Photograph of The Session by Julia Borysewicz / Shot By A Girl
Sourced from the Swansea International Jazz festival website http://www.sijf.co.uk

Sunday at Swansea International Jazz Festival, 14/06/2015.

The final day of the festival saw some improvement in the weather, Saturday had seen gentle drizzle for most of the day but hardly the flash floods and lightning strikes that the Met Office had been predicting. It’s about time they stopped trying to alarm people and just concentrated on getting their facts right.

For jazz fans Sunday did not get off to a good start. This was also the morning of the Swansea Half Marathon and both fans and musicians found difficulty in actually reaching the Dylan Thomas Centre due to “rolling road closures” in and around Swansea city centre. There were no police on duty to advise motorists of alternative routes and parking places and the traffic was correspondingly chaotic; clear evidence that these days the police see the motorist as little more than a cash cow and that traffic management consists of little more than speed cameras and on the spot fines.

Eventually we found somewhere to park but we had spent the best part of an hour queueing in traffic and thus missed the Fringe performance by the Cottle Brothers Band featuring festival organiser Dave on keyboards and trumpet, brother Laurence on bass and other brother Richard on reeds and keyboards. As we arrived the audience were streaming out of the theatre and declaring what a brilliant set it had been. To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement.

Now you may ask yourself why is the Jazz Festival, an event supported by the council, being held on the same day as the hugely popular Half Marathon ? I’m a sports fan, I’ve no beef with the race itself just the organisation surrounding it.  It’s because the following Sunday there’s an even bigger event going on when operatic tenor Alfie Boe performs in Swansea’s Singleton Park and neither the council nor the police wanted the Jazz Festival to clash with that. The Half Marathon thus represented the lesser of two evils, and at least it was over by lunchtime, a classic case of jazz losing out to opera- yet again!

Oh dear, I am having a bit of a rant aren’t I? But jazz is a minority music with a long history of marginalisation and civil disobedience and as a supporter of the music I’m more than happy to defend its corner. 

As a result of the chaos surrounding the Half Marathon the start of the Jazz Festival was inevitably delayed. In a way this was a blessing in disguise as by utilising the two performance spaces in the Dylan Thomas Centre the Festival organisers were able to present a programme of almost wall to wall music beginning with;

LEE GIBSON with THE CAPITAL CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA

This well attended event took place in the larger performance space at the Dylan Thomas Centre. Lee Gibson is an experienced and highly competent vocalist who is at home in intimate small group settings as she is fronting a big band. Her versatility means that she is also a great educator and many promising young vocalists who are now making names for themselves have benefited from Gibson’s tuition at London’s Guildhall School of Music.

The CCJO is based in Cardiff and contains many of the leading jazz musicians in South Wales, among them star soloists Gethin Liddington (trumpet) and Gareth Roberts (trombone). The band was formed in 2007 and is led by alto saxophonist Ceri Rees. It has accompanied many distinguished vocalists and instrumental soloists and has recently released its d?but album.

The programme began with the black clad sixteen piece Orchestra seated behind their distinctive music stands depicting scenes of the Cardiff skyline. They commenced with an arrangement of “All The Things You Are” with solos coming from young trumpeter Scott Latham and veteran tenor saxophonist Tommy Harris. George Gershwin’s “Summertime” then featured Roberts on trombone plus Jim Barber, a key figure in the orchestra sound, on piano. 

Next up was a rousing take on Dizzy Gillespie’s ” A Night In Tunisia” with solos from Latham, Roberts, alto saxophonist Dave Miller and a closing drum feature for the hard hitting Paul Shepherd.

A distinctive arrangement of “Old Man River” then featured Harris, Latham and Barber before Gibson joined the band for the first song in a series of vocal performances. This proved to be a thundering arrangement of “Love Me While You May” from the film “High Spirits” with Gibson revealing her capacity to belt out a lyric above the sound of a big band in overdrive, and to do so with perfect diction.

Trumpeter Alan Downey’s arrangement “I Only Wanna Laugh” began as a ballad with a voice and piano introduction but gradually gathered momentum to build to a typically rousing big band and vocal climax.

Gibson is a hugely accomplished big band singer who was also worked with the prestigious BBC Big Band. A further demonstration of her skills came on Billy May’s arrangement of “You’d Be So Easy To Love”. 

“Somewhere Over The Rainbow” began with just piano and vocals before expanding to a wide-screen magnificence. A playful “Lady Be Good” saw Gibson adapting the lyrics to pay homage to Ella Fitzgerald and enjoying a series of scat vocal/percussion exchanges with drummer Paul Shepherd. She then left the stage to allow the CCJO to wrap up the first half with an instrumental version of Count Basie’s “Whirlybird”.

Set two began with the CCJO presenting two back to back features for Gethin Liddington. Duke Ellington’s “Take The A Train” exhibited his skills as a trumpet soloist before he switched to his distinctive four valved flugel horn for a lovely version of Billy Strayhorn’s “Chelsea Bridge”.

“Stella By Starlight” featured altoist Dave Miller and pianist Jim barber before Gordon Goodman’s “Count Buddha” included “section solos” featuring the saxes, trombones and trumpets in turn plus further solos from Tommy Harris and Gareth Roberts.

Lee Gibson returned for to sing vivaciously on “Orange Coloured Sky” and on a Latin tinged arrangement of Cole Porter’s “Love For Sale”.

Gibson’s voice and Robin Hames’ electric bass introduced “On A Clear Day” before the collective raided the pop music archives for a rollicking arrangement of Paul Simon’s “Feelin,’ Groovy” (or 59th Street Bridge Song” if you prefer).

The set ended with a beguiling segue of two George Gershwin songs, “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and ” I Loves You Porgy” as Gibson demonstrated her skills as an interpreter of a lyric. 

The deserved encore was a romp through “The Trolley Song”, a piece indelibly associated with Judy Garland but very much made her own by Gibson. The audience loved it, Gibson is clearly a singer with a devoted following and there was terrific support for the CCJO too.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this event which was a little outside my usual jazz listening zone. I was impressed by both the Orchestra and their guest vocalist, Gibson is a singer with a powerful voice but is able to cover a wide emotional and dynamic range ? and you are able to hear every word and nuance of the lyrics. I gather that the band and singer have worked together on previous occasions, this is indisputably a very productive alliance.

DAVE JONES QUARTET

I’ve been a long term admirer of the work of Port Talbot based pianist and composer Dave Jones and have reviewed all four of his albums to date, “Impetus”, “Journeys”, “Resonance” and the recent concert recording “Live at AMG”.

The 2014 live album was recorded with a quartet featuring Lee Goodall (saxes), Ashley John Long (double bass) plus the Irish drummer Kevin Lawlor. I saw this line up give a superb performance at Dempsey’s in Cardiff in December 2014, the official launch of the album.

All of Jones’ albums are comprised of original material and reveal him to be a composer of some stature, capable of producing memorable melodies that draw upon the “Blue Note” style of jazz as well as contemporary and classical influences. There are some great tunes and some excellent playing to be found throughout his back catalogue.

Today’s performance in the Theatre at the Dylan Thomas Centre almost didn’t happen. Jones’s regular bassist Ashley John Long was taken seriously ill on the evening before the gig. This was shocking news but Dave tells me that Ashley is now out of danger and everyone at the Jazzmann wishes Ash well and wills him a speedy recovery. 

There was also the matter of acquiring a keyboard for Dave to use as the resident Yamaha was
needed in the main hall for the soundcheck of The Session, the next band scheduled to appear.
In the end a keyboard was sourced and Alun Vaughan stepped nobly into the breach with his trusty five string electric bass. Jones decided to stick with the programme he had prepared, comprising almost exclusively of original material, which represented a considerable challenge for Vaughan but it was one that he rose to with commendable skill and aplomb.   

Vaughan was called into action as a soloist almost straight away, sharing the limelight with Goodall’s tenor on the beguilingly melodic “Five To Three On Friday”.

“Welsh Rarebit” dates back to 20014 and appeared in different forms on both “Impetus” and “Journeys” as well as on the live album. It’s obviously a particular favourite of Jones’ and once reached the semi finals in the instrumental section of an international songwriting competition.
Solos here came from Goodall on curved soprano, Jones at the keyboard and Vaughan on bass.

The attractive new composition “Departures And Arrivals” referenced the lifestyle of the travelling musician and as a tune proved to be as strong as anything Jones has ever written. The featured soloists here were Goodall on tenor and Jones at the piano.

The folk like melody of “The Metro” was the inspiration for solos from Goodall on soprano, Jones on piano and Vaughan on bass. Goodall then switched to tenor for the self explanatory “Funky Thing” and his solo also brought Lawlor into the spotlight as bass and piano temporarily dropped out. Lawlor’s undemonstrative but always impeccable drumming is an essential part of the group sound and he linked up well with Vaughan from the off. The drummer is the Curator of Jazz at Wexford arts Centre and had flown to the UK specifically for this gig. He and Jones originally collaborated via the internet prior to undertaking successful tours in each other countries, it’s a highly productive Celtic alliance.

“Journeys” began with just the trio and highlighted the lyricism of both Jones’ piano and Vaughan’s Steve Swallow style liquid electric bass, both solos subtly supported by Lawlor’s empathic brush work. The eventual arrival Goodall added momentum as the sax man treated us to some of the “wailing” that Jones had promised.

The set ended with the only standard of the afternoon, a Latin tinged arrangement of “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise” with solos from Goodall on alto sax and Jones at the piano, plus a closing drum feature from the hitherto unobtrusive but always impressive Lawlor.

Given the circumstances this was an excellent performance although it was never quite going to hit the heights of Cardiff last December. Nevertheless there was much to enjoy with excellent playing from all four musicians and with Vaughan emerging with particular credit. Given the quality of Jones’ writing there was always going to be something worth listening to , and so it proved.

THE SESSION

Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated performance of the festival was the one by The Session, the young quintet from New Orleans about whom I’d heard great things from promoters in Swansea, Cardiff and Bristol. The Session had made previous visits to Swansea Jazzland and to Dempsey’s in Cardiff and a number of fans had come out to see them again.

The Session are a mixed race band led by bassist and composer Jasen Weaver and featuring a front line of trumpeter Stephen Lands and saxophonist James Partridge with Andrew McGowan on piano   and Miles Labatt on drums, the latter a recent replacement for Darrian Douglas who appears on the band’s two albums, the studio set “This Is Who We Are” (2012) and the recent live recording “Live at Snug Harbour”. With the exception of Labatt all the members of the group write for the band and we were to hear compositions from all of them over the course of two dynamic sets.

McGowan is a particularly prolific composer and the performance began with his “Persistence”, a high energy work out in a broadly hard bop style with blistering solos from Lands on trumpet, Partridge on baritone sax and the composer on piano. The piece ended with a drum feature from Labatt, a young musician on his first professional tour but playing with the assurance of a veteran.

Weaver handled the announcements and introduced the next tune as being “Girl In My Heart”, his arrangement of a tune by the composer Kow Otani that had originally appeared in a Japanese animated film. It was a darkly beautiful piece that extensively featured the deeply resonant sounds of Weaver’s bowed bass. A version of the tune can be heard on the album “Live At Snug Harbour”.

Partridge was born in London but has been resident in New Orleans for the last seven years. His tune “Morning Attempt” incorporated many characteristics of the music of his adopted city including the kind of shuffling rhythms deployed by the likes of Dr. John and Allen Toussaint. Partridge, who remained on baritone throughout the gig, led off the solos followed by McGowan at the piano and finally Lands with some truly volcanic trumpeting. It may be Weaver’s band but it’s the dreadlocked Lands, the son of a preacher, who is the visual focal point.

Another McGowan composition, “Vestige”, incorporated plenty of twists and turns and dynamic contrasts and incorporated solos from Lands, Partridge and McGowan.

Lands brought along his imaginative arrangement Of Sting’s “An Englishman In New York” and featured his own playing alongside solos from Weaver and McGowan. Was his choice of tune an oblique reference to his bandmate Partridge?

A brilliant first set concluded with Lands’ own “Sitting Bull Beckons”, introduced by a fanfare of horns and featuring marathon solos from Partridge on baritone and Lands on trumpet, the latter sometimes reminding me of Roy Hargrove. Labatt was also featured at the drums before a final dynamic group rendition of the head.

The Session might be tightly drilled but they can also be spontaneous. Set two began with an unscheduled quartet jam after Partridge returned to the stand late after going outside for a smoke.

With the full quintet in place the band tackled a new, as yet untitled McGowan composition with solos coming from Partridge, Lands and McGowan.

Lands’ “Steve’s Samba” sounded much as the title might suggest with solos coming from Weaver, McGowan and the composer. The tune also appears on the Snug Harbour album.

With four writers in the band (five if you count Douglas) new pieces are always finding their way onto the bandstand. A case in point was Partridge’s atmospheric ballad “Only For A While” which set the scene with McGowan’s impressionistic piano intro allied to Labatt’s cymbal shimmers and mallet rumbles. Partridge himself achieved a remarkable tenderness on baritone (he also plays tenor) and Lands exhibited a sparse eloquence on trumpet.

A shorter second set concluded with the only standard in the performance, a Lands arrangement of W.C. Handy’s immortal “St. Louis Blues” with Weaver’s slap bass intro and McGowan’s funky keyboards fuelling solos from Partridge, McGowan and Lands. This was a fun way to end a performance that, for me, was the highlight of the festival. The Session combine superb musicianship with youthful energy and verve and a high degree of compositional sophistication. It’s music from New Orleans rather than “New Orleans Music” -  The Session have not only absorbed the music of their home city they are fully versed in the entire jazz tradition but still manage to bring to it something young, fresh and vital. I thought that they were terrific and their two albums show that they can cut it on record too.

The Session will return to the UK for a further series of dates in August 2015 including return visits to Swansea, Cardiff and Bristol plus festival appearances in Aberystwyth and Pershore, Worcs.
Visit http://www.thesessionmusic.com for details. Don’t miss them!

STEVE WATERMAN QUARTET

Steve Waterman is one of the UK’s most respected trumpeters and his peerless playing has been featured in a variety of jazz contexts from the Latin group Heads South to the chamber jazz of Threeway plus numerous more mainstream appearances. He has a thorough command of the jazz tradition as evidenced by his own “Buddy Bolden Blew It!” project which explores almost the entire history of the jazz trumpet.

Tonight’s performance was a relatively low key standards set in the Theatre at the Dylan Thomas Centre with a local quartet featuring pianist Jim Barber bassist Alun Vaughan and drummer Paul Smith. CCJO’s Barber was substituting for the advertised Dave Cottle who was called away due to a family accident. I won’t go into details but I hope that all is now well.

The hastily assembled quartet began with the standard “I’ll Close My Eyes” with solos from Waterman on trumpet, Barber at the piano, Vaughan on his five string electric bass and finally Smith with a series of drum breaks.

Waterman moved to flugel horn for a Latin arrangement of Freddie Hubbard’s enduringly popular “Little Sunflower” with further solos from Barber at the piano and Vaughan on bass. Barber also made judicious use of his keyboard’s organ setting to add depth and colour to Waterman’s flugel parts.

The leader then moved back to trumpet for Benny Golson’s “Whisper Not”, sharing the solos with Vaughan and Barber.

A solo bass introduction ushered in Miles Davis’ “All Blues” with Vaughan eventually picking out the famous motif and providing the platform for suitably Miles-like trumpet from Waterman plus further features for piano, bass and drums.

The ballad “I Fall In Love Too Easily” saw Barber again complementing Waterman with the well judged use of organ sounds. He was also supremely lyrical on piano, again complementing Waterman’s own playing on trumpet.

Waterman introduced a couple of his own compositions beginning with “Destination Unknown”, a piece inspired by Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage” and given its title by the late bass maestro, Jeff Clyne. Solos here came from Waterman, Barber, Vaughan and Smith prior to a stunning solo trumpet coda from Waterman that incorporated circular breathing techniques. It was a stunning display of technique that drew a terrific audience reaction and which saw Vaughan joining in with the applause. Behind the drum kit a slack jawed Smith just looked totally amazed.

Waterman’s ballad “October Arrival” saw him making a second excursion on flugel, again underscored by organ sounds and by Smith’s brushed drums. Lyrical and melodic piano and bass solos also added to the appeal of the piece.

The set concluded with “Haig And Haig”, the recently departed Clark Terry’s dedication to the long gone pianist Al Haig who was apparently rather partial to a drop of Scotch. Waterman joked that he’d recently performed the piece with Bristol trumpeter Andy Hague, thereby making it “Haig, Haig and Hague”. In any event it was a great way to end an entertaining mainstream set with solos from Waterman on trumpet, Barber at the piano, Vaughan on bass and Smith with a series of brushed drum breaks. For Smith it was a very different performance to his hard hitting display on Friday with blues rock guitarist Brian Breeze!

It was good to see Steve Lands of The Session checking out one of our top British trumpeters too.

HAMISH STUART OCTET

The last gig of the festival, in the now well established “party slot” was by guitarist and vocalist Hamish Stuart, best known as an original member of the Average White Band and for his lengthy tenure as a member of Paul McCartney’s backing group. Stuart has also worked with Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Chaka Khan, Bonnie Raitt and David Sanborn.

At Swansea Stuart led an octet that made many changes from the line-up that was advertised in the programme but which included such experienced jazz performers as Ross Stanley (keyboards) and Ralph Salmins (drums) in its ranks. The performance was sold out and once again justified Dave Cottle’s decision to bring Stewart back to Swansea, I believe had previously played at the Jazzland club.

Dave Cottle was back to introduce the performance and also to introduce the guest of honour, the Mayor of Swansea Councillor John Newbury. The Arts Council and the numerous local business partners were again thanked as the curtain came down on a very successful Festival. 

The Stuart band was a particularly well drilled unit that produced some strong grooves and some inspired instrumental solos, not least from keyboard wizard Ross Stanley. At the heart of the band is Stuart’s voice, a soulful falsetto that will be instantly familiar to AWB fans and others. Stuart is a much loved figure who seems to have a particularly strong affinity with Welsh music fans despite his Glaswegian roots.

However I was a never a great fan of AWB’s brand of soul and funk and despite the obvious quality of the Stuart band I again found myself leaving at half time, this partly triggered by a long journey home. The affection of his fans for both Stuart and his band was obvious and I have no doubts that a hugely successful Swansea International Jazz Festival ended on a high note.

Early indications are that it broke even financially and may even have turned a small profit. There seems little doubt that SIJF will return next year (hopefully without clashing with the Half Marathon) and it’s an event I’d very much like to make part of my personal annual jazz calendar.

Congratulations to Dave Cottle and his hard working team for putting together such a successful event. Among those helpers were Alun Vaughan and Paul Smith who did so much more than just playing and were very much at the heart of the organisation, well done guys. But most of all well done and thanks to Dave Cottle who does such a great job for jazz in his home town of Swansea and beyond. 

 

   

 

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