Azhaar Saffar & Global Wave, The Muse Arts Centre, Brecon, 10/05/2025

Azhaar Saffar – violin, vocals, percussion, Daan Temmink – keyboards, Guillaume Ottaviani – electric bass, Paolo Adamo – drums, Felix Gibbons – percussion

North Wales born vocalist, violinist and songwriter Azhaar Saffar studied classical violin at the Royal Northern College of Music before a series of pub and restaurant gigs saw her abandoning the classical tradition and embracing a jazz and world music career.

Saffar has travelled widely, visiting and performing in the Middle East, West Africa, South America and Central America, absorbing the music of these regions and incorporating them in her own sound. She has a particular affinity for the music of Brazil and Latin America and for many years fronted the ‘Brazilian fusion’ band Sirius B which released a total of six albums and was a popular live attraction, notably on the Stroller programme at the old Brecon Jazz Festival.

Prior to this she was also part of the Brighton based acid jazz group Wildflower, releasing the album “Looking for a Miracle” and touring widely in Europe.

Her other current project is The Desafinados, a band dedicated to playing the bossa nova and samba music of Brazil.

In 2008 Saffar released “Out There”, a slightly more conventional jazz album, on the 33Jazz record label, the line up including former Sirius B collaborator Joe Cavanagh plus big name guests Iain Ballamy and Mike Mower (saxophones) and Jason Rebello (piano).

After several years of living and working in Central America Saffar returned to the UK in 2017 and formed the band Global Wave, releasing the album” Original Love” the following year. It was in 2017 that I witnessed a performance by Global Wave at Black Mountain Jazz in Abergavenny. This show, part of a double bill with a duo led by vocalist Debs Hancock, is reviewed here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/debs-hancock-duo-azhaar-saffar-global-wave-black-mountain-jazz-abergavenny-

In 2018 I reviewed the Global Wave album, which featured a core group of Bristol based musicians comprised of  Tom Berge (keyboards), Paolo Adamo (drums) and Ivan Moreno (percussion). Bass duties are shared between Guillaume Ottaviani, Jacob Myles Tyghe and Tosh Wijetunge. The album also features contributions from a number of illustrious guests, namely flautist Gareth Lockrane, guitarists Mac Seka and Tristram Cox and percussionists Snowboy and Andy Fuller. Having enjoyed the live show in Abergavenny I was also suitably impressed by the recording, which had been financed by a successful crowd funding campaign. My review of “Original Love” can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/azhaar-saffar-and-global-wave-original-love

Formerly based in Bath Saffar is now resident in the ‘musicians’ colony’ that is Frome, Somerset. The current edition of Global Wave includes both Ottaviani and Adamo plus percussionist Felix Gibbons and new keyboard player Daan Temmink, Frome based but originally from The Netherlands. Temmink is a highly talented musician and despite tonight being his first ever public performance with the band he fitted in superbly, particularly in a roles that required him to do a lot of the musical ‘heavy lifting’.  Saffar later spoke appreciatively of Temmink’s musicianship and creativity and the pair look set to become close musical collaborators.

Tonight’s performance was presented by The Muse, with the support of Brecon Jazz Club, and I’m grateful to Ruth Gibbs of The Muse for inviting me along to cover the event.

“Original Love” remains Saffar’s latest full length album release but in March 2023 she also issued the digital only EP “Song of the Quetzal”, a four song collection of tunes written her visit to Costa Rica in 2020. The line up on this recording includes Ottaviani, Adamo and Gibbons, plus Dale Hambridge on keyboards.

Tonight’s performance included songs from both the “Original Love” and “Song of the Qeetzal” releases, plus a smattering of other material.

First we heard “Gaia”, from the “Original Love” recording, a tune featuring Saffar’s jazzy vocalising alongside Brazilian and Latin rhythms. The leader also doubled on violin and the featured instrumental soloist was the impressive Temmink, who adopted an acoustic piano sound at his Kawai electric keyboard.

From the same recording the salsa flavoured “Too Much” combined socially aware lyrics warning against the danger of too many possessions with infectious cha cha cha rhythms. Temmink switched to an electric piano sound while the featured instrumental soloists were Saffar on violin and percussionist Felix Gibbons.

“Primavera” (meaning “Spring”) featured gentle baia rhythms and Saffar’s singing of the English language lyric. She was also featured as an instrumental soloist, together with Temmink who continued to favour an electric piano sound.

From the “Song of the Quetzal” EP came “Mountain Top”, inspired by the landscape and wildlife of Costa Rica. Featuring a mix of English and Spanish lyrics allied to a jazz flavoured near funk groove the piece included solos from Temmink on electric piano and Ottaviani on electric bass, plus Saffar’s violin on the outro.

Rio de Janeiro provided the inspiration for “Arpoador”, the final track on the “Original Love” album. Gentle bossa rhythms accompanied Saffar’s vocals, sung in both English and Portuguese. Temmink’s keyboard solo was followed by a melodic electric bass excursion from Ottaviani.

The first set concluded with the lively instrumental “Samba Quetzal”, another tune sourced from the 2023 EP. As its title suggests this piece featured exuberant samba rhythms, these ushered in by Adamo at the drum kit, subsequently aided by Gibbons’ various items of percussion. Temmink’s piano solo added Afro-Cuban elements to the Brazilian rhythms. He was followed first by Saffar on violin and then by Adamo and Gibbons with a final drum and percussion workout. The recorded version also makes effective use of guest Mike Mower on flute.

This first set had been an eminently enjoyable affair and had featured some excellent singing and playing from all five musicians. All that was needed was a few more people in the audience to give the event a bit more atmosphere. The last Muse promotion that I attended featuring the Guinean born, Cardiff based balofon player and vocalist N’mfady Kouyate and his band was absolutely rammed and had a real party vibe. These shows are less ‘formal’ than the regular Brecon Jazz Club events and during the interval there was a sudden influx of customers – and these people were up for a dance. As a result the atmosphere in the room was much more lively and vibrant for the second half, with the band responding accordingly and really starting to enjoy themselves. There had been a few dancers in the first half but now there were many more and the collective energy levels increased accordingly.

The second set commenced with an atmospheric violin led intro leading into “Popoyo”, a song from the “Original Love” album inspired by Saffar’s experiences of surfing in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Once Adamo and Gibbons had established a lively groove the music took on something of a Brazilian feel with Saffar singing as well as sharing the instrumental solos with Temmink on ‘acoustic’ piano.

Also from the album “Gypsy” featured an autobiographical lyric referencing Saffar’s nomadic,  ocean hopping lifestyle. This piece had more of an orthodox jazz feel, but still with Latin and Brazilian inflections. Instrumental solos came from Temmink on piano and Saffar with a violin solo in an appropriately gypsy jazz style.

The title track of the “Original Love” album commenced with a gentle intro before adopting a jazz / soul / funk groove with Temmink switching to an electric piano sound as he shared the solos with Ottaviani on bass and Saffar on violin. The latter’s vocals  expressed a plea for love and hope in an imperfect world.

The ‘Global’ aspect of the band’s name was further reflected in “Songlines”, an album track inspired, as its title suggests,  by the Aboriginal culture of Australia. This was introduced by Adamo at the drum kit, subsequently joined by Ottaviani and Gibbons. Saffar was featured as both vocalist and instrumental soloist, while Adamo and Gibbons were to enjoy an extended drum and percussion workout, a vibrantly rhythmic excursion that delighted the dancers in the audience,

At this point a slightly truncated second set came to an end, but the crowd weren’t in the mood to let them go just yet. The deserved encore was a cover of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s perennially popular “One Note Samba”, played in the key of G. In addition to her singing of the lyrics Saffar also got to demonstrate her impressive scat vocal skills as she shared the individual features with Temmink.

This had been a vibrant and energetic performance that really took off in the second set, and which had featured some first rate singing and playing with each individual impressing. Saffar was an engaging focal point but Global Wave also functioned very effectively as a unit, with new boy Temmink making a particularly impressive and vital contribution.

My thanks to Azhaar for speaking with me and for clarifying set list and personnel details.

 

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