Brecon Jazz 2015

Partisans, Brecon Guildhall, 08/08/2015.

The 2015 Brecon Jazz Festival offered what was probably the strongest line up thus far from its current operators, the Cardiff based Orchard media group. The flip side of this was that several agonising choices had to be made about which events to cover, with so much going on simultaneously it was impossible to take in everything I would have liked to have seen. Most of the concerts seemed to take place in synchronised “blocks” of performances and I did wonder if the events could have been staggered in a more fan friendly manner to allow hardcore jazz aficionados the opportunity to get the maximum out of the Festival.

For me one of the hardest decisions was choosing between GoGo Penguin at Christ College and Partisans at the Guildhall. The latter have been one of my favourite bands for many years and their live performances, of which I’ve seen many, are always exciting, invigorating affairs. I’ve always felt that Partisans’ turn of the century album “Sourpuss” was the record that helped to kick start the British ‘punk jazz’ movement of the noughties - Polar Bear, Acoustic Ladyland, Led Bib etc.

From an even younger generation GoGo Penguin can be seen as the latest beneficiaries of the torch that Partisans lit all those years ago. I’ve been lucky enough to see them perform twice at festivals and can confirm that they are also a terrific live act. It was a really difficult call and I came down on the side of Partisans after virtually promising the group’s saxophonist Julian Siegel that I’d be there when I saw him performing as a guest soloist with pianist Andrew McCormack and his trio at a gig in Shrewsbury a few months ago, a show reviewed elsewhere on this site. 

Joining Siegel in the Partisans line up were co-leader Phil Robson on guitar together with Thaddeus Kelly on electric bass and Gene Calderazzo at the drums. The band first came together in 1996 and have released five albums in the intervening years, all of them excellent, with the latest recording, “Swamp” appearing to great acclaim in 2014. 

The main reason that Partisans are comparatively scarcely documented on disc is that the individual members are perpetually busy with other projects.  Robson and Siegel both lead their own groups and are also in constant demand for sideman appearances. Robson is also heavily involved in the projects led by his life partner, the vocalist and songwriter Christine Tobin. Calderazzo has worked on both of his colleagues’ solo projects and has also formed highly creative alliances with pianists Zoe Rahman and Jonathan Gee. Kelly’s activities away from Partisans have been less well documented but have included collaborations with Orquestra Mahatma, Billy Jenkins, Ashley Slater and Steve Arguelles as well as leadership of his own groups.

Despite the lengthy hiatuses between recordings and tours Partisans have retained a strong group identity, “we’re like a band of brothers” opines Calderazzo, and the fact that they frequently spend time apart working on other projects ensures that when they do come together the music is fresh, tight and focussed.

Siegel and Robson compose all of the band’s material and today’s set list was largely sourced from “Swamp” although there were a couple of items from the repertoire of the mighty “Sourpuss”, an album that remains a favourite of the band themselves. The “Sourpuss” material was initially dusted down for the group’s successful North American tour in 2014 which included a performance at the prestigious Rochester Jazz Festival in upper New York State.

The group began their set at the Guildhall with Siegel’s composition “Flip The Sneck”, the opening track on the “Swamp” album. It was a piece that emphasised what Partisans are all about, a blend of jazz sophistication and rock power, allied in this case to a joyous African element inspired by Siegel’s work with a group of Ghanaian musicians as part of a band led by tuba player Oren Marshall. Siegel even played some hand held percussion on this one in addition to his trusty tenor sax. Meanwhile Kelly laid down a supple but propulsive bass groove which combined well with Calderazzo’s dynamic drumming. Solos came from Siegel on tenor and from Robson with a searing, soaring guitar wig out in the tune’s later stages.

Also from the pen of Siegel came “Low Glow”, the second track on the “Swamp” album. Here Siegel’s tenor probed more gently but no less incisively. He was followed by Robson who again made judicious use of his array of foot pedals. Robson is a guitarist who admits to being influenced by Black Sabbath and AC/DC as well as by Jim Hall. He’s a supremely versatile musician and a highly skilled improviser who can play elegant, fluent bebop lines as well as power chords, a jazz musician at heart but one capable of playing with a rare rock power. It’s the coming together of these influences that makes him such an interesting musician and Partisans such an interesting band.

Remaining with the “Swamp” repertoire Siegel moved to bass clarinet for the introduction of Robson’s composition “Thin Man”, later switching back to tenor sax for his solo. On his own tune Robson also featured strongly but, arguably, the most distinctive element was Calderazzo’s stunning, turbo-charged polyrhythmic drumming. This is not to imply that the music lacked subtlety, in fact far from it. The writing of both Robson and Siegel is highly sophisticated and often full of clever dynamic and time signature changes. In Kelly and Calderazzo the composers know that they have a bass and drum team that can handle the most difficult rhythmic challenges with skill and aplomb and make it look easy.

“Swamp” itself saw Robson and Kelly utilising their various electronic gizmos with relish. Robson’s tune began with the ominous sound of wah wah bass and the rumble and swish of Calderazzo’s mallets on toms and cymbals. Eventually a skein of melody came from Siegel’s soprano sax this clearing the path for a stunning Robson guitar solo full of pedal generated snarls and dirty, feedback drenched howls. Siegel temporarily put down his horn and joined the rhythm section, bashing away on cowbell. When he picked up his soprano again it was to solo in incisive, clarion like fashion above a monstrous Kelly bass groove. This was the sound of seasoned professionals letting their hair down and having some serious musical fun.

So far all the pieces had come from the “Swamp” album, a recording that won the award for Best Album at the 2015 Parliamentary Jazz Awards, an achievement of which Robson, announcing the news to the Brecon audience, was justifiably proud. Ironically the next piece, Robson’s composition “Lapdog” was from the previous album “By Proxy” (2009). It’s a tune that’s been around for even longer than that having first appeared on the guitarist’s first solo album “Impish” back in 2002. The reason for its enduring popularity is that its a great tune with a memorable hook and is a great vehicle for improvisation, a fact demonstrated by Siegel on tenor, with the group temporarily going in to sax trio mode, then by Robson on guitar and finally Calderazzo with a volcanic closing drum feature.

Robson’s “Icicle Architects” cooled things down a little, much as the title might suggest. A pensive tenor sax / electric bass duet introduced the piece, later joined by Robson’s gently needling guitar and Calderazzo’s brushed drums. In time the music gained momentum with Kelly setting up a bass groove that provided the spur for a fluent Robson guitar solo above Siegel’s insistent bass clarinet vamp.

The two part “Sourpuss” was a delight, the first half of Robson’s composition featuring his own high octane, pure rock guitar solo allied to Kelly’s fuzzed up bass, Siegel’s staccato sax interruptions and Calerazzo’s furious polyrhytmic drumming. After reaching a peak the music drifted into the comparatively languorous “part II” with Siegel now the featured soloist. For a long term fan of the band it was a real treat to hear this again.

It was back to “Swamp” for Siegel’s composition “Overview” a piece inspired by the film “The Overview Effect” and the vista of the Earth as seen from space. It is an ambitious piece and here featured the composer’s sinuous, serpentine soprano above Kelly’s insistent bass groove. Robson delivered a similarly lithe and slippery guitar solo and the piece ended with the atmospheric sci-fi sounds of Kelly’s pedal operated FX and Calderazzo’s cymbal scrapes followed by a brief soprano sax cadenza from the composer. 

Dedicated by Robson to “the Great Mouse Himself” his composition “Mickey” saw the composer trading ideas both individually and collectively with Siegel’s tenor prior to an explosive closing drum feature from the excellent Calderazzo.

To close the band returned to the “Sourpuss” album and Robson’s tune “Pearly Gates”, a rousing tune with an arresting hook and again the vehicle for fiery soloing from Siegel on tenor and Robson on guitar, the co-leaders splendidly spurred on in their endeavours by a rhythm that combined power with precision and a great sense of groove and dynamics.

With deadlines running tight with regard to other Festival events there was to be no encore but once again this brilliant band had delivered. If anything they’ve improved with age and are now starting to attract the kind of critical acclaim that they’ve always merited. Dare I say it but they seem to be turning into something of a much loved national institution, something that almost befits one of the longest running working bands in contemporary British jazz. 

I wonder what GoGo Penguin were like?

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