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Saturday at Titley Jazz , 31/07/2010

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by Ian Mann

August 03, 2010

The spirit of the much loved and much missed Appleby Jazz Festival was very much alive and well in its new Herefordshire home.

Picture of Stan Tracey courtesy of: Gerry Walden (http://www.gwpics.com)

Saturday at Titley Jazz

Titley Junction Station, Herefordshire, 31/07/2010

Appleby Jazz Festival ran for fifteen years in the Cumbrian countryside and attracted a large and loyal following for it’s blend of modern mainstream jazz set in a beautiful location. Some of Britain’s finest musicians came to play in the marquees erected in the grounds of picturesque Appleby Castle and the festival was much missed after it closed its tent-flaps for the last time in 2007, the victim of funding cutbacks-and this was even before the recession became official. 

Earlier this year David Masters, an old Appleby aficionado, told me of his ambitious plans to create a new festival based on the Appleby model in the heart of the Herefordshire countryside. He was funding it himself and had approached some of the leading UK jazz names, among them Stan Tracey and Alan Barnes, to perform. Beautiful but sparsely populated Herefordshire is hardly a jazz hotbed (despite my best efforts) and I was worried that the whole venture was an enormous risk and could spell financial disaster for the intrepid David.

However I had reckoned without David’s organisational skills and the incredible loyalty of the Appleby fanbase, many of whom had made the long trip to Herefordshire for this hugely successful inaugural Titley Jazz Festival. David had contacted the entire “Friends Of Appleby” mailing list and they had turned out in force from all over the country to support the new festival, the numbers bolstered by a number of more local jazz fans, like myself, for whom a trip to Appleby was rather too far.

David had found an idyllic location for his festival. Now a resident of the Welsh Marches himself he had chosen Titley Junction, a long disused railway station owned by steam enthusiasts Robert and Lesley Hunt who own not just the old station buildings but also a working steam locomotive and a mile of operative track.

A 500 seater marquee was set up in the grounds adjoining the station, the train offered free rides to festival goers ( most people went more than once) and Herefordshire CAMRA set up a bar dispensing real ale and cider. There was a hog roast and other food and in an idyllic setting surrounding by rolling Herefordshire farmland the rain held off all weekend. It was a delightful spot for the festival and the Spirit of Appleby, which David was so keen to recreate definitely came to Herefordshire. The festival ran smoothly, broke even financially and David is already talking of a bigger and better venture for 2011. Having helped in a very small capacity by publicising the festival on this site and in the immediate locality I was delighted that the festival was a success and I also hope that it represented a good advertisement for Herefordshire as a whole. The festival brought a lot of first time visitors to our area and I very much hope they enjoyed it and will return if the festival becomes an annual event. Let’s hope more local people discover it too, as news of its success spreads.

On then, with the music, which was concentrated around a nucleus of some of the UK scene’s most established players with Stan Tracey and Alan Barnes the principal figures. Alan led three bands and Stan two over the course of the two days with Peter King, Clark Tracey and Art Themen also bringing their groups to the festival. Each day featured four bands and with the music lasting from 1.00pm to 11.30pm each day there was a lot of jazz to be heard.

ALAN BARNES QUINTET

Alan Barnes plays alto and baritone saxophones plus clarinet with equal brilliance. These qualities together with a sharp,witty line in stage patter make him a hugely popular figure with jazz audiences and particularly so with the old Appleby crowd.

It was fitting then that he should launch the new Titley festival, especially in view of the fact that his quintet included a host of old Appleby favourites with the huge figure of Don Weller on tenor sax, plus Dave Newton at the piano, Andy Cleyndert on double bass and Steve Brown at the drums. All these musicians were to be seen several times over the course of the weekend as they flitted between line-ups.

For his quintet set Barnes largely stuck to alto and the band kicked off with “The Night Has A Thousand Eyes” which featured each member of the group in turn progressing through solos by Barnes, Weller, Newton and Cleyndert and a series of drum breaks from Brown. 

Just to prove that we were in the heart of the country Barnes was distracted by a wasp as he tried to introduce the next tune, a version of Junior Mances’s “Jubilation” arranged by Weller. Later it was the turn of a moth to distract the leader, who immediately claimed that it must have escaped from the wallet of Scottish pianist Newton. Typical Barnes humour.
Mance’s tune meanwhile was a swinging delight in the hard bop style with the solo order this time Weller, Newton, Barnes and Cleyndert plus the mandatory breaks from Brown.

Barnes then left the stage for Weller to feature on a lovely version of Billy Strayhorn’s ballad “Chelsea Bridge” which demonstrated just what a versatile player the big man is. His tenderness on ballads contrasts well with his rousing, sometimes idiosyncratic soloing on the uptempo numbers. Even at his most robust there’s a thoughtfulness about Weller’s playing. He’s the original gentle giant. 

The quintet’s first set ended with Duke Ellington’s “I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart” with Barnes switching to baritone and trading choruses with Weller. This was hugely enjoyable stuff and was warmly appreciated by a steadily growing festival crowd. The marquee filled up during the course of the afternoon and was pretty much at capacity for much of the day.

An old Appleby favourite jump started the second set. Dave Newton’s rollicking “Old Blues” saw Weller and Barnes, now back on alto, both digging in before a sparkling solo from Newton and a thrilling dialogue between the pianist and drummer Brown.

Another switch for Barnes, this time to clarinet for “Hey There, You With The Stars In Your Eyes” with Newton’s lyricism contrasting well with the leader’s stunning high register soloing. Weller and Cleyndert each weighed in with solos of their own.

Billy Strayhorn was fast becoming one of the favourite composers of the day, particularly for his ballads and his “Lotus Blossom” was the setting for a beautiful duet between Barnes on baritone and Newton on piano. The pianist played with his customary lyricism but Barnes’ tenderness on what is often seen as an unwieldy instrument was little short of astonishing.

Weller’s swinging minor blues “Half Twist” concluded the first concert of the day on a high note with solos coming from himself, Barnes on alto and Newton at the piano. The audience clearly loved it. The new festival had got off to a great start. 

STAN TRACEY QUARTET

Now well into his 80’s pianist Stan Tracey is one of the great figures of British music, not just jazz. A prolific composer and a highly individualistic piano stylist Stan is simply unique and has twice been honoured by The Queen with both an O.B.E and a C.B.E.

Amazingly he is playing just as well as ever and his quartet here consisted of saxophonist Simon Allen, ubiquitous and very busy bassist Andy Cleyndert plus son Clark Tracey behind the drums.
Stan had even written a new piece in honour of the festival with the quartet starting off their first set the wonderfully titled “Titley For Tatley”. Stan’s familiar chunky, percussive chording inspired by Monk and Ellington was immediately apparent as the opener featured all four members of the group as soloists.

From Stan’s latest album “Senior Moment” came “Afro Charlie Meets The White Rabbit” with it’s Monkish hook acting as the spur for solos first from Stan, then from Allen in saxophone trio mode as the piano dropped out. In a piece packed with incident Allen then duetted with Cleyndert before the bassist was finally left solo. As the piece regained momentum Clark was featured in a series of breaks.

Ellington’s “Come Sunday” was the first set’s ballad feature with Allen on breathy tenor and with a surprisingly tender solo from Stan backed by Cleyndert’s sympathetic bass. Cleyndert was being given a lot of freedom and responded with a suitably lyrical solo.

The first set finished in the customary rousing manner with “Rocky Mount”, Stan’s tribute to Thelonious Monk’s North Carolina birthplace. Opened by Clark’s drums and with Allen’s tenor providing the hook the piece featured a typically individualistic solo from Stan and an extended feature from Clark. Originally recorded in octet form on the 1992 “Portraits Plus” album the tune has a rousing theme and has been a particular favourite of Stan’s for many years. It brought this first set to a suitably climactic finale.

The second set picked up where the first had left off with the bluesy “Stemless” from “Senior Moment” with all four members of the band being featured.

From the same album “Triple Celebration” was a Sonny Rollins style calypso with solos from Stan, Allen and Clark, the latter with a distinctive display of hand drumming.

Stan turned to Ellington for the set’s ballad feature, a first airing of the weekend for “In A Sentimental Mood” with solos coming from Allen, Stan and Cleyndert. 

After an unannounced item featuring a lengthy passage of introductory solo piano the quartet closed with the tough but tender “Duffy’s Circus” from “Senior Moment”, a piece introduced by Cleyndert’s solo bass and also featuring Allan plus Traceys senior and junior.

Stan Tracey remains a cornerstone of British jazz and it was great to see him in such fine fettle. His playing is still right on the money and the laconic dry wit of his announcing style is also fully intact-bar the odd “senior moment” here and there.

PETER KING QUARTET

None of this crop of great British musicians is getting any younger. Peter King hits seventy this year but he is another player whose energy remains undimmed. King’s bright, hard hitting style on alto remains intact and carries on the tradition of Parker and McLean but he’s also strongly influenced by the music of John Coltrane. King combines his influences to create a distinctive voice of his own. Aficionados have long regarded King as world class and in a festival line up of great musicians I think it’s fair to say that he emerged as the single most outstanding instrumentalist.

I’d been looking forward to King’s set particularly in the light of his fine performance at last year’s Brecon festival where he performed an inspired set in the company of pianist Steve Melling,stand in bassist Mick Cody and the recently deceased drummer Martin Drew.
Melling, very much King’s “right hand man” was present again here together with bassist Geoff Gascoyne and veteran drummer Tony Levin who gave a superb display behind the traps.

The quartet began with a blistering version of Kurt Weill’s “This Is New” which featured all four members of the band with Levin’s fizzing drum breaks a particular highlight. 

Melling’s original “B’s Groove” was an infectious blues introduced by Levin’s drums and with fine solos from King, Melling and Gascoyne. Melling is a superb all round jazz pianist, comfortable in a variety of styles and adept both as a supportive accompanist and as an imaginative, sometimes flamboyant soloist.

Although King still plays with remarkable fire his one concession to age is to give himself a break mid set. Here he sat out while the trio, led by Melling, delivered another take on “In A Sentimental Mood”. The pianist opened the piece with a lengthy solo passage, carrying on the momentum after the trio had joined in. Gascoyne proved to be a fluent and lyrical soloist and Levin, using brushes throughout also excelled with a drum feature that included some exquisite cymbal work.

Something of a John Coltrane theme began to emerge when the trio concluded their first set with a powerful rendition of JC’s “Impressions”, King’s impassioned alto playing coming close to approximating Coltrane’s “sheets of sounds” approach as Levin’s cymbals sizzled around him. A typically sparkling solo from Melling provided the punctuation before a spirited sax/drums dialogue and finally an explosive solo from the veteran Levin, one time drummer with the great Tubby Hayes and no stranger to this kind of tear up.

King paid further homage to Coltrane at the start of the second set with his lengthy tribute “World Of Trane”, an original composition liberally stuffed with quotes including one from Trane’s famous version of “My Favourite Things”. “It comes out different every time”, King informed us.

Another piece by composer of the day Strayhorn, “Lush Life”, was delivered by King as an unaccompanied alto solo, a master class in control and technique.

Finally came the quartet’s rousing take on Wayne Shorter’s “Yes Or No” with dazzling playing all round climaxed by Levin’s explosive drum feature.

The King Quartet had delivered the most powerful and distinctive performance of the day with all four members at the top of their game. I’d not seen Levin play for many years and was particularly impressed with his contribution as his whiplash drumming drove the band forward, letting up only to tenderly embellish the gentler ballad sections.


STAN TRACEY OCTET

The octet format has been a favourite of Stan’s for many years and has been deployed on albums including “The Salisbury Suite” (1978) and “Portraits Plus” (1992). The most recent octet recordings are gathered together on the recent release “The Later Works” which contains both “The Hong Kong Suite” and “The Amandla Suite” and it was these new compositions that the Octet presented at Titley. The line up showed one change from the record with tenor saxophonist Dave O’Higgins replacing Mornington Lockett and joining Simon Allen (tenor), Sam Mayne (alto), Guy Barker (trumpet), Mark Nightingale (trombone), Andy Cleyndert (bass) and Clark Tracey (drums) with Stan leading from the piano.

The first set contained the whole of “The Hong Kong Suite” and commenced with “Sweet Lips”, a typically rousing opener that featured solos from Allen, Nightingale, Mayne and Clark Tracey. But Stan’s writing is about more than just a string of solos, his horn arrangements are rich and colourful and the ensemble playing by his five horn men was excellent throughout, punchy and powerful one minute, sweet and honeyed the next. This was exemplified by the next movement “Lunar Lanterns” which saw O’Higgins and Nightingale as the featured soloists. 

Back in the day I saw Guy Barker’s Quintet give a brilliant, blistering performance at the old Ronnie Scott’s club in Birmingham. It remains one of my all time favourite gigs. Barker’s front line partner that night was Dave O’Higgins and hearing the two soloing back to back on Stan’s “Mooncake” brought the memories flooding back.

Barker was featured again on “Dragon Boats” along with Allen, Mayne and Clark Tracey. The piece was suitably rousing as was the closing “Crackers And Bangers”, a musical firework display with solos from Stan, Nightingale, Allen, Mayne, O’Higgins and Barker, pretty much the whole band in other words. The audience loved it.

Time constraints meant that one movement had to be cut from the “Amandla Suite” , nevertheless the octet squeezed in four movements out of the five commencing with “Cottons And Bobbins” introduced by Stan’s solo piano and incorporating features for O’Higgins and Nightingale.

Humberto’s Dream showcased Stan’s still excellent piano skills bookended by solos from Allen and Barker but it was the exuberant Latin flavours of the lengthy “The Cuban Connection” that really got the crowd shouting. The piece began with Stan leading Clark and Cleyndert in piano trio mode prior to some exhilarating ensemble passages with all five horns blowing both in unison and in counterpoint-Stan’s horn voicings really are masterful. Of course there were thrilling solos too with Nightingale, Allen and Mayne stepping up to the plate.

“Building Bridges” had to be omitted and the octet closed an excellent first day by romping quickly and spiritedly through the closing “Unison”. You could say there were steaming, a reference both to the festival location and to the name of Stan’s record label.

There could be no doubt that the first day of Titley Jazz had been an enormous success. The jazz audience, many of them old Appleby regulars had turned out in force to support David Masters in his brave new venture, there must have been near on five hundred present, and of course the music had been excellent and was very well received. The location too had played its part with both the real ale and cider bar and the free train rides proving extremely popular attraction between sets.

David Masters’ vision had turned into reality. The spirit of the much loved and much missed Appleby Jazz Festival was very much alive and well in its new Herefordshire home. 


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