Photograph of Ashley John Long by Pam Mann

SUNDAY AT BRECON JAZZ FESTIVAL, 10/08/2025

JULIAN MARTIN TRIO with BEN THOMAS, THE MUSE

Julian Martin – piano, Ross Thomas –electric bass, Ian Williams – drums
Ben Thomas – trumpet & flugelhorn

Despite the early start this lunchtime gig at The Muse attracted a good number of attentive and supportive listeners.

Both pianist Julian Martin and trumpeter Ben Thomas are popular figures on the South Wales jazz circuit and their Festival appearance followed a successful Brecon Jazz Club date at The Muse earlier in the year, a performance that is reviewed here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/julian-martin-trio-and-guests-ben-thomas-and-leslie-maynerd-brecon-jazz-club-the-muse-arts-centre-brecon-08-04-2025

Martin is a busy presence on the Cardiff jazz scene and runs regular jam sessions at the city’s Ardour Academy. His trio with drummer Ian Williams and bass guitarist Ross Thomas released their debut album “Dacw Nghariad” in 2024, the title track a Martin arrangement of a traditional Welsh folk tune. However the bulk of the album puts the focus on Martin’s own writing and ten of twelve tracks are original compositions. Embracing a variety of jazz styles it’s an impressive debut.

The Martin Trio regularly works with guest musicians and struck up an instinctive rapport with Ben Thomas who has effectively joined the group full time, making it a quartet. However as the core trio has already recorded an album and also functions as a self contained unit Martin is keen for it to retain in its own identity. Nevertheless Ben Thomas remained on stage for the whole of today’s performance and has become fully integrated into the group sound. Make no mistake this was very much a ‘band’ performance with Ben Thomas also contributing his own compositions to the group’s repertoire.

Today’s performance commenced with Martin’s original composition “Sometimes A Cigar Is Just A Cigar”, a tune from the trio’s debut album. Introduced by Ross Thomas on electric bass the piece featured a strutting funk groove which provided the launch pad for the fluent, and sometimes impassioned, soloing of Martin on piano and Ben Thomas on trumpet. Ross Thomas, no relation to Ben, was also featured as a soloist.

Ben’s original “Kindness of Strangers” offered a change of mood and pace and was a lyrical ballad with a gently brooding melodic theme. This prompted a lyrical solo from Martin on The Muse’s acoustic upright piano, with the composer following on trumpet. Ross Thomas featured on languid and liquid electric bass, while Williams impressed with his delicate and sympathetic brush work.

The first cover in a set from a band renowned for their intelligent adaptations of non jazz material (pop and rock songs, film and TV themes etc.) was an arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”, which featured the richly melodic soloing of Ben Thomas on trumpet, Martin on piano and Ross Thomas on electric bass.

Next Martin introduced his composition “Starlings”, which he informed us was a ‘contrafact’, a new melody written over the chord changes of a well known existing tune. He didn’t tell us what that was but from the title I guessed that it might be “Skylark” or maybe even “Bye Bye Blackbird”. Perhaps somebody can enlighten me. In any case it was an attractive piece of music that incorporated solos for piano, trumpet and electric bass.

“Fire Walk With Me” was a Ben Thomas arrangement from the David Lynch movie of the same name, the film representing part of the Twin Peaks series. Lynch had instructed composer Angelo Badalamenti to come up with a theme that was “beautiful, but dark and a little bit scary”. These qualities were apparent in a suitably atmospheric group intro and a gently brooding theme statement and subsequent trumpet solo from Ben Thomas. The audience seemed uncertain as to whether they should applaud, not wishing to break the mood, but did so enthusiastically when given the nod to do so by Martin. The pianist was also featured as a soloist, as was Ross Thomas, before the quartet gradually ramped up the tension towards the close.

“Actually I Do” was a second Martin contrafact, this time based on the jazz standard “You Don’t Know What Love Is”. This saw Ben Thomas switching to flugel for a Latin-esque arrangement that featured the sounds of Williams’ hand drumming and finger snaps. Ross Thomas took the first solo, followed first by Ben and then by Julian Martin. A more powerful closing section saw Williams’ drums becoming more prominent behind the flugel led melody.

For an unusual arrangement of George Shearing’s “Lullaby of Birdland” the ever inventive Martin changed the chords rather than the melody, giving the piece a very different feel and introducing an almost free jazz element at times. Martin took the first solo, followed by Ben Thomas on trumpet with a powerful and idiosyncratic solo that evolved into a dialogue involving drums and bass, with Ross Thomas eventually taking over with his own feature.

An excellent set closed with Ben’s original “No For An Answer”, a piece that combined bebop elements with contemporary drum grooves, the distinctive staccato theme providing the jumping off point for solos from piano, trumpet and electric bass.

This had been a very different set to the one that the quartet had played in April but like before it was very well received by the audience and the band remained on stage for a very well deserved encore. Martin informed us that this was an arrangement of “my youngest daughter’s favourite tune”. I didn’t recognise it, but Ben later told me that it was the theme from Monsters Inc.. With solos from trumpet and piano this was a playful and uplifting way to end what had been an excellent gig.

In the four months since the last gig Ben Thomas has become an even more indispensable member of the band and in all the years that I’ve been aware of him as a musician I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play better. Martin is a hugely talented and versatile musician and a highly capable composer and arranger. Ross Thomas and Williams provided intelligent and flexible support and each shone during their individual features.

An excellent start to the final day of the Festival.

SOWETO KINCH TRIO, MARKET HALL

Soweto Kinch – tenor & alto saxophones, vocals, EWI, electronics, Josh Vadiveloo – acoustic & electric bass, Louis Hamilton-Foad – drums

Saxophonist, MC, Composer, educator and broadcaster Soweto Kinch is one of the leading figures of British jazz. His music mixes genres and always exhibits a strong sense of political engagement that has found expression via such conceptual works as “Tales of the Tower Block”, “The New Emancipation”, “The Legend of Mike Smith” “White Juju” and “The Black Peril”.

He’s a musician I’ve been fortunate enough to see performing live on a number of occasions, including an excellent performance at the 2012 Brecon Jazz Festival.

Today’s event featured Kinch leading a trio featuring two young musicians based in his home city of Birmingham. Bassist Josh Vadiveloo had appeared the previous day at Bishop’s Garden as part of pianist Ben Shankland’s trio. He has also worked with saxophonist Xhosa Cole.

Drummer Louis Hamilton-Foad  is the son of guitarist Paul Foad and the grandson of the late, great Andy Hamilton (1918-2012), the Jamaican born saxophonist who became a Birmingham jazz institution before achieving wider national recognition comparatively late in life with the release of the albums “Silvershine” (1991) and “Jamaica By Night” (1994).

Hamilton-Foad also leads his own Impossible Conversations quintet, a dynamic young group that gave a brilliant performance at a Music Spoken Here event at The Marr’s Bar in Worcester in February 2025. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/impossible-conversations-music-spoken-here-the-marrs-bar-worcester-13-02-2025

Today’s show presented music from Kinch’s yet to be released album “Soundtrack To The Apocalypse”, the final part of a trilogy that also includes “White Juju” and “The Black Peril”. Kinch was keen to stress that the word “apocalypse” also means “unveiling”, the album title thus having a double meaning.

The new work has previously been performed by a larger ensemble with the core trio augmented by vocalist Francis Mott, trumpeter Jay Phelps, trombonist Nathaniel Cross, tuba player Hannah Mbuya and keyboard player Rick Simpson.

Today’s trio performance commenced with “Reset”, which began with an unaccompanied tenor sax intro with Kinch treating the sound of his instrument electronically. Historically I’ve always regarded him as primarily being an alto player, but it was the tenor that was to dominate today’s performance. Double bass and drums were eventually added with Vadiveloo also featuring as a soloist.

The ballad “Morning Rise” presented a slightly softer side of the trio with solos again coming from Kinch on tenor and Vadiveloo on bass.

More ‘apocalyptic’ in the commonly accepted meaning of the word was “When It All Falls” with its funeral march rhythms, tenor sax and bass solos and Kinch’s rapping about fake news and the distortion of truth in the age of social media.

There was a break from the album repertoire with a cover of the Thelonious Monk tune “Boo Boo’s Birthday”, written for Monk’s then young daughter Barbara.  Featuring solos for tenor sax and bass this performance was also notable for Hamilton-Foad’s deft brush work.

An extended double bass intro, subsequently augmented by mallet rumbles, introduced “Lies”, a short poem narrated by Kinch, the sound of his voice electronically manipulated as he prayed for the restoration of social justice.

Vadiveloo moved to five string electric bass and Kinch took up the EWI (electronic wind instrument) for “The End Of The World”, a piece introduced by the EWI that also incorporated pre-recorded electronics triggered by Kinch, the sampled beats meshing with Hamilton-Foad’s live drums as Kinch soloed on both EWI and Tenor sax.

Rather more conventional was trio’s beautiful reading of the Billy Strayhorn ballad “Passion Flower”, a composition originally written to feature the alto of Ellington saxophonist Johnny Hodges. This featured Kinch on alto, his sound plaintive and keening as he shared the solos with Vadiveloo’s melodic double bass. Hamilton-Foad again impressed with a sensitive brushed drum performance.

The title of “Metronomes” addressed the subject of history repeating itself and was another piece to feature pre-recorded elements, these forming the backdrop to Kinch’s rapping. The leader was also featured on alto sax, alongside Vadiveloo’s double bass.

Following the heavily political content of the music of the new work Kinch offered the audience a little light relief with a freestyle rap written on the fly and based around words suggested by members of the audience. The audience were delighted to be involved and really got behind Kinch and the resultant witty and inventive wordplay. This section also included an instrumental solo from Kinch on EWI.

The set concluded with the heavy duty grooves of “Corsica”, featuring Vadiveloo on electric bass and Kinch on tenor sax and electronics. A great way to end an engaging set that had become increasingly assured as it progressed and which had mixed jazz with hip hop and electronics and polemic with humour and wit.

A skilled broadcaster, Kinch is the presenter of BBC Radio 3’s flagship jazz programme ‘Round Midnight”.  He is an excellent communicator, more than able to get his political message across while entertaining the audience at the same time.

As an activist he’s got a lot more to say than Courtney Pine and at no point did I feel he was playing down to the audience. Soweto Kinch has much to say and he says it eloquently, both musically and verbally.

EMILY MASSER and ALEX CLARKE QUINTET, THE GUILDHALL

Emily Masser – vocals, Alex Clarke – alto saxophone, Matyas Gayer, James Owston – double bass, Steve Brown – drums

The Guildhall’s first gig of the day featured a quintet co-led by vocalist Emily Masser and saxophonist Alex Clarke.

Twenty one year old Masser has already attracted a compelling amount of critical acclaim and made her recording debut on the album “Introducing Emily Masser”, credited to the Clerk Tracey Quintet. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/clark-tracey-quintet-introducing-emily-masser

She has since released her own album “Songs With My Father”, recorded with her dad, saxophonist Dean Masser, and today’s rhythm section of pianist Matyas Gayer, bassist James Owston and the UK’s leading mainstream drummer Steve Brown.

Drummer and bandleader Tracey represents an important link between Masser and Clarke. Together with pianist Dave Newton and bassist Dave Green he’s part of the all star rhythm team that appears on Clarke’s debut album from 2022 “Only A Year”. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/alex-clarke-quartet-only-a-year

Clarke has become something of a Brecon Jazz favourite since making her Festival debut in 2022. She recently appeared at The Muse at a successful Brecon Jazz Club event fronting a Welsh rhythm section convened by bassist Aidan Thorne.

Although both young Clarke and Masser are resolutely mainstream in their jazz tastes and this was reflected in this afternoon’s performance, which featured jazz and bebop standards variously chosen by Masser and Clarke, who also shared the announcing duties.

Clarke plays both alto and tenor saxophones but today specialised exclusively on alto.

Today’s performance commenced with “Old Devil Moon”, the opening track from Masser’s “Songs With My Father” album. She’s a singer with a relaxed vocal style and a real talent for jazz phrasing and following her singing of the verses fluent instrumental solos came from Clarke on alto and the Hungarian born, UK based Gayer at the keyboard. Owston’s double bass solo was accompanied by the patter of Brown’s hand drumming before Masser returned to deliver a scat vocal episode.

In addition to Masser’s vocals the Brooks Bowman song “East Of The Sun and West Of The Moon” featured an exceptional alto sax solo from Clarke, this followed by Gayer on keyboard. This was on an acoustic piano setting throughout, so for the rest of this review I’ll refer to it as a piano. This piece was also notable for a series of exchanges between Brown and the other instrumentalists.

One of Clarke’s main alto sax inspirations is the late, great Phil Woods (1931-2015). Today’s rendition of the Harold Arlen song “A Sleepin’ Bee” was inspired by Woods’ version on his “Live From The Show Boat” album from 1976. With Masser’s singing of the lyrics today’s version was substantially different to Woods’ all instrumental version. It’s a song that Masser tackles herself alongside the Tracey quintet on the “Introducing Emily Masser” album.
Unfortunately the quiet introductory passage featuring just voice and piano was interrupted by street noise from the Sarah Siddons pub just over the road, but this is a bit of an occupational hazard at Brecon and the band just laughed it off. Elsewhere we heard solos from Gayer at the piano, Clarke on alto, at one point with bass accompaniment only, and from bassist Owston himself.

“Double Rainbow”, another song from Masser’s album featured Masser singing the English language lyrics of the Antonio Carlos Jobim composition. Owston again featured as an instrumental soloist, followed by Clarke.

Originally from Wigan Masser is a refreshingly down to earth character with a self deprecating sense of humour and her version of the Gershwin song “The Man I Love”, which also appears on the “Introducing” album, incorporated a self penned, self mocking vocalese section. A speeded up arrangement of the song also included instrumental solos from Clarke, Owston and Gayer plus a series of sax and drum exchanges between Clarke and Brown.

Clarke has a new album in the pipeline which will be titled “Out Of The Woods”, with Phil the primary source of inspiration. The quintet’s version of “Cheek to Cheek” was another Woods inspired arrangement, introduced by a voice and piano duet and later featuring a dazzling sax and vocal passage that featured the dizzying unison melody lines of the co-leaders. Further instrumental solos were to come from Gayer, Owston, again accompanied by Brown’s hand drumming, and Clarke.

The ballad “My One and Only Love” battled with a version of the Stereophonics’ “Dakota” from across the way that threatened to drown out Masser’s vocals, Clarke’s alto solo and Brown’s delicate brush work.

Effectively the encore “Hackensack”,  a Thelonious Monk tune from the “Songs With My Father” album, upped the energy levels and saw off the ‘Phonics as Masser’s scat vocals dovetailed with Clarke’s alto, the co-leaders both soloing individually as well working in tandem. Gayer was also featured as an individual soloist before Masser and Clarke engaged in a series of exchanges with the excellent Brown.

This was an enjoyable set that featured some excellent singing and playing and both Masser and Clarke are emerging jazz talents who are both highly popular with audiences and their stars can only continue to rise. They were well supported by a stellar rhythm section, with the versatile Owston delivering a particularly impressive performance.

As good as it was it was all a little bit too safe and predictable for my tastes although the majority of the audience seemed to love it. I’m probably in a minority but I preferred seeing Clarke challenging herself a little more at that earlier Brecon Jazz Club performance alongside Thorne and drummer Matt Holmes as she adapted to the demands of a chordless trio.

 

DREAMSCAPES, BISHOP’S GARDEN

Julien Durand – guitar,  Lucy-Anne Daniels –  vocals, George Garford – alto sax,  Cenk Esen –, keyboards,  John Jones – double bass, Jack Robson – drums

At the 2024 Cheltenham Jazz Festival I enjoyed a performance by the band Dreamscapes, led by guitarist and composer Julian Durand, at the Parabola Arts Centre.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/sunday-at-cheltenham-jazz-festival-05-05-2024

The group describe their music as “post-fusion, nu-jazz” and their sound incorporates the singing of rising star vocalist Lucy-Anne Daniels as well as embracing a range of electronic effects.

The band have already released a three track EP and are due to release their debut album in early 2026.

Following their successful Cheltenham performance I had hoped to see Dreamscapes again at their shows in Kidderminster and Worcester but was forced to miss both of these due to clashes with other events. I was therefore delighted to see that the band had been booked to play BJF, giving me the opportunity to catch up with their progress.

Most of the group’s material is written by Durand, a graduate of the Jazz Course at Birmingham Conservatoire but now, like the rest of the band, based in London.

Nevertheless today’s set commenced with a lengthy and imaginative arrangement of The Led Zeppelin song “No Quarter”, a track from the “Houses of the Holy” album. An atmospheric sax led intro was followed by a well enunciated vocal passage from the versatile Daniels and progressed via instrumental solos from Garford on alto sax and Esen on keyboards, deploying a mix of electric piano and synth sounds. The music managed to be simultaneously ethereal and hard edged, with Durand’s metal-esque guitar towards the close a reminder of the song’s origins.

Next we heard a similarly inventive arrangement of the traditional folk tune “Back Is The Colour Of My True Love’s Hair”, the very contemporary treatment introducing elements of both r & b and electronica, with Durand’s guitar solo featuring his artful use of a range of effects.

The remaining fur pieces ere group originals, beginning with “Maddie”, introduced by a combination of keys and drums but with wordless voice and alto sax later doubling on the unison melody lines.

The yet to be named “Untitled” was a feature for Durand’s guitar soundscapes while “Wanderer” combined an ambient introduction with a song that resembled a cross between a jazz standard and a soul ballad, with Daniels’ impressive vocal performance augmented by Garford’s alto sax solo.

Finally we heard “Sisyphus”, a Durand composition inspired by the writing of Albert Camus. This featured an extended keyboard introduction with Esen again blending electric piano and synth sounds. Robson began to add a drum commentary with Garford eventually taking over to solo on alto sax.
Daniels’ soaring wordless vocals suggested a Norma Winstone influence, but this became less obvious when Daniels began to manipulate the sound of her voice via a floor mounted effects unit.

This was an enjoyable and very impressive performance from Dreamscapes in an outdoor setting that was perhaps not best suited to their music. Nevertheless they were very well received by the crowd who bought into their blend of jazz, rock, ambient and electronica. The forthcoming album will be very keenly anticipated.

My thanks to Lucy-Anne Daniels for speaking with me after the show and for providing full set list and personnel details.

 

ASHLEY JOHN LONG’S RARE EARTH PROJECT, THE GUILDHALL

Ashley John Long – double bass, Moss Freed – guitar, James Mainwaring – soprano & tenor saxophones, Liz Exell – drums

Virtuoso bassist Ashley John Long is a much loved presence on the Welsh and wider UK jazz scene, a versatile musician capable of playing across a range of jazz styles from straight-ahead through fusion to the avant garde. A virtuoso soloist on both double and six string electric bass he has featured on The Jazzmann web pages on countless occasions in a variety of different line ups and contexts.

Also a highly accomplished classical double bassist and composer the busy Long has a parallel orchestral career. He’s very much the ultimate musical ‘Renaissance Man.

Long has led bands at BJF before, including one memorable performance that saw him doubling on his ‘second instrument’ the vibraphone, on which he is also very proficient. Meanwhile the Friday of this year’s Festival had seen him playing electric bass with jazz harpist Ben Crieighton-Griffiths’ Chube trio.

For this Guildhall performance Long had been invited to assemble a group of his own choosing to present a programme of new music. Although originally billed as a quintet the line up turned out to be a stellar four piece featuring the talents of drummer Liz Exell, guitarist Moss Freed and saxophonist James Mainwaring. A musician with a national reputation Long moves in exalted musical circles.

Long has worked regularly with Exell, who is now based in South Wales. However I wasn’t expecting his group to feature such luminaries as Freed and Mainwaring, both bandleaders in their own right. It represented a real coup to get these two into the band. Freed has previously led his own group Moss Project and has recorded as a solo artist. Mainwaring was a member of the Mercury nominated Roller Trio, led the quartet Tipping Point and recorded as a solo artist. Currently he is a member of the trio The Exu with bassist Dave Kane and drummer Emil Karlsen.

Long has named the new quartet the Rare Earth Project and the music takes inspiration from Long’s environmental concerns and particularly the demand for rare earth minerals occasioned by the rise of digital technology.

Opener “Slow Fire” commenced in atmospheric fashion with the sound of Long’s bowed bass, Freed’s ethereal guitar FX, Mainwaring’s breathy tenor sax and Exell’s skittering drums. Freed’s guitar motif steered the music into a more upbeat section that saw Mainwaring to soprano saxophone as he shared the solos with Freed. Long’s bass solo evolved into a dialogue with Freed while Exell provided an ongoing drum commentary. This section, and also the intro, felt to be largely improvised and it seemed to me that the music struck a particularly fine balance between composition and spontaneity.

Long explained that he knew his bandmates individually, knowing Freed through trumpeter Charlotte Keeffe and Mainwaring through pianist John Law, but that this particular quartet had never previously performed together. “I’m the common factor here”, he explained.

The next piece, “Going Away”, was ushered in by an extended passage of unaccompanied guitar from Freed, eventually joined by Mainwaring on soprano sax. Long’s compositions proved to be both melodic and challenging, and particularly so for the players. Fortunately Freed, Mainwaring and Exell were more than capable of rising to the challenges the leader threw at them. Following Freed’s intro the featured soloists here were Mainwaring on soprano sax and Long on double bass.

An extended solo double bass introduction ushered in “Folk Song”, which featured one of Long’s most attractive melodies. Freed’s guitar solo was reminiscent of Bill Frisell while Mainwaring continued on soprano saxophone. Long took over the melody on double bass on a piece that was well served by the Guildhall’s excellent acoustics. Mercifully the hubbub across the road at the Sarah Siddons had died down by now!

“Fall Apart”, which boasted a title that sounded as if it should have been part of Soweto Kinch’s set, featured a free jazz style intro that included Mainwaring’s tenor sax pecking,  multiphonics and other extended techniques. Meanwhile Long’s grainy arco bass sounded suitably apocalyptic and it has to be said the music presented by both him and Kinch addressed both political and environmental concerns. Eventually Long put down the bow as he and Exell created a fast moving rhythmic groove that provided the platform for Mainwaring’s tenor sax shredding and Freed’s rock influenced, distortion heavy guitar solo. Eventually guitar and tenor linked up to deliver some ferocious unison lines underpinned by Exell’s thunderous drumming. Aptly titled this piece was genuinely apocalyptic in its power.

Although inspired by what Long described as “an anxiety dream” his composition “Sub Rosa” featured one of his most gorgeous melodies. Introduced by a passage of unaccompanied guitar this was a ballad that featured Mainwaring’s tenor sax melodies, the soft patter of Exell’s hand drumming, and later her delicate brushwork. Long and Freed added melodic solos on bass and guitar respectively.

A superb set concluded with “Summer’s End”, a complex piece in which Long decided to “include as many chords as possible”, something that Freed probably didn’t thank him for! Freed was put in the spotlight straight away with an unaccompanied guitar intro, later joined by bass and drums. He then took the first solo before handing over to Mainwaring on tenor sax.  A further unaccompanied guitar passage then presaged the closing sax led theme statement.

This wasn’t the best attended event of the Festival but for me it was the standout performance of the weekend. It was certainly the most ‘cutting edge’ thing that we saw, intelligent contemporary music that was both well written and superbly played by an exceptional group of musicians.

Simultaneously accessible and challenging this was contemporary jazz at its best and I would love it if this becomes more than just a one off project and that Long and his colleagues can commit this music to disc. I, for one, would relish the opportunity of hearing it all again.

 

JAZZ SABBATH, MARKET HALL

Adam Wakeman – piano, Joe Lee – double bass, Arthur Newell – drums

One of the Festival’s flagship gigs was this performance by the trio Jazz Sabbath, led by pianist, composer and arranger Adam Wakeman. Yes, Wakeman is the son of former Yes and Strawbs keyboard player Rick Wakeman and is a brilliant musician in his own right.

Wakeman has played both keyboards and rhythm guitar for both Black Sabbath and for Ozzy Osbourne’s own band. Given that father Rick guested on Sabbath’s 1973 album “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” there’s a nice symmetry there.

Others with whom Adam Wakeman has worked as a session musician include  Tony Hadley, Annie Lennox, Travis, the Company of Snakes, Strawbs, Will Young, Victoria Beckham, Atomic Kitten, Martin Barre, Uriah Heep and Deep Purple.  He has also worked with his father and has recorded five solo albums, the latest being the excellent “A Handful of Memories” (2021), a solo piano recording.

The Jazz Sabbath project features Wakeman’s ingenious arrangements of Black Sabbath songs for a jazz piano trio. Apparently the idea came from Wakeman fooling around on hotel lobby pianos when Black Sabbath were away on tour, playing Sabs songs in an exaggeratedly jazz style.

The release of the trio’s first album “Jazz Sabbath” in 2020 came with the ludicrous, but amusing, spoof back story of how Black Sabbath stole the compositions of sixties jazz pianist Milton Keanes (a pseudonym for Wakeman), re-invented them as heavy metal and took them all the way to the bank. It may be all a bit Spinal Tap but it’s a story that the trio have stuck with through the release “Jazz Sabbath Vol. 2” (2022) and “The 1968 Tapes” (2024), supposedly recorded a full twelve months before the formation of Black Sabbath in 1969.

Wakeman still appears on stage in his Milton Keanes persona, sporting a grey wig and a cane. The Keanes character is meant to be eighty four years of age, the real Wakeman is fifty one.  Tonight’s show was presaged by a short film outlining the Jazz Sabbath back story, and I have to admit it was pretty funny, at least the first time around.

To be honest I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to make of this show. The whole concept seems a little arch and the back story, as amusing as it is, something of a distraction. But then I told myself this is what jazz has always done, taken popular music, be it Broadway show tunes or heavy metal, and re-invented it, and this is just what Wakeman and his colleagues did here. In the end I was won over by the sheer inventiveness of Wakeman’s arrangements and the sheer brilliance of the playing, and particularly that of Wakeman himself.

As ‘Geezer’ and ‘Bill’ bassist Joe Lee and drummer Arthur Newell, two young musicians, were suited and booted, this perhaps a send up of jazz’s own cliches. Clad in something rather more sparkly and flourishing that wig and cane Wakeman was Milton Keanes,  the glittering Master of Ceremonies.

As the introductory video began to draw to a close the musicians made their way on stage and as the image of a darkening sky and a clap of thunder heralded the end of the film we were straight into the song “Black Sabbath”, which was instantly recognisable, maintaining something of the song structure of the Black Sabbath recording but also incorporating a swinging jazz section and an a dazzling Wakeman piano solo.

Wakeman spent twenty two years working with Ozzy Osbourne and dedicated tonight’s show to the memory of his friend and former employer. The recent loss of Osbourne must have added a degree of poignancy to tonight’s show for many listeners, including myself. I grew up with Black Sabbath before later veering towards jazz so this project is a bit like ‘squaring the circle’ as far as I’m concerned. Osbourne himself expressed his approval of Wakeman’s project in his own inimitable style – “I’m fuckin’ lovin’ it!”.

All of Jazz Sabbath’s pieces come from the ‘classic’ first period of the group when Osbourne was still in the band and the six albums from “Black Sabbath” (1970)  to “Sabotage” (1976). A brushed drum intro welcomed in “The Wizard”, from Black Sabbath’s debut, with Joe Lee, formerly a member of the jazz acts Jam Experiment and Bonsai, featured as a soloist for the first time.

Wakeman has clearly inherited his father’s sense of humour and his on stage announcements in his Milton Keanes persona were frequently hilarious. According to Keanes a nasty bout of food poisoning involving a bacon sandwich inspired his composition “Raw Pigs”, which the “band from Birmingham” turned into – well, you know. It wasn’t the only piece to be introduced with an amusing ‘tall story’. Ever the showman Wakeman has his on stage banter down pat.
A dramatic solo piano introduction developed into a dialogue with Newell’s drums and an eventual rendition of the “War Pigs” theme. I was reminded of the fact that Bill Ward’s drumming on the Black Sabbath original was pretty jazzy – both Ward and Ian Paice of Deep Purple grew up listening to jazz big band drummers and something of that sense of swing informed the playing of both of them.

Some of Wakeman’s arrangements were so cleverly disguised that in some instances I didn’t even recognise the Black Sabbath original. Such a case was “Behind The Wall of Sleep”, one of the lesser known songs from Black Sabbath’s debut. This was given a swinging treatment that included further solos from Wakeman and Lee.

Jazz Sabbath were the only band at the Festival to play two sets. This gave them the opportunity to shift some merch at the interval. Rooted in the rock world they were far more commercially savvy than any of the regular jazz acts. Set one concluded with “Iron Man”, famously covered some twenty years previously by the American jazz group The Bad Plus, their version famously approved of by Geezer Butler himself, who turned up at one of their Birmingham gigs.
Wakeman’s interpretation is different again, less brutal than the Bad Plus version and more obviously rooted in jazz in terms of chord choices and sheer swingability. Wakeman had great fun with this, his piano solo throwing in jazzy quotes from other rock classics such as Deep Purple’s “Black Night2 and Van Halen’s “Jump”.

The second half commenced with another spoof film before the band took to the stage for a rollicking version of “Fairies Wear Boots” from Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” album. I always thought the metal original swung like crazy, Bill’s jazz background again, and this jazz arrangement did so even more, with Lee again featuring as a soloist.

“Hole In The Sky” from “Sabotage” was also transformed into a jazz swingfest with solos from Wakeman and Lee while “Paranoid” was extended from three minutes to nine and became a joyous New Orleans style march, including a dazzling ‘Nawlins’ style solo piano episode from Wakeman.

That New Orleans elements also resurfaced on the epic “Into The Void”, from Black Sabbath’s heaviest album “Master Of Reality”.

“Rat Salad”, a brief solo drum feature for Ward on the “Paranoid” album was re-invented as swinging piano trio piece with Wakeman’s ecstatically percussive piano going head to head with the dynamic drumming of the excellent Arthur Newell, the latter delivering a truly astonishing drum solo.

The trio took their leave, while promising that they’d be returning for more. This allowed the opportunity for the showing of a third video, a ‘mockumentary’ film featuring some of Wakeman’s celebrity friends, including Tony Hadley, as the lead vocalist Jazz Sabbath never had.

Then it was welcome back for “Children Of The Grave” from “Master Of Reality”, described by Osbourne as “the most kick-ass song we ever recorded.”  Following a suitably creepy start that seemed to put the coda at the beginning Jazz Sabbath’s version exhibited similar qualities, but in a more obviously jazz way. For make no mistake despite the daft spoof back story and the rock trappings Jazz Sabbath’s music is genuine jazz that really swings and you don’t have to have any knowledge of Black Sabbath’s music to enjoy it.

It’s a sound that’s built a cult following of its own and although the Black Sabbath name helps to sell tickets it’s a project that wouldn’t have lasted five years and three albums if it wasn’t any good. Indeed it might even be best to come to a Jazz Sabbath gig without any Black Sabbath ‘baggage’, much as my wife did and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

Three Black Sabbath fans of my acquaintance also attended – one loved it, one hated it and one was about fifty -fifty. I was initially sceptical but was won over by the brilliant musicianship and the fact that it really was proper jazz. And at times it was genuinely funny too.

The three albums feature additional musicians, who all work under daft pseudonyms, so the Jazz Sabbath myth look set to run and run.

After the show I was lucky enough to talk with Adam Wakeman, a genuinely nice and down to earth guy and a brilliant musician. I’d certainly be happy to see Jazz Sabbath again, the music would be just as fresh second time round, but the comedy probably less so.

 

FESTIVAL OVERVIEW

The 2025 Brecon Jazz Festival appeared to be success and presented some excellent music over the course of its three days. There was certainly a real buzz around town, this helped by the excellent weather, a real bonus for the Festival organisers in their first year.

The Market Hall events were all well attended, which vindicated the decision to return to the venue. Most of the bands achieved a reasonable sound mix but the acoustics of the venue remain a challenge and the sound was better in the smaller venues such as The Guildhall, The Muse and Christ College. However events at The Guildhall and Christ College were not all so well attended.

I’m sure the Market Hall is here to stay but it would be nice if Christ College with its beautiful grand piano could be utilised more in the future. After all it’s a venue that has hosted plenty of legendary gigs of its own in the past (Julian Arguelles, John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, Bheki Mseleku, Sons of Kemet and others). The same applies to Theatr Brycheiniog, which was not used at all after Jacqui Dankworth was forced to cancel.

It was also good to welcome back the wonderfully chilled out venue that is Bishop’s Garden, which proved to be a great showcase for some of the UK’s emerging jazz talent.

Musically the programme was admirably varied with many strands of jazz represented, a good mix of established names, rising stars and indigenous Welsh jazz talent.

There were the inevitable teething troubles that were always likely to affect the first edition of a revamped Festival but the plusses far outweighed the minuses and Chris Jones and the Festival Team, all volunteers, are to be congratulated on a very successful event. Let’s hope that it broke even financially and that we can all return for an even bigger and better Festival next year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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