Photograph of Chube by Pam Mann

FRIDAY AT BRECON JAZZ FESTIVAL, 08/08/2025

PROLOGUE

2025 saw Brecon Jazz Festival under new management for the first time since 2016.

In recent years the Festival has been co-ordinated by Lynne Gornall and Roger Cannon of Brecon Jazz Club. After nine years of organising both the Festival and the regular monthly Jazz Club events they have decided to take a deserved step back and just concentrate on running the Jazz Club.

With regard to the Festival a new locally based organising committee headed by Chairman Chris Jones has stepped into the breach, its members including Ruth Gibbs and Angus Kings of The Muse venue, the regular home of Brecon Jazz Club.

The new organisers have taken the decision to try to re-create something of the spirit of the Festival in its heyday by bringing back live performances at such formerly popular venues as the Market Hall and Bishops Garden, neither of which have been utilised for many years.

2025 saw the Festival concentrated over the course of a single weekend, rather than spreading it over three separate weekends as in recent years. The second weekend of August has always been the traditional ‘Brecon Jazz Weekend’ and the new team’s inaugural Festival saw them utilising three regular concert venues, these being the Market Hall, The Muse and the Guildhall, all these hosting at least two events per day,  with one additional concert being staged at Christ College.

In addition to the ticketed concert events there were regular free admission performances at the Bishops Garden, in Bethel Square and on the Bulwark Stage in the town’s main square.

As if all this wasn’t impressive enough the concurrent Brecon Fringe Festival, which must be approaching its twentieth anniversary, was also in full swing around the town with local pubs and clubs staging their own events all over town, a mix of jazz, rock, blues and covers bands. On BJF weekend there literally is music around every street corner. It all makes for a friendly and vibrant atmosphere – you don’t have to be a ‘serious’ jazz fan to enjoy the BJF weekend.

But of course I am a ‘serious’ jazz fan, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this, so my main focus is going to be on the main concert programme, which kicked off at the Market Hall with a visit from Hejira.

HEJIRA

Hattie Whitehead – vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, Pete Oxley – electric guitar, Dave Jones – fretted and fretless electric basses, Chris Eldred – keyboards, Ollie Weston – tenor & soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, Rick Finlay – drums, Adam Osmianski – percussion

Named after the title of a Joni Mitchell album Hejira, the band, was founded by guitarist Pete Oxley, a highly regarded jazz musician with many years of experience and with an impressive catalogue of original recordings already under his belt. He has also run The Spin Jazz Club in Oxford for more than twenty five years.

Oxley’s Mitchell tribute was originally conceived as a one off, a Christmas special at The Spin at the end of 2022 and a celebration of Mitchell’s 80th birthday, which was coming up in 2023. The line up featured some of the leading jazz musicians in the Thames Valley region and it was decided that for jazz musicians the obvious Mitchell recording to homage would be “Shadows and Light”, a 1980 live recording that featured Mitchell performing with a stellar line up comprised of guitarist Pat Metheny, keyboard player Lyle Mays, saxophonist Michael Brecker, bassist Jaco Pastorius and drummer / percussionist Don Alias. It’s a sobering thought to consider that of that illustrious line up only Metheny and Mitchell herself are still with us.

The seven piece band that came to be known as Hejira is fronted by vocalist and guitarist Hattie Whitehead, daughter of the jazz saxophonist Tim Whitehead, with whom Oxley had previously worked. But it was Hattie’s online performance of a Mitchell song with bassist Flo Moore that convinced Oxley that she was the singer he had been looking for.

That first Hejira performance was a total sell out with tickets being snapped up at an unprecedentedly fast rate for The Spin. The gig itself was a triumph and a second gig at the same venue in March 2023 sold out just as quickly. Other venues became interested in the band and they played for another full house at Peggy’s Skylight in Nottingham just a couple of days later.

Oxley began to think that this might be a project with ‘legs’, particularly when Hejira attracted the interest of a booking agent, something almost unprecedented for British jazz musicians. It’s all become a bit of a roller coaster with Hejira touring extensively, recording a live album at The Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone, London, their own “Shadows and Light” if you will, and selling out the Jazz Cafe in Camden. They’ve become a fixture on the Club and Festival circuit and their Brecon debut was one of the most keenly anticipated events of the entire weekend.

Hejira celebrates the music of what was arguably Mitchell’s most creative period. The mid to late 1970s saw the release of such albums and “Court and Spark” (1974), The Hissing of Summer Lawns” (1975) and “Hejira” (1976), the recording that gives tonight’s band its name.

Mitchell’s 1979 album “Mingus” saw her exploring her jazz leanings even further as she paid homage to the great jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus, who had passed away earlier in that year, adding her own lyrics to some of Mingus’ classic compositions, among them the much covered “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”.

Much of the music from these studio recordings found its way on to the live double album “Shadows and Light”. The stellar “Shadows and Light” band only did one tour of around twenty dates and the fact that the show in Santa Barbara was recorded for posterity is indeed something to be grateful for.

Jazzmann guest contributor Colin May was lucky enough to witness and review the second Hejira performance at The Spin. His account can be found elsewhere on this site. https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/hejira-feauring-hattie-whitehead-celebrate-joni-mitchell-the-spin-jazz-club-the-tap-social-botley-oxford-01-03-2023

Meanwhile I caught up with the band at a very well attended Music Spoken Here event at The Marr’s Bar in Worcester in June 2024. My review, from which much of the above biographical detail has been sourced, can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/hejira-celebrating-joni-mitchell-music-spoken-here-the-marrs-bar-worcester-27-06-2024

Hejira’s early performances saw the band members replicating the parts played by those famous musicians on the “Shadows and Light” recording. However now the group has become an ongoing concern Oxley has written his own arrangements, allowing the band to put more of their own stamp on the material, whilst remaining true to the spirit of the original performances.

As Oxley explained to Dave Fuller of Music Spoken Here he has left the melodies and vocal lines intact but added even greater colour to the orchestration,  most noticeably through Weston’s use of bass clarinet and Osmianski’s use of percussion. Don Alias doubled on drum kit and percussion on the original recording but Hejira deploys a kit drummer AND a percussionist adding greatly to both the rhythmic and textural possibilities in this area.

Almost inevitably today’s set was similar to the one at Worcester, but by no means identical. New songs from Mitchell’s ‘classic period’ have entered the set over the last twelve months and we were to enjoy hearing some of those today.

As at Worcester things commenced with “Coyote”, one of the stand out songs from the “Hejira” album. Immediately one was struck by the purity of Whitehead’s voice and just how similar her phrasing is to Mitchell’s – “she sounds just like her” must be an observation that’s made on multiple occasions at every Hejira gig. But Whitehead is more than just a ‘Joni clone’, she’s an accomplished songwriter in her own right and released her well received debut album “Bloom” in October 2024.  I’ve also enjoyed witnessing two Whitehead solo shows featuring just her voice and guitar, performing songs from the “Bloom” album. Mt review of the “Bloom” recording can be found here;

From the “Court and Spark” album “Just Like This Train” featured the sound of Weston’s bass clarinet. The title track of “The Hissing of Summer Lawns” saw him switching to soprano saxophone and duetting with Whitehead’s voice on the intro, with subsequent instrumental solos coming from Eldred on keyboard, deploying an ‘acoustic’ piano sound, and Oxley on guitar.

Announcements were shared between Oxley and Whitehead, with the singer promising us “a bit of a knees up” on “In France They Kiss on Main Street”, a favourite song from both the” Summer Lawns” and “Shadows and Light” recordings. This featured Weston’s tenor sax and Oxley’s soaring Metheny-esque guitar.

Next a new addition to the band’s repertoire, “Be Cool” from the 1982 Mitchell album “Wild Things Run Fast”, which introduced a funk element to the music with Jones’ electric bass prominent in the arrangement. Th performance was also notable for the series of exchanges between Whitehead’s voice and Weston’s tenor sax.

Percussionist Osmianski ushered in “Help Me”, a song from Mitchell’s “Court and Spark” album. An extended introduction featured his playing of the pandeiro, a tambourine like instrument from Brazil.   Osmianski studied in Brazil and clearly still harbours a great affection for the music of that country..Weston and Oxley were also featured individual soloists prior to engaging in a series of tenor sax / guitar exchanges.

Perhaps the centrepiece of the set was a stunning segue of pieces from the “Shadows and Light” album that were originally performed in that same sequence by the Shadows and Light Band.  “Amelia” was followed by the Metheny composed instrumental piece credited on the record as “Pat’s Solo”, and then by the title track from “Hejira”, also the original home of “Amelia”.

“Amelia”, one of Mitchell’s most beautiful and best loved songs, was flawlessly sung by Whitehead in an extended duo passage that also featured the gently intertwining guitar lines of her Fender Telecaster and Oxley’s Gibson. Piano and bass clarinet were subsequently added to the arrangement.

Oxley’s interpretation of “Pat’s Solo” was a reminder to some of us that Metheny himself had played in this same Market Hall at the 1992 Brecon Jazz Festival leading a trio featuring bassist Dave Holland and drummer Roy Haynes. Heady, happy days. Today Eldred’s keyboard shadings saw him playing Lyle Mays to Oxley’s Metheny.

Oxley’s solo feature led into “Hejira” one of Mitchell’s most profound and moving songs. Jones’ electric bass was prominent in an arrangement that also featured Weston’s soprano sax, and, of course, Whitehead’s voice and acoustic guitar. In addition to being a superb vocalist Whitehead is also a highly accomplished instrumentalist and played either acoustic or electric guitar pretty much throughout the set.

The segue was particularly well received and Hejira concluded with a rousing take on “Free Man In Paris”, allegedly written about David Geffen, then the boss of Mitchell’s record label Asylum. In addition to Whitehead’s vocals the highlights included Weston’s powerful tenor sax solo and Finlay’s dynamic performance at the drum kit.

The inevitable encore was one of Mitchell’s most popular and enduring songs, “A Case of You” from the much celebrated album “Blue”. Oxley’s unaccompanied guitar intro was followed by a peerless Whitehead vocal, supported by electric bass, brushed drums and percussion as Weston and Eldred sat out. Jones was the featured instrumental soloist, his liquidly lyrical electric bass solo channelling the spirit of the late, great Jaco Pastorius.

Superbly led by Oxley the Hejira band was a well drilled unit full of brilliant individuals coming together to deliver a music that was bigger than themselves. Inevitably the main focus was on Oxley and the excellent Hattie Whitehead, but everybody performed well, serving the music faithfully but also making the most of their individual features. It should be noted that in addition to that remarkable voice Whitehead has also memorised all the lyrics of Mitchell’s wordy and often complex songs. An impressive feat.

A large crowd at the Market Hall loved Hejira and their music. The band continue to make new friends wherever they go and even die hard Mitchell fans who may initially harbour some reservations are quickly converted.

An excellent start to Brecon Jazz Festival 2025.

CHUBE, THE GUILDHALL

Ben Creighton-Griffiths - harp, keyboards, Ashley John Long – electric & acoustic bass, Jon Bradford-Jones - drums

Chube is just one of the projects of the Cardiff based harpist and composer Ben Creighton-Griffiths. A supremely versatile musician he plays classical harp with symphony orchestras and gypsy jazz with a variety of different projects, among them Transatlantic Hot Club and the Swing Strings Trio.

He recently performed the Welsh premiere of his “Concerto for Jazz Harp and Orchestra” at the BBC Hoddinott Hall in the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff accompanied by the ninety five piece Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/cardiff-philharmonic-orchestra-with-guest-soloist-ben-creighton-griffiths-bbc-hoddinott-hall-wales-millennium-centre-cardiff-14-06-2025

The Jazzmann has covered his playing in a variety of musical contexts and formats, from solo artist to orchestral soloist. Just one week before today’s Festival performance I enjoyed his playing as part of a gypsy jazz trio featuring guitarist Joe Van Parys and bassist Cameron Saint at the Old Street Tavern in Ludlow, Shropshire, an event I attended strictly as a ‘punter’.

Chube is the group that gives expression to Creighton-Griffiths’ rock and pop leanings and sees his harp rigged up with an array of the kind of effects pedals normally deployed by rock guitarists. The line up also features the great Ashley John Long on six string electric bass and is the only BCG group to feature a drummer, currently Jon Bradford-Jones.

I’ve seen the Chube group on numerous occasions at Black Mountain Jazz in Abergavenny and at the Marr’s Bar in Worcester. One particularly memorable event saw the Chube trio collaborating with trombonist Dennis Rollins at the 2019 Wall2Wall Jazz Festival in Abergavenny.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/saturday-at-wall2wall-jazz-festival-2019-melville-centre-abergavenny-31-08-

There was a slight delay to the start of today’s gig, drum kit issues apparently, and the show was one of the few not to be formally announced by a member of the Brecon Jazz team. Instead the trio just wandered on stage and began to play, Ben sporting a Music Spoken Here T-shirt from the Marr’s Bar in Worcester.

Chube sees Creighton-Griffiths doubling on harp and keyboards, sometimes simultaneously, and both were to feature on opener “Here and There”, a band original that included the sound of heavily distorted harp as those foot pedals came into play.

Chube has released two EPs and from the first of these, released in 2018, came “Shift”, a Creighton-Griffiths composition that its creator described as “jazz disco”. This proved to be an infectious piece with a persistent drum groove and with Creighton-Griffiths featuring on both harp and keyboards and soloing on analogue synth. Meanwhile Long’s solo saw him swarming all over his six string electric bass.

“Black Orpheus”, by the Brazilian composer Luiz Bonfa is a tune that Creighton-Griffiths performs in a variety of different formats and contexts. A version of it appears on Chube’s second EP “Electro-Acoustic Boogaloo”, released in 2023. His arrangement for Chube gives the tune a funky twist and today’s performance included solos from Creighton-Griffiths on harp and Long on electric bass.

Also from the trio’s second EP “Katibim” is a tune that Creighton-Griffiths learned from violinist Adrien Chevalier, his bandmate from the Transatlantic Hot Club. Chevalier also runs a Balkan style band and this tune is based on a traditional Turkish folk song and features typically Balkan / Middle Eastern time signatures. Chube’s version combines these with the timbres of distorted harp, organ and synth keyboard sounds, contemporary drum grooves and six string bass virtuosity.

From Chube’s first eponymous EP “The Land” was inspired the sight of Russian / Khazak mountains viewed from a plane window. “It started out as a ballad, but changed into something different”, explained Creighton-Griffiths. Long’s move to double bass and Creighton-Griffiths’ deployment of an acoustic piano sound hinted at those ballad origins but the music soon travelled elsewhere with the leader doubling on harp and keys and Long delivering some dramatic bowing reminiscent of E.S.T’s Dan Berglund.

From the same EP “interlude” represented something of a feature for drummer Jon Bradford-Jones, whose Zeppelin-esque grooves offered a foretaste of what was to come later.

“Iguana” represented a homage to Creighton-Griffiths’ musical hero, American keyboard player and composer Herbie Hancock. Perhaps inspired by Hancock’s own “Chameleon” this featured heavy Headhunters style funk grooves and included solos for harp and electric bass.

“The Prelude” is the first movement from Creighton-Griffiths’ harp concerto, re-imagined here by Chube. An unaccompanied harp introduction led to more orthodox jazz style solos for harp and bass with Bradford-Jones at the kit providing the necessary swing.

“Ligma” was another funky offering featuring the sounds of clavinet like keyboards and the virtuoso soloing of Long on electric bass and the leader on harp.

The episodic “Salty Tongue”, a 2020 single, was perhaps the piece closest to a genuine ballad, with Long switching to double bass. Chube’s Bandcamp page features a very different remixed version of this piece.

Two crowd pleasing Covers followed, commencing with Outkast’s “Hey Ya!”, an infectious tune that has been in the Chube repertoire for some time. Next a suitably apocalyptic version of Led Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks” featuring the sounds of heavily distorted harp and Bradford-Jones’ monolithic Bonham-esque drum grooves. Creighton-Griffiths hinted that the band may retire the Zeppelin number and replace it with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird”. “I’ve always wanted to play that guitar solo on the harp”, he explained.

This was followed by a Creighton-Griffiths original bearing the cheeky title “When The Reggae Breaks”. And yes, it did see the band adopting a reggae style groove while featuring the astonishing electric bass soloing of Long. A sudden increase in pace unleashed an infectious disco style groove, the vehicle for synth and electric bass solos, with Creighton-Griffiths again doubling on harp and keys.

From the trio’s second EP “Celestial Dance” was yet another ballad that had somehow mutated into something else – “disco”, in Creighton-Griffiths’ words. A suitably celestial intro featuring the sounds of electric piano was followed by a dramatic change of pace with the creation of an infectious, dance orientated groove, the vehicle for synth and electric bass solos, with Creighton-Griffiths again doubling on harp and keys.

The trio ended with another slice of disco and “Trash Panda Disco”, the concluding track on their second EP. This featured Creighton-Griffiths on keyboards as he delivered a delightfully squelchy synth solo.

Although modest in terms of size the audience really got behind the band and gave them a great reception, but there weren’t really enough of us to turn the gig into a genuine EVENT. I’ve always enjoyed Chube’s performances and today’s was no exception, but some of the previous shows have had more of a ‘buzz’ about them. Given the trio’s rock leanings Chube might have been better served by being scheduled in the more Bohemian environment of The Muse rather than the more formal theatre setting of the Guildhall.

Still a day that starts with performances from two of my favourite contemporary bands, Hejira and Chube, can’t be bad.

METSAEMA, THE MUSE

Alexander Munoz-Jones – acoustic guitar,  fiddle, accordion, piano
Dayna Pirso – vocals, acoustic guitar
Matt – double bass

After reviewing two bands whose work I’m very familiar with next came something completely different as The Muse paid host to Metsaema, a trio I had never previously heard of. Hence, for me, this gig represented something of a leap into the unknown.

According to the Festival brochure “Metsaema” means “forest mother” in Estonian, so I was expecting some kind of jazz/ Eastern European folk crossover. Instead I was mightily surprised to find out that this was a Texas based ensemble specialising in old time American music, notably bluegrass, ragtime, and, of course Texas Swing.

The band is centred around the duo of multi-instrumentalist Alex Munoz-Jones and vocalist / guitarist Dayna Pirso. The two also perform under the name The Pear Blossoms, which places a greater emphasis on ragtime and features them playing banjos in addition to several other instruments. Today as Metsaema they were augmented by a double bass player introduced only as Matt, I believe he may be a student at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD) in Cardiff.

With the strong and silent (at least verbally) bassist filling out the sound the focus was very much on the core duo of Munoz-Jones and Pirso, who both demonstrated a deep love for, and thorough knowledge of, their chosen material, much of it dating from the 1920s and 30s or even earlier.

They commenced with the song “The Shrine of St. Cecilia”, recorded in 1957 by the US doo wop group The Harptones, but adapted from a Swedish song dating from World War 2. This demonstrated both the clarity and the subtle power of Pirso’s voice as Munoz-Jones played acoustic guitar.

Next up was “Chancellor’s Waltz”, Texas swing tune written by Dallas based fiddle player James Chancellor. This beguiling instrument featured Munoz-Jones on violin as Pirso picked up the guitar.

Munoz-Jones resumed on guitar as Pirso sang “Ramona”, a 1928 song that was part of the soundtrack for a film of the same name, this based on an earlier book. The song appears on the 2024 album “Rags, Waltzes & Ballads”, credited to Metsaema but available via the Pear Blossoms Bandcamp page.
https://thepearblossoms.bandcamp.com/

The celebrated wit Dorothy Parker made a foray into songwriting, her output including the surprisingly poignant “I Wished On The Moon”, a song covered by both Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra.

A second instrumental followed with Munoz-Jones on fiddle and Pirso on guitar playing “Hot Foot”, a tune written by fiddler Benny Thomasson, from Winters, Texas. Munoz-Jones explained that in Texas Swing a degree of improvisation is encouraged, a dancing around the melody that has something in common with jazz improvisation.

As The Pear Blossoms the duo of Munoz-Jones also write their own songs. From the Pear Blossoms album “Going To San Antone” the quirky and humorous “Heinz Baked Beans” is based on the advertising songs that were common in the 1930s. The performance of the song incorporated Pirso’s reading of the original series of 57 products marketed by Heinz. Great fun and a fascinating social history at the same time.

Another original “The Pearl of the Plains” celebrated “a real badass woman who lives on the prairie” and represented a contemporary riposte to the misogyny of many of the 1920s and 30s songs the duo love to play. For all that it was still played in an old time style with Munoz-Jones on accordion and Pirso on guitar.

Munoz-Jones played The Muse’s upright acoustic piano on “Dream On”, an 1895 song written by the ragtime composer Charles Johnson. Pirso’s vocals were delivered in the semi-operatic style of the time.

The nostalgic “I Remember” was followed by the bluegrass standard “Don’t Fall In Love With a Rambler”, a cautionary tale featuring Pirso’s voice and guitar as Munoz-Jones alternated between accordion and fiddle.

A fiddle tune from San Antonio followed, of which I failed to note the title. This instrumental was superseded by “Me And The Man In The Moon Aren’t Speaking”, a song by Texas songwriter Cindy Walker, who wrote for Bob Wills and whose songs were later covered by Willie Nelson. This featured Pirso on voice and guitar and Munoz-Jones on accordion.

Munoz-Jones and Pirso first met in New Orleans, a city that remains important to both of them, something that is reflected by their beautiful original song “New Orleans in December”, the final song in an absorbing set.

Such was the enthusiasm of the audience at a pleasingly busy Muse that Metsaema were requested to play an encore, another fiddle led instrumental.

It may not have been jazz in the accepted sense of the world but this was a compelling performance that included some excellent singing and playing and which mixed humour with pathos. For somebody not particular with ‘old time’ American, and specifically Texan, music genres it was also highly educational.

It was way out of my usual listening zone but I still enjoyed it, as did everybody else present at The Muse it would seem. The group were to play a free performance the following day on the Bulwark stage, but I was covering events elsewhere and didn’t get to that.

The brand of music purveyed by Metsaema / The Pear Blossoms isn’t the kind I’d choose to listen to at home but I was nevertheless very impressed by them as live performers and as musical historians. Their original songs, reflective and humorous by turns, were admirable too. More folk than jazz, but very worthwhile.

A BIGGER PICTURE / KLARA DEVLIN QUINTET, BISHOP’S GARDEN STAGE

The next ticketed event at The Guildhall was a performance by the Dutch trumpeter / saxophonist / vocalist Saskia Laroo and her group. I covered Laroo’s performance at BJF’s Springtime Jazz Day (review below) Festival in April and instead decided to opt for something different.

I found my way to the Bishop’s Garden which was the home to the Young Artists Stage, which was hosting a series of free admission events featuring emerging jazz performers. The programme was co-ordinated by the mother and daughter team of Paula Gardiner and Ursula Harrison, both prominent musicians and educators, so the quality of the performances was virtually guaranteed. In fine weather the Bishop’s Garden is a delightful place to chill out in and listen to music and I was able to catch the tail end of a set from the duo Bigger Picture and the full performance of the Klara Devlin Quartet

BIGGER PICTURE

Laurie Rich – keyboard, Tobias Bech - trumpet

Bigger Picture is a duo featuring the British pianist, keyboard player and composer Laurie Rich and the Danish trumpeter and composer Tobias Bech. The pair met when both were living in Berlin and have continued to work together, united by a love of both jazz and ambient music.

I caught a brief snippet of the duo’s set, the music featuring the ethereal shimmer of Rich’s electric keyboard and the breathy, atmospheric trumpeting of Bech. It was a tantalising taster and this is a duo that I would like to hear more of in the future. Those who had seen more of the performance expressed themselves as being very impressed with what they had seen.

Sometimes the group is expanded to a quartet or quintet featuring either Berlin or British based musicians. A short series of dates in South Wales earlier in the year featured Harrison on bass and Patrick Barrett-Donlon on drums. I’d love to see that edition of the band too.

KLARA DEVLIN QUARTET

Klara Devlin – trumpet, Chris Outhwaite – piano, Freddie Canton – double bass, Emmanuel Ampong – drums

I was particularly keen to witness this performance after seeing trumpeter and composer Devlin play with drummer Miranda Radford’s quartet at a Music Spoken Here event at The Marr’s Bar in Worcester in February 2025. A former BBC Young Jazz Musician Of The Year finalist her music is rooted in the bebop and hard bop traditions and she names fellow trumpeters Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan and Roy Hargrove as sources of inspiration. Other influences include Ella Fitzgerald, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. She’s a product of the Tomorrow’s Warriors programme and a former member of NYJO and her playing has been endorsed by the great saxophonist Tony Kofi.

Although Devlin is yet to record as a leader her forty five minute set featured four original compositions plus an arrangement of Ornette Coleman’s “Blues Connotations”.

The quartet commenced with Devlin’s composition “Multitudes”, which featured solos from all four members of the band and quickly established their credentials as excellent young musicians.

“Reaching Out”  began with an unaccompanied trumpet intro that offered evidence of Devlin’s confidence as a performer. The introduction of the band led to a more conventional trumpet solo, followed by further solos from Outhwaite on electric piano and Canton on double bass. The performance composition also included a ‘trumpet trio’ segment as Outhwaite temporarily sat out, this passage notable for the dialogue between the leader’s trumpet and Ampong’s drums. This section seemed to form the bridge into the next composition “Saltwater”, which included a chiming electric piano solo before Devlin’s trumpet resumed the lead.

The ballad “Blue Spire” featured the sound of brushed drums and included Devlin’s theme statement and subsequent trumpet solo. Canton was also featured with a melodic excursion on double bass. I recall being impressed with Canton when I first saw him play with pianist Ky Osborne’s K.O. Quartet at the 2025 Bath Jazz Weekend earlier in the year.

Finally we heard Ornette Coleman’s “Blues Connotations” in an arrangement by the former Bad Plus pianist Orrin Evans. Introduced by keyboard, bass and drums Devlin’s relatively late entry was followed by a trumpet solo, with subsequent features from Outhwaite and Canton.

I was impressed with the fluency of Devlin’s playing and also the quality of her original writing. Her young colleagues also impressed with their contributions and her debut recording, which must surely come, will be very keenly anticipated.

My thanks to Klara for speaking with me after the show and for clarifying details of the set list and personnel. It’s not always easy to pick up on stage announcements, especially in an outdoor setting.

CLEVELAND WATKISS, MARKET HALL,

Cleveland Watkiss – vocals, electronics, Orphy Robinson – piano, Phil Ramocon – keyboards,  Alan Nolan Weekes – guitar, Delroy Murray – electric bass, James Wade-Sired – trombone, Jean Toussaint – tenor sax, Carl Robinson – drums

In 2022 I favourably reviewed vocalist Cleveland Watkiss’ then new album “The Great Jamaican Songbook Vol. 1”, commenting at the time; “This may not be a jazz album, but nevertheless it’s a damn fine record and still a recording that I can happily recommend to any fan of good music”

With this is mind I was very much looking forward to tonight’s performance, which featured virtually the same line up that recorded the album. Only trumpeter Byron Wallen and the late saxophonist Ray Carless were missing, the latter’s place taken by Jean Toussaint. But I have to say that despite the wealth of talent on stage I was left bitterly disappointed by this performance..

Although Watkins is best known as a jazz vocalist “The Great Jamaican Songbook” is essentially a reggae album. It’s a recording that pays homage to Watkiss’ Jamaican roots and traces the history of Jamaican music through the songs of some of its most celebrated practitioners, among them Gregory Isaacs, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Burning Spear, Junior Byles, Dennis Brown and Delroy Wilson. 

The event didn’t get off to a good start with the audience left waiting for the best part of half an hour in the Market Hall foyer while the band completed their soundcheck. By the time they’d been let in most of the people in the crowd were already feeling pretty disgruntled.

As a serial gig goer I know the importance of getting the sound balance right and I also know that the Market Hall can be a pretty difficult venue in this regard. Let’s face it was built to sell fruit and veg rather than hosting live music events. Earlier in the day Hattie Whitehead had thanked the sound engineers for achieving what was a pretty decent sound balance in what she described as “a very difficult room”.

Hejira had sounded pretty good, but even after the delay the same can’t be said for the Watkiss group. The sound was boomy and echoey, the bass heavy sound of reggae not at all suited to the venue. Even Watkiss’ vocals were indistinct in a generally muddy sound mix that made it difficult to understand his words, even when he was speaking rather than singing. His electronic manipulations of his voice only served to exacerbate the problem.

“The Great Jamaican Songbook” is a joyous, celebratory record and I’d expected this gig to have a real party atmosphere with people happily skanking all over the place, but somehow it never really took off, despite Watkiss’ undeniably charismatic stage presence. If you’ve pissed people off it’s difficult to get them back onside.

Many of the songs were unannounced so this isn’t going to be tune by tune account, and in any case I didn’t stay to the end. The delay in the start time entailed that I had to leave early to get to the next gig.

The programme included homages to Gregory Isaacs aka ‘The Cool Ruler’ (1951-2010) and the recently deceased Junior Byles (1948-2025) with the Byles songs “Fade Away” and “Curly Locks” representing two of the set highlights.

Watkiss’ arrangement of Dennis Brown’s “Only A Smile” featured him leading the audience in a little call and response exercise, which helped to engage, but still not fully energise, the audience.

Instrumentally Wade-Sired, Toussaint, Weekes and Orphy Robinson provided the highlights with concise and fluent solos. Ramocon’s keyboards provided colour and texture as Murray and Carl Robinson laid down the heavy grooves.

An aside – I first heard the then sixteen year old Wade-Sired play when he sat in with a band led by Rod Paton at the 2018 Brecon Jazz Festival. He impressed at the time and has since gone on to become a fully professional musician. His playing provided some of the best moments in tonight’s otherwise disappointing set.

The Watkiss band had been introduced by vocalist Dionne Bennett who was due to play her own set at The Muse at 10.00 pm. I bailed out early from the Watkiss show and went to see Bennett, and was very glad that I did. More on her later.

Having enjoyed the “Great Jamaican Songbook” album and having looked forward to this show I’m genuinely disappointed at having to be so negative about Watkiss, but I can only call things as I see them. Talking to other fans at the Festival I found none with anything good to say about the Watkiss group’s performance. The delay, the poor sound quality and the lack of jazz content all represented valid criticisms. The Market Hall acoustics worked against them but every one of the other five acts that appeared at the venue managed to achieve a passable sound mix. If the Watkiss group had managed that the delay would have been tolerable, but as things turned out there
was no excuse.

DIONNE BENNETT & THE PEPPERSEEDS, THE MUSE

Dionne Bennett – vocals, Simon Kingman – guitar, backing vocals, Mark Sambel – keyboards, Jon Goode – electric bass, Gary James – drums

Dionne Bennett first came to my attention as the vocalist and lyricist of Slowly Rolling Camera, pianist Dave Stapleton’s highly successful jazz / soul / trip hop outfit. She appeared on the band’s first two albums “Slowly Rolling Camera” (2014) and “All Things” (2016) before leaving the group, at which point SRC became an all instrumental outfit once more.

I had the pleasure of seeing Bennett perform twice with SRC at Wolverhampton in 2014 and at London Jazz Festival in 2016. The latter, at the Rich Mix venue, was a particularly exciting performance, the club like atmosphere at a standing venue a perfect setting for the band’s mix of jazz, soul and trip hop. There was a real ‘rock gig’ atmosphere about it with the tall, charismatic Bennett proving to be an excellent focal point.

Currently based in Cardiff Bennett has been something of a fixture at Brecon Jazz Festival, typically playing a late night ‘party’ set at The Muse. She’s played with a variety of people but tonight’s set featured her regular band the Pepperseeds, the majority of whom had appeared with her at a late night show at The Muse at the 2022 BJF.

Arriving late from the Watkiss gig I missed the start, but straight away I was struck by the improvement in the sound quality. It may have been a smaller group but in this more intimate setting I could hear the separation between the different instruments and hear Bennett’s words much more clearly.

Again this won’t be a song by song account, several tunes were unannounced and despite guitarist Simon Kingman generously giving me a set list after the show I think there were quite a few changes to the running order.

What’s more important is that the singing and playing were both first rate, Bennett has a remarkable voice, big, powerful and soulful and is an energetic and compelling stage presence with an infectious enthusiasm for the music. The Pepperseeds band is a tight, well drilled outfit with two outstanding soloists in Kingman and Sambel and a hard driving rhythm section in Goode and James.

Much of the music fitted into the soul and funk bag and this helped to attract a crowd of dancers to the floor as Bennett and the band powered their way through “The Joker in Me”, “Sunny”, a Bennett staple, and a funky, beefed up arrangement of Gershwin’s “Summertime”.

A version of Stevie Wonder’s “Heaven Help Us”, chosen because Bennett had been at Wonder’s recent show in Cardiff,  helped maintain the soul and funk quotient while adding an element of political comment and a searing rock guitar solo from the excellent Kingman.

Bennett temporarily quit the stage as the band demonstrated their considerable chops on a funky guitar led instrumental, a sturdy slice of funk fusion featuring solos for guitar, electric piano and electric bass.

With Bennett back “Never Go Back To Georgia” added Afro-Cuban rhythms to the band’s repertoire and featured Kingman’s whistling, a key component of the song, in addition to his guitar soloing.

An exhilarating, high energy performance concluded with “Rock Steady” before Bennett led an audience singalong as the band encored with a version of the Isley Brothers hit “Harvest for The World”.

This was a great way to round off the day’s music with Dionne Bennett back to her best and fronting an excellent band. Their energetic mix of jazz, funk, soul and Latin delighted the audience and got many people to their feet. The fun was to continue into the early hours as the Dragon’s Breath Disco took over, but for us it was time to go home and recharge for another full day of music on Saturday.

In addition to her work as a performer Bennett also deserves praise for her other roles at BJF, introducing artists on other stages and also leading her own Tan Cerdd educational project in a public performance in Bethel Square on the Festival Sunday. Earlier in the year Tan Cerdd appeared at a regular Brecon Jazz Club event at The Muse. That performance is the subject of a Jazzmann feature that can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/brecon-jazz-club-presents-jazz-more-with-music-networktan-cerdd-the-muse-arts-centre-brecon-10-06-2025

SUMMARY

On the whole this was a very successful first day of the Festival, although the only true jazz that I heard was at the Bishops Garden stage with Bigger Picture (briefly) and the Klara Devlin Quartet. Elsewhere the jazz was merged with pop, rock, folk,  soul, funk and reggae, evidence that jazz is truly a broad church that is capable of gathering many other musical genres under its roof.

Saturday and Sunday were to feature more bona fide jazz acts, but more on those later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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