Photograph of Chiara Spigariol and Whispered Tales by Pam Mann

EFG LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL 2025

DAY FOUR, MONDAY 17th NOVEMBER 2025

CHIARA SPIGARIOL’S WHISPERED TALES, PIZZA EXPRESS JAZZ CLUB, SOHO

Chiara Spigariol – drums, vocals, Nina Jenks – lead vocals, Tim Li – piano, vocals, Mark McQuillan –acoustic & electric bass, vocals, Alice Spigariol – backing vocals

This event was the first of five lunchtime shows parting part of the Heads Up series curated by vocalist, flautist, songwriter and curator Kasia Konstance. A great organiser and an all round force for good in British jazz Konstance has been running the monthly Heads Up series at the ‘Pizza’ since 2018, the series providing a platform for young, emerging jazz musicians, many of them recent graduates from London’s leading music colleges.

 Konstance is also a broadcaster with a Heads Up radio show on One Jazz Radio, which can be found here;
https://www.onejazz.net/contributors/kasia-konstance/

EFG LJF presents the opportunity for Konstance to present a greater number of events and it’s an opportunity that she grabs with both hands. Monday to Friday saw five different young bands performing to large and appreciative audiences at the ‘Pizza’, all of them led by female instrumentalist / composers, a conscious decision made by Konstance as the series co-ordinator.

However I must admit that when I first saw the line up for these five weekday shows I just thought, “that looks interesting”, the fact the bands were all led by young women didn’t occur to me until Kasia pointed it out during the course of her stage announcements. And that, I think is the way it should be. Thinking about it I saw a LOT of female instrumentalists, and of course some singers too, during the course of the Festival. The gender of a musician isn’t a big deal to me any more, and although I can only speak from a male perspective I genuinely believe that we are getting somewhere close to relative parity.

On then to today’s events featuring a quintet led by the Italian born, London based drummer, vocalist and composer Chiara Spigariol, a graduate of Trinity Laban, where her drum tutors included James Maddren, Asaf Sirkis and Gene Calderazzo. No wonder she’s good after studying with these three masters.

But Spigariol is more than just a drummer, she’s also a singer and a highly accomplished composer and songwriter and today’s show featured a complete performance of the music on Spigariol’s debut album “Whispered Tales”, an ambitious song cycle with music composed by Spigariol with words co-written by Spigariol and her sister Alice – I’d best use first names from now on.

Whispered Tales has also become a band name and the recording features Chiara, bassist Mark McQuillan, pianist Thomas Stephenson and vocalist Rebecca Edlund. The last two were unavailable for today’s show and their places were taken by Tim Li at the piano and Nina Jenks on vocals, the latter doing a brilliant job of stepping into Edlund’s shoes and making the lead vocal parts her own. The other members of the group all sang, and did so very well, but the overall success of the event relied on Jenks ‘stepping up to the plate’ and she did so superbly.

In view of this being a ‘dinner gig’ the band had produced their own ‘musical menus’ which had been placed on each table and which offered brief insights into the individual pieces that comprise the song cycle. A nice touch, and a nice souvenir of the event.

Appropriately the performance began with “Intro”, effectively a prologue setting the scene for a song cycle that draws inspiration from myth and legend and from art and literature. Effectively this was a brief voice and piano duet augmented by the sounds of arco bass and the leader’s mallet rumbles and cymbal shimmers.

The ‘menu’ informed us that “The Myth of Love” was inspired by “a Greek myth that reflects on the origin of love. Two bodies in search of their perfect match, to regain their original state”. Introduced by McQuillan’s pizzicato acoustic bass groove this developed to embrace a fuller band sound with Jenks’ voice telling the story in addition to delivering an impressive wordless vocal episode that included extended vocal techniques as the music became more loosely structured, almost veering into free jazz territory at times. But primarily this was an impressive piece of songwriting blending strong melodies and evocative and intelligent lyrics with a jazz sensibility.

This was followed by “The Ocean”, inspired by the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark. In the light of the climate crisis the lines “Now the water’s rising, it will not stop raining, the ocean will be everything we have left” felt uncomfortably pertinent. Musically the song was notable for fluent instrumental solos from McQuillan on electric bass and Li at the piano.

A passage of unaccompanied double bass provided the link into “Sharazad”, a song inspired by one of the better known stories from One Thousand and One Nights. Today’s performance included an engaging vocal / drum duet between Jenks and Chiara, with Jenks again pushing her voice into extended technique territory. There was a real joyousness and energy about this dialogue with Chiara clearly relishing the opportunity of performing this music in front of such a large and attentive audience.

“Golden Tears” draws inspiration from the novella “The Little Prince” by Anton du Saint-Exupery. Introduced by piano and Jenks’ semi-spoken / semi-sung vocals Chiara’s cymbal work was particularly dramatic and impressive and Li was featured further with a rhapsodic piano solo. The voices of all the band members then came together on the pay off line “all men have stars”.

Inspired by the story of the painting “The Woman in Gold” by Gustav Klimt “Adele” was sung from the point of view of the niece of the painting’s subject Adele Bloch-Bauer 1. Set in Vienna and played as a waltz / march the music ranged through classical, art song and even musical theatre.

Shakespeare provided the inspiration for the final two pieces, beginning with “Juliet”. As with most of the pieces a short spoken word passage quoted lines from the initial source of inspiration – in this case the familiar “two households both alike in dignity” stanza. This piece represented a vocal tour de force for Jenks and also included a bravado piano solo from Li and more dynamic drumming from the leader.

The performance concluded with “Robin’s Song”, inspired both by “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and by traditional English folk music. With Alice’s voice simulating the sound of birdsong this was a joyous, celebratory piece with a folkish melody that featured he singing of all five band members. It certainly lived up to the promise made on the ‘menu’ – “Come gather around the open fire on this midsummer night and let’s dance the night away”.

This concluded today’s performance and the audience at the Pizza gave this adventurous original music a terrific reception. I’m sure the band members must have had family and friends in the audience but there must have been many people, including myself, who were hearing this music for the first time. It was heart-warming to see it being so generously and enthusiastically received. I treated myself to a copy of the “Wandering Tales” album and can confirm that it sounds just as good at home.

Today’s performance represented an unexpected Festival highlight and I’m grateful to Chiara and to to Mark McQuillan for speaking with me after the show. Very well done to all concerned with regard to today’s production.

ASHLEY HENRY QUARTET, RONNIE SCOTT’S

Ashley Henry – piano, keyboards, vocals, Johnny Woodham – trumpet, flugelhorn David Mrakpor – electric bass, Peter Hill – drums

The early part of the main Festival week fell into a pattern of me attending the early evening show at Ronnie Scott’s, starting at 6.30 pm., before moving on to a later show elsewhere. It was a routine that worked very well, even if there was sometimes limited ‘wriggle room’ between the two gigs.

Monday saw me at Ronnie’s for the early evening set by British pianist, vocalist and composer / songwriter Ashley Henry. I’d previously seen Henry as a sideman when he performed with vocalist China Moses at the 2018 Cheltenham Jazz Festival and was hugely impressed with him as a pianist.

With this in mind I was looking forward to seeing him again leading his own group. Since the Moses performance Henry has emerged as a bandleader in his own right and has released two solo albums, “Beautiful Vinyl Hunter” (2019) and “Who We Are” (2024), which feature him as a singer as well as a piano and keyboard player.

His band tonight included trumpeter Johnny Woodham, previously heard with Alfa Mist and as a guest with the Scottish contemporary big band Fat Suit, bassist David Mrakpor, a prodigiously talented multi-instrumentalist best known as a vibraphonist, and drummer Peter Hill, a long time Henry associate.

The quartet commenced with an unannounced instrumental, that Henry did tell us was from the “Who We Are” album. This began with an atmospheric intro featuring the sounds of electric keyboards and echoed trumpet with Henry subsequently soloing on Rhodes followed by Woodham on the trumpet as the music developed a groove and began gathering momentum.

Also from the most recent album “Take Me Higher” represented the first vocal number and saw Henry switching to acoustic piano. His vocal items occupy a territory somewhere between jazz and nu-soul and he’s an adequate, rather than great singer. I have to confess that I prefer him as an instrumentalist. Propelled by Mrakpor’s slinky electric bass groove the piece also included instrumental solos from Woodham on trumpet and Henry at the piano, the leader alternating between piano and Rhodes.

An extended acoustic piano intro ushered in the next piece, a song variously featuring the sounds of muted trumpet and flugelhorn. Henry was also featured on vocals and Fender Rhodes on this unannounced song, a laid blend of jazz, soul and funk.

Hill’s drums introduced the instrumental “Synchronicity”, which also made use of pre-programmed beats. Henry soloed on acoustic piano followed by the remarkable Mrakpor on electric bass.

The first cover of the evening was Henry’s arrangement of Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam”, a song that he recorded for the “Who We Are” album. Originally commissioned for a TV show that was filmed at Ronnie’s and recorded with the permission of the Simone estate this featured the trio of Henry, Mrakpor and Hill with the leader on acoustic piano and vocals. He performed with skill and passion, but nothing quite compares to Simone’s incendiary original.

An extended solo acoustic piano intro ushered in the next song, with the patter of Hill’s hand drumming added as Henry stated the main theme. Woodham was featured on muted trumpet and Henry’s lyrics seemed to represent a call for unification with the refrain “all sing the same song”.

Hill and Mrakpor set up a hip hop influenced groove at the start of the next instrumental piece, a tune that was something of a tour de force for the bassist who delivered a liquidly lyrical Jaco Pastorius style solo. The equally impressive Woodham followed on trumpet, his fluent and powerful solo earning a great reception from the Ronnie’s audience, as had Mrakpor’s. Henry featured on Rhodes, happy to let his colleagues take the plaudits on this occasion.

Henry continued on Rhodes for the next item, another feature for trumpeter Woodham.

Introducing the last song of the evening, “I Still Believe” from the “Beautiful Vinyl Hunter” album, Henry told us something about his influences, these including the American musicians Jon Batiste and Sullivan Fortner. We also heard how he used to sneak into Ronnie’s as a young jazz fan, an experience that encouraged his love of the music. We also learned that Hill is based in Brighton , works regularly with saxophonist Binker Golding and runs his own Dime Sounds record label. I already knew of Mrakpor’s involvement, as a vibraphonist, with Mark Kavuma’s Banger Factory and Cassie Kinoshi’s band Brown Penny but had no idea he played quite so many different instruments – vibes, bass, drums, guitar, sax or that he was half of the duo Blue Lab Beats with drummer Namali Kwaten. Woodham is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, hence his involvement with Fat Suit.

The song itself was introduced by an extended passage of unaccompanied acoustic piano and featured Woodham on flugelhorn. Henry’s vocals were followed by an acoustic piano solo and Woodham switched to trumpet to solo on the outro.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this show, particularly the instrumental sections which featured some excellent playing from all four participants. The discovery of Mrakpor as a hugely accomplished bassist and multi-instrumentalist was also an exciting find. Henry’s vocals were functional rather than inspired but singing allows him to reach a broader constituency than just the hard core jazz audience, and good luck to him. My preference for instrumental music is just a personal thing. The positives here very much outweighed any negatives.

MIGUEL GORODI QUINTET,  CRAZY COQS

Miguel Gorodi – trumpet, Nathaniel Facey – alto sax, Alcyona Mick – piano, Calum Gourlay – double bass, David Ingamells - drums

My third and final visit to Crazy Coqs was for this late (9.15 pm) performance by the Italian born, London based trumpeter Miguel Gorodi and his quintet.

I’ve always been a big admirer of Gorodi’s playing and gave a very favourable review to his 2019 nonet album “Apophenia”, released on the Ubuntu Music imprint. This album also revealed Gorodi to be a composer of considerable ability and sophistication. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/miguel-gorodi-nonet-apophenia

I have also reviewed small group recordings that feature Gorodi as a sideman by drummer Marek Dorcik and saxophonist Joshua Jaswon.

Gorodi is an also an experienced section player and I have heard him perform with various large ensembles including the Sam Leak Big Band and the Andrew Linham Jazz Orchestra. He has also played with the  the London City Big Band , the London Jazz Orchestra, the Hackney Colliery Band, Kansas Smitty’s House Band and the revivalist outfit The Dixie Ticklers.

Gorodi has worked with pianists Barry Green, Rick Simpson and Ivo Neame, saxophonists Sam Braysher, Cassie Kinoshi, Tom Challenger and Emma Rawicz, vocalists Ian Shaw, Jamie Cullum and Lauren Bush and guitarist Femi Tomowo,  plus fellow trumpeter Yazz Ahmed.

In addition to the nonet Gorodi leads a smaller unit, tonight’s quintet featuring alto saxophonist Nathaniel Facey, pianist Alcyona Mick, bassist Calum Gourlay and drummer James Maddren. The latter’s unavailability this evening saw him replaced by regular Gorodi collaborator David Ingamells, with whom he sometimes works as a duo.

I had hoped that the performance would put the focus solely on Gorodi’s own compositions but although we heard a number of original tunes several of the pieces were drawn from the jazz canon and were written by others.

The quintet began with a segue of Carla Bley’s “King Korn” and Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence”, the Bley tune played in a broadly hard bop style with a punchy twin horn intro followed by solos from Gorodi on trumpet, Facey on alto and Mick at the piano, the latter’s solo punctuated by the horn stabs of Gorodi and Facey. All of these were powered by Gourlay’s propulsive bass lines and Ingamells’ crisp drumming. The bassist was rewarded for his efforts with his own feature.

A brief free jazz episode marked the transition into the Monk tune which provided the framework for a probing and expansive alto solo from Facey, at one juncture accompanied by double bass only. Mick’s piano solo was dense and knotty, but not too obviously “Monk-ish”. Gorodi took the next solo on trumpet followed by a bass and drum dialogue that evolved first into a Gourlay bass solo and then into an Ingamells drum feature.

Gorodi’s own “Dice, Slice, Copy” was written in the style of the American saxophonist Sam Rivers (1923-2011) with the twin horn theme statement followed by expansive and incisive solos from Gorodi on trumpet and Facey on alto, the latter particularly impressive. Mick followed at the piano before Gorodi and Facey traded fours with Ingamells.

A Greg Osby arrangement of the Duke Ellington composition “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” , famously covered by Steely Dan on their “Pretzel Logic” album, allowed Gorodi to unleash his inner Bubber Miley with an exceptional trumpet solo. Gourlay was also featured on double bass and Facey on alto, while the horn interplay between Gorodi and Facey was also exceptional. Osby is an acknowledged influence on Gorodi and the trumpeter did his mentor proud here.

After the energetic hi-jinks of the Ellington piece Gorodi’s original composition “Draycott”, named for a Somerset village near the Cheddar Gorge,  offered something rather more reflective. This featured lyrical but adventurous solos from Mick, Facey, Gorodi and Gourlay.

A new arrangement of “Mop Mop”, an old Coleman Hawkins tune featured a twin horn intro followed by solos from Facey, Gorodi and Mick, with the horns combining powerfully again on the outro.

To close we heard “Richard’s Scene”, a Gorodi original written in memory of his fellow trumpeter Richard Turner, who died in tragic circumstances of an aortic aneurysm in 2011 at the age of just twenty seven. In his short life Turner made a big impact on the London jazz scene and is still much loved by his fellow musicians. A complex bebop style ‘head’ featuring counterpoint horn lines led into an urgent, highly percussive solo from the excellent Mick plus exceptional solos from Facey and Gorodi, the latter accompanied by drums only, a reminder of Gorodi’s duo project with Ingamells. The piece concluded with the fiery, virtuosic horn interplay of Gorodi and Facey on the alto.

This was an enjoyable, if rather low key gig. The audience turn out was a little disappointing on a Monday night with lots of other things going on around town, so the gig didn’t have quite the same buzz as Five Way Split or Treyja, although in no way was this the fault of the players.

I’d have liked to have heard a few more Gorodi originals but even so the outside material was well chosen and consistently interesting. A good, if not a great, gig from a stellar collection of players, the majority of them bandleaders in their own right.

But the award for ‘gig of the day’ has to go to Chiara Spigariol and Whispered Tales, playing to a full house with their adventurous and brilliantly realised song cycle. A triumph for Spigariol and the band and an unexpected Festival highlight for me.

 

 

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