Photograph of Sultan Stevenson by Tim Dickeson

FRIDAY AT CHELTENHAM JAZZ FESTIVAL. 03/05/2024.

My first visit to the 2024 Cheltenham Jazz Festival found me at the Parabola Arts Centre for two very different performances from ensembles led by pianist / composers.

The early evening show at 6.30pm featured rising star Sultan Stevenson and his trio. This was followed at 9.00 pm by a collaboration between the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) and Nikki Yeoh.

The Parabola Arts Centre (hereafter PAC) has established itself as the home of the more ‘cutting edge’ jazz events at Cheltenham Jazz Festival and has been curated for many years by Tony Dudley-Evans.  Tony’s adventurous approach to programming has resulted in many brilliant, and sometimes spectacular, performances over the years and when he decided to take something of a step back from the role after the 2023 Festival some feared that the quality of the PAC programme might become diluted.

Fortunately these fears proved to be unfounded as Tony has continued to be involved, acting as a mentor and adviser to the new PAC programme co-ordinator Alexandria Carr. The 2024 programme delivered numerous outstanding performances with Carr making her mark on on the proceedings, but with Tony’s influence still very much present. The two shared announcing duties with Carr proving to be a cheerful and enthusiastic presenter, keen to welcome the audience members into her “Pac pack” and declaring “we put the jazz into Cheltenham Jazz Festival”.

The 2024 programme certainly got off to a great start with these two acts, who between them delivered an intelligent and hugely enjoyable evening of music making,

SULTAN STEVENSON TRIO

Sultan Stevenson is a young Londoner of Caribbean heritage who studied at the Julian Joseph Jazz Academy and with the Tomorrow’s Warriors organisation. His 2023 debut album “Faithful One” appeared on the Whirlwind record label and attracted the praise of critics and the jazz public alike. There’s something of a ‘buzz’ about Sultan Stevenson, something reflected in the near capacity crowd at the PAC and the general air of anticipation that surrounded this gig.

The title of “Faithful One” reflects Stevenson’s Christian faith and his music combines a sense of spirituality with sheer unbounded joyousness. The album was made with the rhythm team of bassist Jacob Gryn and drummer Joel Waters, two more hugely talented young musicians, The recording also features guest appearances from trumpeter Josh Short and tenor saxophonist Denys Baptiste, but it was the core trio that were with us tonight.

And what a trio it is, with an impressively tight rapport sharpened by the recording session and by regular gigging. It had been rumoured that Short and Baptiste might make guest appearances but in the end that didn’t happen. Initially I was a little disappointed, but in the end I was pleased, the core trio was so cohesive that the addition of other musicians might actually have affected their creative flow.

The trio opened with the album track “Guilty By Association”, with Stevenson playing the PAC’s magnificent Fazioli grand piano and really putting the instrument through its paces with his percussive McCoy Tyner inspired playing. The Tyner influence was obvious throughout but Stevenson has also cited Kenny Kirkland, Geri Allen, Thelonious Monk, Wynton Kelly, Herbie Hancock, Bheki Mseleku and Ahmad Jamal as sources of inspiration. This powerful opener also featured Gryn’s vigorous bass accompaniment and Waters’ whip smart drumming. It also embraced a range of dynamic contrasts with room found for a double bass solo and a passage of unaccompanied piano. This really is a ‘state of the art’ contemporary piano trio.

The next piece, which I think was titled “Free”, was introduced by a neatly constructed brushed drum feature from Waters. The addition of bass and piano led to a typically dazzling piano solo from the leader, fuelled by Waters’ crisp drumming and the booming of Gryn’s bass, a temporary issue with the sound that was quickly rectified. The relationship between Stevenson and Waters was particularly key to the trio’s music with the latter’s drum kit set up facing the piano, allowing the pair to exchange visual cues.

The third piece was unannounced but was introduced by an extended passage of unaccompanied double bass, with Gryn eventually picking out a bass motif that attracted the addition of glacial piano tinkling and the sound of brushed drums. Stevenson’s subsequent solo was initially thoughtful, intimate and lyrical, but then grew in intensity as he stretched out more expansively above a vigorous brushed drum groove, with Waters eventually switching to sticks. A ‘turn on a dime’ change of dynamics then led to a quieter passage, only for the trio to ratchet up the tension once more, resulting in a dynamic closing drum feature from Waters. I suspect that this may have been the album track “To Be Seen”, which opens with a bass solo and follows a similar narrative arc.

In addition to his music Stevenson is known for his colourful range of bucket hats, all made and decorated by himself and named for other famous pianists – the Monk, the Tyner etc. Alongside his work as a musician he runs his own hat making business and his unique range of headwear was on sale at the merch desk alongside vinyl copies of the album. These proved to be nearly as popular as the recording and over the course of the weekend I spotted numerous people, of all age groups, sporting Sultan Stevenson hats.

Stevenson likes to write hymns, an example of which is represented by the album track “He Has Made Me Whole”, introduced here by a passage of unaccompanied piano, subsequently joined by double bass and brushed drums. This had a gentle, suitably hymnal, gospel feel – with maybe just a hint of Township jazz thrown in. Alongside the leader’s own playing we also enjoyed a melodic double bass solo from Gryn.

The performance concluded with another album track, “Safe Passage”, introduced by Gryn at the bass and featuring Stevenson at his most Tyner like with a torrential high energy piano solo fuelled by Waters’ dynamic drumming. The impressive young drummer was then rewarded with a powerful solo of his own.

We may only have heard five tunes as this terrific young trio stretched out at length on the album material, but this was still a performance that lasted well over an hour so nobody was left feeling short changed. This was a vibrant, interactive, highly skilled young trio with a well established and very impressive group rapport. Stevenson also proved to be a highly engaging and often humorous interlocutor and this, in addition to his often bravura piano soloing helped to endear him to the crowd. But Stevenson was more than just a crowd pleaser, this was music that exhibited a fierce intelligence and a shrewd command of dynamics and which was brilliantly played by three superb young musicians. A great start to my Festival weekend.

NYJO with NIKKI YEOH – SPEECHMIK X-PLORATION

I remember seeing pianist, composer and educator Nikki Yeoh at the 2010 Cheltenham Jazz Festival performing a Festival Commission, a suite based around “The Seven Deadly Sins” played by her Infinitum Trio featuring Michael Mondesir on electric bass and Martin France at the drums, together with guest soloist John Surman (saxophones).

Today’s show featured an even older work. “Speechmik X-ploration” was first commissioned by Nod Knowles for the 1997 Bath Jazz Festival and this 21st century revival came about when NYJO approached Yeoh asking if they could be allowed to perform the work.

The piece is based on a poem by Yeoh that is spoken by five different people in five different languages, the timbres of their speech influencing the resultant musical compositions.

Influenced by the methods of the great Brazilian multi-instrumentalist and composer Hermeto Pascoal the piece is one of the most radical works that I’ve seen NYJO undertake, it’s certainly a long way removed from conventional big band swing.

Yeoh and NYJO have taken the production on a short UK tour, with the Festival performance representing the final date. The musical performances have been accompanied by the innovative visuals created by Bret Syfert in response to the music.

Introducing the performance Yeoh described “Speechmik” as being “music derived from speech” and also paid homage to the recently deceased American drummer and record producer Keith LeBlanc (1954 – 2024), once of the bands Little Axe and Tackhead. Thus the evening began with the eighteen piece NYJO ensemble performing “a minute of noise” in tribute to Keith. A cacophonous sixty second barrage of free jazz noise resulted as everybody on stage just let rip.

An interesting start, and things were to get even weirder as one by one the five talking heads appeared on the projection screen behind the band, speaking the poem as Yeoh at the piano followed the cadences of their speech, in five different languages, finishing with English.

To be honest I wasn’t quite sure what to make of all this, but things began to make more sense as the band, conducted by Mark Armstrong,  finally kicked in with the rhythm section laying down a solid groove, this providing the basis for an arresting soprano sax melody.

An interestingly configured line up featured a string quartet (two violins, viola, cello) in addition to the more usual jazz instruments, these including soprano sax plus, two altos, tenor and baritone. The other woodwinds were flute and clarinet / bass clarinet. There were two trombones plus bass trombone and two trumpeters. The rhythm section featured guitar, bass, drums and percussion. There were just too many names to pick up from the on stage announcements, but if anybody can supply me with the full line up I’d be very grateful.

However one name that I did recognise was that of Olivia Cuttill, a recent graduate of Leeds Conservatoire and the leader of her own groups, who is already making a name for herself on the national jazz scene. She was a featured soloist here, performing with an admirable fluency and exuberance.

This was a piece that featured a number of different sections or movements and the ensemble’s baritone saxophonist also impressed before the next sequence was introduced by the members of the string quartet. An electric bass motif then provided the underpinning for the cellist’s melodic inventions and then for the airy sounds of the flute, with delicate guitar chording now added to the equation.

The next section included a muted trombone solo plus a piano solo from Yeoh herself, her playing thoughtful and lyrical.

A more robust sequence featured a reggae / dub style groove with the sounds of the low register instruments, including bass clarinet particularly prominent. A lively horn chorale then led to a joyous and exuberant Township jazz style section featuring the sounds of swooping piccolo.

A rousing closing section featured a solo from the ensemble’s other trumpeter, plus cameos from both altos and both tenors. Also featured was the bass clarinettist, now doubling on soprano sax.

Syfert’s visuals had been lively, bright and colourful, often using the ‘talking heads’ as a basis or focus. Here they were depicted laughing as they swirled about in space, providing the visual commentary to a rasping baritone solo as the next movement built towards a rising climax.

This felt like the end as band members began to leave the stage, but the focus abruptly focussed on the drummer, tapping out tentative snare tattoos before launching into a full on drum solo as the visuals began to fade. Just as unexpectedly both the band and the pictures then returned for a ‘last hurrah!’.

Once it got going this was a stimulating, immersive, and above all enjoyable audio and visual experience. Yeoh’s writing was bright, intelligent, varied and inventive, influenced by Pascoal but not obviously in thrall to him.

In the main Yeoh was happy to remain a part of the ensemble, only taking one solo and leaving this talented bunch of young musicians to deliver the rest. The quality of their playing, both as featured soloists and as members of the ensemble was excellent throughout as they tackled some pretty challenging and complex material. This really was an excellent contemporary big band performance.

Similarly Syfert’s visuals were bright, colourful and playful and were intelligently and skilfully realised. On occasions they distracted me from the music and particularly from note taking, so if my account of the performance seems a little sketchy and / or disjointed that’s the reason why.

Things were to get even more vague during the second half of the set and the performance of “Nucleus”, Yeoh’s dedication to her former mentor, the late, great trumpeter, composer, educator, author and broadcaster Ian Carr (1933-2009).

Yeoh spoke warmly of Carr’s influence upon her and described her piece as a homage to Carr that begins as a requiem before hitting a groove and evoking the spirit of his long running jazz / rock ensemble Nucleus. As an educator she spoke of Carr planting musical seeds and nurturing growing plants.

I remember Nucleus with affection, having seen one of the later editions of the band on a Contemporary Music Network tour sometime in the early 1980s. Prior to this they had been signed to the progressive rock label Vertigo, where they were label mates of Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Kraftwerk and Status Quo. In the 1970s Nucleus was very much regarded as a rock group.

I was even more distracted by Syfert’s visuals here as they riffed on both the Bridget Riley inspired ‘spiral’  label logo and Roger Dean’s later ‘spaceship’ design. I always thought Dean’s spaceships looked more like jellyfish, but I digress.

As if all this nostalgia wasn’t enough there were also variations on numerous Nucleus album covers, some of which I recognised and others that I didn’t. I never realised that they’d made quite so many. Ian Carr was incredibly prolific.

Somewhere along this trip down memory lane there was Yeoh’s music, which incorporated solos for trumpet and guitar, an instrument that featured regularly in Carr’s bands. In keeping with the overall ‘jazz rock’ theme Yeoh was featured on electric piano.

On the other tour dates, when two full length sets had been played, numerous Ian Carr compositions had been performed, in arrangements penned by various individual NYJO members. For tonight’s encore Yeoh and NYJO performed Tom Hardy’s arrangement of Carr’s “Bull Dance”, a highly rhythmic piece featuring solos for tenor sax, keyboards and trumpet, the last of these delivered by Olivia Cuttill.

This was an invaluable reminder about the importance of Carr’s contribution to British jazz and it was remarkable how contemporary his own writing still sounded. Yeoh’s piece represented a fitting tribute and was also a fine piece of writing. She’s very much following n his footsteps.

I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a NYJO performance so much. The current edition of the band features some outstanding new talents who are clearly flourishing in what is obviously now a less restrictive environment than previously, with no band uniforms in evidence and a greater willingness to tackle more challenging and contemporary strains of jazz.

 

 

blog comments powered by Disqus