Photograph of Kokoroko by Tim Dickeson

FRIDAY AT CHELTENHAM JAZZ FESTIVAL, 02/05/2025

MARK KAVUMA AND THE BANGER FACTORY, PARABOLA ARTS CENTRE

Mark Kavuma – trumpet, Mussinghi Brian Edwards – tenor sax, Theo Erskine – alto sax, Artie Zaitz – guitar,  Renato Parris – piano, vocals,  Lorenzo Morabito – bass, Jack Thomas – drums

Originally from Uganda but a long time London resident trumpeter Mark Kavuma is also a composer, bandleader and record label owner.

He has been a fairly regular presence on the Jazzmann web pages ever since I caught an enjoyable snippet of his performance as the co-leader, alongside saxophonist Ruben Fox,  of a quintet on the Barbican Freestage at the 2013 EFG LJF.

I have since reviewed his albums “Kavuma” (2018) and “The Banger Factory” (2019), both released on Ubuntu Music.

After establishing the Banger Factory label and also using the title as a band name Kavuma issued the excellent “Arashi No Ato” in 2021. This first release on the Banger Factory label was quickly followed by “Legacy”, recorded by members and alumni of Kinetika Bloco, a London based music charity founded in 2000 by the late musician, composer and educator Matthew John Fox, known to all as Mat. Kavuma cites Kinetika Bloco as an important part of his musical education and continues to be involved with the organisation. Both “Arashi No Ato” and “Legacy” are reviewed elsewhere on The Jazzmann, as are “Back to Back”, a duo recording featuring both Kavuma and Artie Zaitz on keyboards, and “UltraSound”, a quintet recording co-led by Kavuma on trumpet and Theo Erskine on alto sax.

In 2024 Kavuma and Banger Factory issued “Magnum Opus”, a vinyl only release that I have yet to hear on disc. I did however attend the official launch at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in November 2024, an event that formed part of the 2024 EFG London Jazz Festival.

This was a sprawling three hour event that saw Kavuma taking over the QEH for the entire evening for a celebration specifically highlighting the community ethos of the “Banger Factory Family”. It featured a short set from Artie Zaitz’s organ trio playing music from their Banger Factory release “The Regulator” in addition to music from Kavuma and the Banger Factory band itself. There were also showcases for three of the pianists associated with the Banger Factory collective, Reuben James, Noah Stoneman and Mathis Picard. Guest artists came and went as the personnel was rotated on a regular basis. My account of a memorable evening of music can be found as part of my Festival coverage here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/efg-london-jazz-festival-2024-first-sunday-17-11-2024

The version of Banger Factory that Kavuma brought to Cheltenham for this hour long Festival gig was a settled septet with personnel as listed above.

The performance kicked off with the Kavuma original “The Dandy”, featuring the punchy sounds of the three horn front line and the blues inflected sound of Zaitz’s guitar as he took the first solo, punctuated by the interjections of the horns. Kavuma followed on trumpet, a fluent assured soloist who was recently voted “Jazz Instrumentalist of The Year” at the Jazz FM Awards. Edwards, something of a mentor to Kavuma and a highly individual tenor sax soloist came next, spurred on by the driving rhythms laid down by Morabito and Thomas. However I have to confess to being less enamoured with the scat vocalising of Parris, the third and final solo feature in this opening piece.

From the “Magnum Opus” recording the Edwards original “Wayward’s Return”, a fast moving piece again distinguished by its punchy unison horn lines, propulsive rhythms and the assured soloing of Erskine on alto sax, Kavuma on trumpet, composer Edwards on tenor and Zaitz on guitar. There was also a feature for the impressive young drummer Jack Thomas.

An unaccompanied guitar passage led into another, quieter tune, the title of which remained unannounced. The horns adopted a softer tone as Thomas switched to brushes and Morabito was featured with a melodic double bass solo. Kavuma’s trumpet solo made effective use of space and he was followed by another wordless vocal episode from Parris.

Despite his absence in tonight’s line up the importance of pianist Noah Stoneman to the Banger Factory project was acknowledged with a performance of his composition “June”, a tune with something of a South African ‘Township Jazz’ feel about it. Unison horn melody lines gave way to solos from Erskine on alto sax, Parris on scat vocals, Zaitz on guitar and Kavuma on trumpet, including an unaccompanied trumpet cadenza at the close.

A powerful rendition of the Charles Mingus composition “Opus 4” combined rousing horn lines with the rhythmic heft generated by bass and drums and featured concise solos from Edwards, Kavuma, Erskine and Zaitz followed by a Thomas drum feature.

Kavuma’s original “Songbird” was written as a feature for Edwards and following an atmospheric intro featured the plaintive but melodic sound of the tenor sax.

The performance concluded with an arrangement of the Bud Powell tune “Una Noche con Francis” that featured rousing unison horn lines, Parris’  wordless vocals and pithy instrumental solos from Erskine, Kavuma, Edwards and Zaitz.

Banger Factory’s set was well received by the Cheltenham audience but overall was probably a bit too straight ahead and conventional and rooted in the classic Blue Note sound of the 1950s and 60s, albeit given something of a contemporary twist. It seemed to be rather a conservative set, less adventurous and varied than the London performance, but time restrictions probably represented a significant factor here. That’s not to take anything away from the quality of the playing, which was consistently excellent throughout, but possibly a little too polite at times.

It may just be a matter of personal taste but I didn’t care for Parris’ scat vocals at all. Admittedly they offered something different to the usual Banger Factory sound but they did nothing for me. As a pianist Parris comped and supported capably but delivered no actual piano solos. A quick bit of online research suggests that he may be better known as a singer. Personally I’d have preferred to have seen one of that outstanding roster of pianists in the Banger Factory ranks (Stoneman, James, Picard and Deschanel Gordon) on the gig and functioning solely as an instrumentalist. That’s just a personal view, but it was one that seemed to be shared by other audience members that I spoke to.

These misgivings aside I still consider myself to be very much a fan of Kavuma and The Banger Factory and the great work that they do on the London Jazz scene.

KOKOROKO, CHELTENHAM TOWN HALL

Sheila Maurice-Grey – trumpet, flugelhorn,  vocals, Anoushka Nanguy – trombone, vocals,  Tobi Adenaike – guitar, vocals, Yohan Kebede – keyboards, vocals, Duane Atherley – electric bass, vocals, Ayo Salawu – drums, vocals, Onome Edgeworth -  percussion, vocals

At the 2016 EFG London Jazz Festival I caught a fleeting glimpse of the then fledgling Kokoroko at the Iklectik Artslab venue in Waterloo, part of the then annual JazzNewBlood series dedicated to “nurturing youth jazz talent”.

In the case of Kokoroko JazzNewBlood has certainly fulfilled its remit and the band has enjoyed a rise to parallel that of Nubya Garcia (once Maurice-Grey’s bandmate in Nerija) and the Mercury Prize winning Ezra Collective. Eight and a half years later and from the tiny Iklectick they’re now selling out the cavernous Cheltenham Town Hall.

The band’s name means “be strong” in the Urhobo language and Kokoroko’s primary inspiration is the music of West Africa and of Afrobeat and Highlife pioneers Fela Kuti, Tony Allen and Ebo Taylor, to which these young Londoners have added the sounds of jazz, soul, funk and reggae to create a brand of music capable of appealing to a wide demographic, but without compromising their artistic integrity. Even in these internet days their rise has been very much a word of mouth success.

Appealing to the same kind of audience as Garcia and Ezra this was a standing only gig and note taking was difficult so not every song will be referenced. The boys in the band made their entrance first to perform an atmospheric introduction featuring the sounds of spacey keyboards allied to guitar, electric bass, drums and percussion. Maurice-Grey and Nanguy then made the grand entrance to audience applause and the band really hit it stride with the clarion call of the horns ringing out above an infectious loping groove. In addition to their undoubted talents as instrumentalists Maurice-Grey and Nanguy are also highly accomplished vocalists and the pair combined to sing on this opening number, a song called “Higher” from the group’s “Get The Message” EP, the “we go higher” refrain seeming to set the tone for the evening.

I didn’t catch the titles of the next two tunes, but they incorporated hard hitting grooves,  equally punchy horn lines and searing synth solos, together with further vocalising.  All of the band sing, but with Maurice-Grey and Nanguy as the focal points.

Both women are also excellent solo vocalists, but Nanguy’s powerful and emotive rendition of the soul ballad “Express Your Love” was marred by a feedback problem that it seemed to take the sound engineers an age to fix as Nanguy bravely battled on. That said, this incident aside the sound was actually pretty decent for a seven piece electric band in this enormous Victorian venue.

Maurice-Grey’s singing was featured was featured on the lovers rock song “Closer To Me”, which introduced reggae rhythms and got an already lively crowd skanking. She was then featured on flugelhorn, sharing the solos with Nanguy’s trombone on the more reflective “My Prayer”, another tune from the recent (November 2024) “Get The Message” EP.

The band increased the energy levels again on “Never Lost”, a calypso flavoured tune scheduled for the band’s forthcoming album “Tuff Times Never Last”, due for release in July 2025.

The new record will also feature the infectious Afro-Caribbean flavoured pop of “Sweetie”, a potential mainstream hit single.

The band encored with the catchy but socially aware “Something’s Going On”, which saw them encouraging a little audience participation, and the funky “I Still Want You”, which got the crowd singing even more. It was all great fun and this was a high energy,  celebratory, feel good show that was warmly appreciated by an enthusiastic crowd, one that was cross-generational, but which included many young people.

Maurice-Grey and Nanguy were the obvious focal points but the rest of the band were excellent too, a powerful and effective unit that infused the songs with energy and rhythm. Each musician impressed individually as well as collectively and powerhouse drummer Salawu was to turn up the following day as a member of Brown Penny, a band led by alto saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi, a founder member of Kokoroko.

After such a long break I was really happy to catch up with Kokoroko again and on the whole I enjoyed this show, although it did all get a little relentless at times and I can’t imagine myself listening to them too often at home. But nevertheless this was an excellent live music experience and the band’s success, built on a combination of first class musicianship and sheer hard work is richly deserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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