BMJ Collective with guest Rob Luft,  Black Mountain Jazz, Melville, Centre, Abergavenny, 15/03/2026.

Jack Mac (Jack McDougall) – tenor sax, Nick Kacal – double bass. Ryan Thrupp – drums
with Rob Luft – guitar

PROLOGUE

BMJ Collective is essentially the house band of Black Mountain Jazz.  Originally formed in 2021 for that year’s ‘hybrid’ Wall2Wall Jazz Festival the line-up has undergone a number of personnel changes and currently features founder member Jack Mac on reeds and occasional vocals, together with Nick Kacal on double bass and Ryan Thrupp at the drums.

Mac, Kacal and Thrupp also act as tutors at the BMJazzKatz sessions which bring young people  together for regular jazz sessions at the Melville Centre, with the intention of forming a youth big band. Mac is heading the programme and the Katz, together with their tutors, have already made a number of public performances, with some of these covered elsewhere on this site.

The idea of the tutors then performing for the public in the evening following the Sunday afternoon sessions is not only for ticket sales to contribute towards the teaching costs, but also for the students to see their tutors performing at their best and embodying the JazzKatz motto of “work, play, inspire”.

As these BMJ Collective gigs have now become regular events it is intended that a different guest musician will be invited to perform with the group each time. To date the ‘BMJ Collective With’ series has featured vocalist Sarah Meek, pianists Alex Hutton, Ross Hicks Michael Blanchfield, Tom Berge. Dom Pipkin, John Crawford and Anders Olinder, trumpeter Gethin Liddington and guitarists Chris Cobbson, Denny Ilett, John Close, Nigel Price and Mike Outram  Founding member Alex Goodyear also returned for a guest appearance at the drum kit, temporarily replacing Ryan Thrupp. All of these performances have been hugely enjoyable events and the majority have been reviewed elsewhere on The Jazzmann.

Every performance in the series has included an interesting selection of material sourced from the jazz canon and beyond, the majority of it chosen, or written, by the guest performer. All of the gigs have exceeded my expectations, representing far more than the usual obligatory or perfunctory ‘house trio with guest soloist’ session.   As I have previously observed,  “this is a series of events that continues to punch well above its weight”.

BMJ COLLECTIVE WITH ROB LUFT

BMJC bassist Nick Kacal spent many years on the London jazz circuit before re-locating to South Wales. He quickly established himself as a vital presence on the Welsh jazz scene but has retained his links with the English capital and in recent months many of Kacal’s old London friends have been travelling up to Abergavenny to play a guest slot with the BMJ Collective.

When the BMJC With series first began the majority of the guests were from South Wales or Bristol but the word has got around within the jazz community about just how good the BMJ house band is and how appreciative the Melville audience is. Established London names now seem to be queueing up to come to play with the Collective in Abergavenny. I’ve consistently championed the series for “punching above its weight” and I’m pleased to see that its fame is continuing to spread. It’s become a very attractive gig for London based musicians, the early start of 7.00 pm making it easy for them to get back to ‘town’ at a reasonable hour.

The sax/ bass /drums line-up of the Collective entails that their guests are often players of chordal instruments and they have frequently worked with both pianists and guitarists. The roll call of guitarists who have guested with the Collective is an impressive one - Chris Cobbson, Denny Ilett, John Close, Nigel Price and Mike Outram.

Tonight the name of Rob Luft was added to that illustrious list. It represented quite a coup for the Collective to bring Luft to Abergavenny. One of the brightest stars in the UK jazz firmament Luft is a frequent award winner, a musician with an international reputation and records for the prestigious German label ECM Records in addition to the British imprint Edition.

Still only in his early thirties Luft worked with Kacal in London and was delighted to accept the bassist’s offer to come to Abergavenny. Although he only met Mac and Thrupp on the day this one off quartet produced a performance that was a definite series highlight and not too far behind the five star performance from Yetii that took place in February 2026. Not bad for a ‘one off’ group.

Luft has been a regular presence on the Jazzmann web pages for a number of years. I have favourably reviewed his albums “Riser” (2017) and “Life Is The Dancer” (2020), both released on Edition Records and both featuring his long running quintet. I also own a copy, but have not reviewed, his third Edition release “Dahab Days” (2023). Two live shows by varying line ups of Luft’s quintet / quartet have also been covered in Shrewsbury (2019) and Worcester (2025). The Shrewsbury show rates as one of the best I have ever seen at The Hive venue. Worcester wasn’t far behind.

Together with his life partner, the Swiss-Albanian vocalist and songwriter Elina Duni, Luft has released two albums for the prestigious German label ECM Records, these being “Lost Ships” (2020) and “A Time to Remember” (2023). Both of these recordings were also very well received and my review of “Lost Ships” can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/elina-duni-rob-luft-lost-ships

Luft has been involved in prestigious recording projects with Scandinavian jazz artists such as the great Norwegian bassist and composer Arild Andersen. Together with the Danish drummer Daniel Sommer Andersen and Luft released the superb trio album “As Time Passes” on the Danish label April Records in 2024. The album attracted a compelling amount of critical acclaim and my review of this recording can be found here.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/arild-andersen-daniel-sommer-rob-luft-as-time-passes

Another alliance featuring Luft’s playing is a second Anglo-Scandinavian trio featuring Norwegian bassist and vocalist Ellen Andrea Wang, of the group Pixel, and Danish drummer Jon Falt, the latter perhaps best known for his work with the Swedish pianist and composer Bobo Stenson. Their brilliant album “Closeness” (2020) also enjoyed an excellent critical reception and found its way onto many people’s ‘Best of Year’ lists.

 Luft’s playing can be heard in a more straight-ahead context in the quintet that he co-leads with saxophonist Dave O’Higgins, a musician from an older generation but hardly one that could yet be described as a ‘veteran’. Luft and O’Higgins first met when Luft was a member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) and O’Higgins was one of his tutors. The pair struck up a strong musical rapport and have since recorded two albums together, “Play Monk & Trane” (2019) and “Pluto” (2022). The latter features the pair’s original compositions, but these are written very much in the spirit of the ‘tradition’ and are very different to Luft’s writing for his own quintet.

Hugely in demand as a sideman Luft is a phenomenally busy musician and we were extremely lucky to be able to see him in Abergavenny. He has also recorded with the drummers Enzo Zirilli, Corrie Dick and Phelan Burgoyne, trumpeter Laura Jurd, bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado, accordionist Bartosz Glowacki, vocalists Alice Zawadzki, Karen Lane, Luna Cohen, Lianne Carroll and Joy Ellis, trombonist Patrick Hayes, violinist Faith Brackenbury and saxophonist Tom Ridout. He also appears on albums by NYJO,  The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, Deco Ensemble and the newly re-activated group Big Bad Wolf.

Luft also works with pianist Huw Warren, saxophonists Iain Ballamy and Steve Buckley, trumpeters Byron Wallen and Chris Batchelor and many, many more both in the UK and continental Europe. He is also a member of flautist / keyboard player Eddie Parker’s Airborn group and it was good to see Eddie in the audience at Abergavenny offering his support.

I was expecting tonight’s performance to be a representation of Luft’s more ‘straight-ahead’ side, reminiscent of the kind of music he plays with Dave O’Higgins. Instead we heard two engrossing sets that placed a greater emphasis on Luft’s original writing than I was expecting. Yes, there were a number of standards too but these were treated in a highly imaginative fashion in a series of arrangements that approximated the sound of Luft’s own quintet / quartet. The rise to prominence of Luft’s pianist / keyboard player Joe Webb, himself a previous visitor to BMJ, has seen Luft’s regular band often performing as a quartet in recent times.

Luft is known as a master of modern guitar technology and is a superb orchestrator of sound with an impressive command of an array of effects pedals that he deploys with consummate skill to shape and colour his sound. These qualities were all in evidence on the opening “Strange Meeting”, a composition by one of Luft’s primary influences, the American guitarist and composer Bill Frisell. Kudos is due to my friend, and Luft uberfan, Justin McKeon for spotting this one straight away. This featured Luft’s fluent and imaginative guitar soloing and his usual skilful deployment of that impressive array of effects. The members of the BMJC quickly bought into Luft’s vision with Mac’s tenor sax soloing an effective combination of melody and power and with Kacal and Thrupp adding flexible and intelligent rhythmic support, the drummer moving between brushes and sticks as the music required.

The first original to be played was “Beware”, a composition from Luft’s debut album “Riser”. An atmospheric intro led into a guitar triggered a West African style groove with Luft and Mac doubling up on a Celtic inspired melody. This provided the trigger for the exultant tenor sax soloing of Mac followed by the ringing and singing of the leader’s guitar on this gloriously uplifting piece of music.

Luft and Mac doubled up again on Wes Montgomery’s “Four on Six”, a composition based on the chord sequence of George Gershwin’s “Summertime”. The excellent Kacal took the first solo here, supported by Thrupp’s delicately brushed drums and Luft’s gentle guitar chording. Mac took over on tenor, followed by Luft, whose slippery bebop inspired runs included a quote from “Summertime”, just a little reminder. Finally we heard from the always impressive Thrupp with a closing drum feature.

The title track from Luft’s album “Dahab Days” followed, “Dahab” being the Arabic word for “golden”. Luft was stranded in Egypt for several months during the pandemic and wrote most of the material for the recording there. “It’s my Covid album” he joked. That Arabic influence could be heard in the tune’s melodies but other elements also abounded in a multi-faceted piece. Mac took the first solo on tenor, with Luft’s use of a finger slide a distinctive background component. The guitarist then demonstrated a Metheny-like dexterity during the course of his own dazzling solo, urged on by Thrupp’s driving, rock style rhythms.

The first set concluded with a segue of Luft’s own pieces “Dust Settles”, a tribute to another of his guitar heroes, the late, great improviser Derek Bailey (1930 – 2005), and the celebrated Charles Mingus composition “Better Git It In Your Soul” from the bassist’s classic 1959 album “Ah Um”.

“Dust Settles” began as a solo guitar piece featuring a swathe of sound-wash effects, with the sounds of Thrupp’s hand drumming, a particularly distinctive component of his playing, and Kacal’s bowed bass subsequently added. An arpeggiated guitar motif eventually emerged, this the cue for solos from Mac on tenor and Luft on guitar, the latter affecting a country-ish twang that was variously ethereal and anthemic.
A passage of unaccompanied guitar then led us to the more familiar terrain of the Mingus classic with Mac and Luft again doubling up before the saxophonist unleashed a tenor sax solo that was both powerful and joyous, very much matching Mingus’ mood. Luft and Kacal followed on guitar and bass respectively.

Set two commenced with the Luft original “One Day in Romentino”, a track from his “Life Is The Dancer” album. A rock influence also infused this piece with driving bass and drum rhythms fuelling the solos of Luft and Mac, with the group temporarily entering into sax trio mode. Luft’s eventual return triggered a headlong rush of energy as this rousing set opener drew to a close.

From the more recent “Dahab Days” recording “Bliss Out” lived up to its name with gently soaring melodies, ambient washes of sound and the graceful soloing of Mac and Luft, the latter sometimes deploying a sitar like sound.

Luft informed us that Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight” was the “most recorded jazz standard of all time”. Tonight’s imaginative version of the piece was introduced by a passage of unaccompanied guitar that evolved into a dialogue with Mac’s tenor, the saxophonist’s melodic lines underpinned by Luft’s chordal washes, the guitarist making effective use of his sustain pedal. Luft adopted a cleaner, more orthodox jazz guitar sound as the sound of Thrupp’s hand drumming and Kacal’s bass were added, the latter subsequently adding a melodic double bass solo. Thrupp graduated to brushes to support Luft’s guitar solo and then to sticks for Mac’s more forceful tenor excursion. Hand drums were again featured towards the close as the music segued into a brief snippet of Luft’s own “African Flower”, a piece from the “Dahab Days” album.

The set concluded with the bebop classic “The Theme”, a Miles Davis composition based on the chord changes of George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm”. This was as ‘straight-ahead’ as this evening got with solos coming from Mac and Luft, plus a final drum feature from Thrupp.

The deserved encore was a beautiful performance of the John Coltrane ballad “Naima”, a track from Coltrane’s seminal “Giant Steps” album. Written for Coltrane’s first wife the name “Naima” means ‘Blessed One’ in Arabic. Notable for melodic solos from Mac and Kacal this piece saw Thrupp deploy a combination of mallets, brushes and sticks, but it was Luft’s own performance that as perhaps the most memorable. Judiciously deploying his various effects he was very much a “six string orchestra”.

The BMJC With… series has produced many memorable performances, but this was arguably the pick of them all. The way in which the trio members bought into Luft’s vision and brought his compositions to life was truly remarkable and a great tribute to both their musicianship and their sight reading skills. They were also able to impose something of their own musical personalities to the performance. As for the standards and the other outside material the arrangements were consistently interesting and imaginative with Luft and his colleagues very much putting their own stamp on the selected items.

Speaking to Mac and Kacal afterwards they told me how much they had been looking forward to working with Luft and how much they had enjoyed playing with him,  even it had been a tad scary at times. They had clearly relished the challenge – and had risen to it magnificently.

As for Luft himself he has absorbed the Frisell and Metheny influences and developed a guitar and compositional style that is very much his own. It’s a sound that has made him one of the most in demand musicians in Europe and we were so blessed to have him here. He’s also one of the nicest people in jazz and it was a pleasure to speak with him both before the show, during the interval and after the show. Thanks to Eddie Parker for saying hello too. A memorable night.

 

 

 

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