luca Boscagin alongside his somewhat older British counterpart, the great Jim Mullen. The group is completed by the British organist Ross Stanley, one of the most in demand Hammond players in the UK and also a supremely talented pianist.

Radio Londra has been around since 2013, the year in which the quartet recorded their eponymous d?but album. The focus of the album is on standard material with the exception of one original tune by Boscagin. This was reflected in the group’s choice of music for today with many of the pieces being sourced from the album. Their sound is essentially that of the classic jazz organ trio but with the added dimension of the extra guitar. It’s music that possesses considerable appeal and all in all this was one of the most enjoyable performances of the festival.

Radio Londra began their full length single set with the opening track of their album, the jazz standard “Tenderly”. It was fascinating to compare the different techniques of the two guitarists. Mullen’s Wes Montgomery inspired thumb picking is the stuff of legend, Boscagin preferred to deploy a plectrum for soloing but there were moments when even he was seen to be making use of the thumb! The pair exchanged solos on the opener followed by Stanley on his KeyB Duo keyboard, I was slightly disappointed that he hadn’t brought his vintage Hammond along although I suspect that the prospect of lugging it up the stairs may have been a mitigating factor. Zirilli’s bright and busy drum breaks completed the introductions.

Although Zirilli had initially brought the band together ha was happy to leave the announcing duties to the wry Glaswegian Mullen. Next up was Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust”, another album track, which was introduced by a passage of solo guitar from the impressive Boscagin, the young guitarist producing a semi acoustic sound and deploying a finger picking technique on what looked like a Godin guitar. He switched to a plectrum as his solo took a more obvious “jazz” turn, subsequently handing over to Mullen and his magic thumb. With Stanley taking something of a back set the two guitarists also traded conversational exchanges prior to a solo guitar coda from Boscagin.

Dave Brubeck’s Ellington tribute “The Duke” incorporated a quirky, quote filled solo from Mullen followed by Stanley at the organ and Boscagin on the other guitar. Zirilli wrapped things up with a series of neatly brushed drum breaks.

Back in 2007 Mullen released the trio album “Smokescreen” with organist Mike Gorman and drummer Matt Skelton. The self penned title track has been a favourite at Mullen’s live shows ever since with its complex head and 5/4 time signature. Mullen and Boscagin doubled up on the theme before Stanley took the first solo followed by Boscagin, Mullen and finally Zirilli.

It was Zirilli who brought Italian composer Umberto Bindi’s dramatic ballad “Il Nostro Concerto” to the group. An atmospheric intro featuring church style organ and cymbal shimmers gave way to Boscagin’s melodic solo above Zirilli’s delicately brushed drum accompaniment. Mullen subsequently took over before handing on in turn to Stanley whose solo incorporated high pitched, electric piano style sounds.

Mullen has played right across the music spectrum from the jazz rock fusion of Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express to the soul and funk of the phenomenally successful Morrisey-Mullen Band. Despite his unimpeachable jazz credentials he has always had an eye for a good pop tune and the set ended with two of these. First up was a joyous, swinging version of the old Earth Wind & Fire hit “After The Love Has Gone” with solos from Mullen and Boscagin and with Stanley digging deep to unearth something of that classic “Hammond sound”.

Finally we heard a remarkable version of the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction”, like the EW&F piece o a song that managed to find its way onto the “Radio Londra” album. It’s an astonishing transformation, the group take just one snatched melodic phrase from the original tune and use it as the jumping off point for some serious jazz improvisation. Introduced by Zirilli’s drums the piece included solos from both guitarists as Stanley’s keyboards surged and churned and the piece was crowned by an explosive Zirilli drum feature as the group founder asserted that this really was his band. The familiar Jagger/Richards anthem had been transformed almost beyond recognition and as we filed out after the show some audience still didn’t believe that what we had just heard WAS “Satisfaction” and that Mullen had been taking the piss when he announced it. Even listening to it on record it takes careful listening to realise that the piece isn’t a totally new composition.

I very much enjoyed Radio Londra’s set. It’s always a pleasure to see Jim Mullen play, he’s such a gifted and natural improviser that he make it all look easy. I was also impressed with his young counterpart Boscagin and look forward to hearing more from him. I’ve seen Stanley perform live many times on both organ and piano and I have a huge admiration for his talent and versatility. I’ve become a fan of Zirilli through his work with others and it was good to see him steering his own project. The resultant album is a highly enjoyable, if not overly profound, listen and is well worth the attention of any jazz fan. Well done guys.

TOBY STEWART’S MONSTERS ON A LEASH

The day’s entertainment concluded with tenor saxophonist Toby Stewart leading his band Monsters On A Leash playing music associated with Oakland’s legendary funk/soul horn section for hire Tower Of Power.

The T of P horn section appear on lots of other people’s records but Tower Of Power was a successful band in its own right, particularly when fronted by soul singer Lenny Williams who appeared on the band’s first three albums released in a period spanning 1973-75. Monsters On A Leash take their name from one of T of P’s later albums from 1991.

The music of Tower Of Power, and by extension that of Monsters On A Leash, is emphatically not jazz but it is, in part, derived from it, particularly with regard to that famous horn section. Like the Jive Aces the previous evening they drew in a whole new audience, dancing shoes at the ready, and the large crowd more than vindicated Dave Cottle’s decision to book the band.

I’ll admit that I was never a fan of T of P back in the day and this was a show that I generally found to be rather underwhelming although many other people were clearly delighted with it. It was certainly an impressive line up with a rhythm section of Laurence Cottle (electric bass) and Mike Bradley (drums), both hugely respected jazz players, laying down the grooves alongside Graeme Taylor on keyboards and Damien Cooper on guitar. The all important horn section featured Stewart on tenor plus trumpeters Andy Greenwood (seen earlier with Robert Fowler) and Kevin Wedrychowski plus Darcy Hepner on second tenor and Clare McInerney on baritone. The volume had been turned up to deliver a rock style sound mix and overall the sound was muddy and indistinct with little separation between instruments. The group was fronted by singer Jaelee Small, a strange choice I thought to replace Williams with a female, and I’m afraid that I found her vocals to be far too shrill and shouty for my tastes.

I enjoyed these guys more than the Jive Aces and there were some good instrumental solos but again this wasn’t really my cup of tea and again I slipped away quietly at half time.

Overall a terrific day of music though with Geoff Eales just getting the nod over Radio Londra for gig of the day and with Gareth Williams’ Bill Evans project a close third. I also thoroughly enjoyed both big band performances, Robert Fowler’s Mulligan Band on the concert programme and surprise package the Bridgend Big Band on the Fringe.

 

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