BMJ Collective with Sean Hargreaves, Black Mountain Jazz, Melville Centre For The Arts, Abergavenny, 12/04/2026.

Jack Mac (Jack McDougall) – tenor sax, Nick Kacal – double bass. Ryan Thrupp – drums, percussion
with Sean Hargreaves – piano

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 Rob Luft, 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 SEAN HARGREAVES

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 relatively 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 guitarists and pianists. The roll call of pianists who have guested with the Collective is an impressive one, including Alex Hutton, Ross Hicks Michael Blanchfield, Tom Berge. Dom Pipkin, John Crawford and Anders Olinder,

The next name to be added to that list was that of the London based pianist and composer Sean Hargreaves, another old associate of Kacal’s. Hargreaves may be an unfamiliar name to jazz listeners as much of his work takes place outside the jazz sphere. That said tonight’s performance demonstrated both his love of the jazz genre and an impressive capacity to perform it.

As a composer Hargreaves has written extensively for cinema and television and is also a composer of ‘library music’. He also works a producer and is the founder of the TYE London recording studio.  Artists that he has produced or co-produced include James Arthur, Don Black, Andrea Bocelli, Paloma Faith, Ella Henderson, Becky Hill, Rita Ora, Mica Paris, Military Wives Choirs, Sam Ryder, Ella Eyre and Sigala.

As a solo artist he has released “Portraits”, an EP of solo piano pieces released in 2024 and premiered at Kings Place, London. He also leads his own jazz quintet featuring saxophonist Ed Jones, trumpeter Henry Lowther, bassist Neville Malcolm and drummer Mark Taylor.

Hargreaves has also recorded “In Blue”, a collection of compositions inspired by the sounds of the famous Blue Note record label. Essentially it’s a ‘library’ album featuring pieces written in the Blue Note style. Recorded for Cavendish Music the music was documented at Rudy Van Gelder’s famous studio in New Jersey with an Anglo-American band featuring saxophonist Grant Stewart, trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, guitarist Ed Cherry, bassist Paul Gill and drummer Mark Taylor. Several compositions from this recording were included in tonight’s performance and Hargreaves is currently investigating the possibility of making the music available commercially.

Tonight’s show commenced with the newly constituted quartet easing themselves in with a rendition of the jazz standard “Have You Met Miss Jones?”, with Mac stating the theme on tenor before reaching out further with a fluent and expansive solo that inserted a number of ‘quotes’ from other standards. Hargreaves followed at the piano, also including some quotes of his own as the musicians quickly gelled, united by the shared language of jazz. In a good introduction to the individual voices of the quartet the always excellent Kacal was featured as a double bass soloist before Mac and Hargreaves ‘traded fours’ with drummer Thrupp. Mac then reprised the main theme, with subtle variations, on the outro. An excellent start.

Hargreaves informed us that he is a musician with broad musical tastes, which didn’t come as too much of a surprise given his CV. Next up was a jazz arrangement of the Stevie Wonder song “Love’s In Need Of Love”, introduced by a passage of unaccompanied piano before Mac’s tenor took up the theme, sharing the lead with Hargreaves. The saxophonist’s subsequent solo was positively exultant and he was followed by a discursive solo from the leader at the Melville’s acoustic upright piano.

One of Hargreaves’ primary jazz influences is pianist and composer Herbie Hancock and a masterful interpretation of Hancock’s composition “Dolphin Dance” followed, beginning at a mid tempo, but gradually building in terms of intensity and dynamics, with Mac taking the first solo on tenor.  Hargreaves’  subsequent piano solo was complemented by Kacal’s bass counter melodies and Thrupp’s neatly detailed drumming. Mac returned to reprise the theme before the performance concluded with a Thrupp drum feature.

Hargreaves’ own “This Way Up” from the “In Blue” recording followed, a vigorous, rapidly moving slice of hard bop with a tricky bebop style ‘head’ acting as the taking off point for solos from Hargreaves, Mac and Kacal.

From the same recording “Far From Home”, a tune with a 5/4 time signature, offered a more straight-ahead feel. Both more laid back and more contemporary sounding than its immediate predecessor this was a piece with a strong narrative arc that began with a passage of unaccompanied piano. Mac’s theme statement was followed by a more probing tenor sax solo, this followed by a more lyrical episode from Hargreaves and a melodic double bass solo from Kacal. Thrupp gave a sympathetic drum performance, moving between brushes and sticks as the tempo and dynamics of the music required.

An excellent first half concluded with the Collective and their guest finding something fresh to say about that most familiar of jazz standards “All The Things You Are” in a Hargreaves arrangement inspired by a Rachmaninov piano concerto. The man told us his sphere of influences was wide. An introductory piano passage was followed by Mac’s theme statement and subsequent solo, succeeded in turn by solos from Hargreaves and Kacal and finally a Thrupp drum feature.

Hargreaves’ affinity with the worlds of pop and rock found further expression at the start of the second set with a jazz waltz arrangement of the Beatles song “Norwegian Wood”. Of all the Beatles’ songs it’s a particular favourite with jazz musicians and lends itself well to a modal jazz interpretation. Hargreaves and the Collective took the tune in unexpected directions with pianist’s unaccompanied intro eventually leading to expansive jazz solos from Mac and Hargreaves plus a highly dexterous double bass feature from the always impressive Kacal. Thrupp rounded things off with a drum feature as the second half also got off to an excellent start.

From the “In Blue” recording the Hargreaves original “Joe’s Dilemma”, named for trumpeter Magnarelli, was originally written to feature guitarist Ed Cherry. Faced with adapting the tune for the Collective’s sax, bass and drums line-up Hargreaves wrote a new melody utilising the same chord sequence. As the new parts were written on the train on the way to the gig the piece was retitled “Great Western Railway”. Mac clearly relished the opportunity to stretch out on the new melody and his lengthy tenor excursion was followed by a piano solo from Hargreaves and a drum feature from Thrupp.

Hargreaves paid further tribute to the inspirational figure of Herbie Hancock with a delightful interpretation of the Hancock composition “Maiden Voyage”. Hargreaves ushered the piece in with a passage of solo piano, subsequently joined by double bass and drums, with Thrupp deploying a combination of mallets and bare hands. Mac eventually joined to state the main melodic theme before embarking on a probing tenor sax solo as Thrupp switched to sticks, his polyrhythmic flow also fuelling Hargreaves’ piano soloing. This piece represented a particular tour de force for Thrupp who contributed some exquisite cymbal work on the quieter outro.

An extended passage of unaccompanied piano ushered in the quartet’s version of the jazz ballad “The Nearness of You” with sensitive double bass and brushed drum accompaniment underpinning the flowingly lyrical soloing of Mac and Hargreaves. The performance was also notable for a delightful tenor sax and piano duet as the rhythm section temporarily sat out, with Kacal and Thrupp then returning at the close, the drummer now deploying mallets.
Another of Hargreaves’ musical heroes is the late, great Donny Hathaway (1945 – 79), the American soul singer, pianist and songwriter. The quartet’s version of one of Hathaway’s most famous songs, “The Ghetto”, introduced gospel flavourings and included Thrupp’s hand drumming and his use of small percussive items. Following the gospel inspired piano / drum and percussion intro Mac stated the main melodic theme and took the first solo. This was also a piece that saw Hargreaves encouraging a degree of audience participation as he encouraged the audience to clap along on two and four behind his joyously percussive piano solo. Thrupp was also featured at the drum kit, deploying mallets while Mac returned with some rootsy tenor sax towards the close.

This was a rollicking performance that elicited an enthusiastic response from the enlivened audience and the deserved encore proved to be a similarly lively take on “Blues In The Closet”, written by bassist Oscar Pettiford. Propelled by Kcal’s rapid bass walk and Thrupp’s crisp drumming this featured solos from Mac and Hargreaves, the latter’s playing sounding distinctly ‘Monk-ish’. Kacal was also featured as a soloist for the final time, before Hargreaves and Kacal traded fours with Thrupp.

Another excellent event in the ‘BMJ Collective With..’ series, a series that just keeps on giving.

My thanks to Sean for speaking with me after the show and for verifying the set list. He was quick to praise his fellow musicians, and particularly Thrupp, an intelligent ‘listening’ drummer with an excellent command of dynamics.

 

 

 

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