Detroitwich Funk Machine, Music Spoken Here, The Marr’s Bar, Worcester, 22/01/2026.

Tom Clarke-Hill – electric bass, vocals, Andy Shillingford – alto & soprano saxes, flute, Chris Bowden – tenor sax, flute, Fliss Evans – baritone sax, Alex Astbury – trumpet, flugelhorn, Dave Sear – trombone, Arran Shanghavi – keyboards, Tom Morgan – guitar, Andy Brotherton – drums

A terrific turn out at The Marr’s Bar for Music Spoken Here’s second event of 2026. Storm Goretti and its associated snowfall had prevented me from getting to the first, and what I gather was an excellent performance by drummer /vocalist  Davide Giovannini and his Minas Project, dedicated to the artists and music from the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais. MSH’s own Dave Fuller agreed to review this show and his account can be found here.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/davide-giovanninis-minas-project-music-spoken-here-the-marrs-bar-worcester-08-01-2026

I was determined not to miss out a second time and despite a fair degree of surface water on the roads the Jazzmann contingent was able to make it. And so, it seemed, did the world and his wife. This was the biggest audience that I’ve seen at an MSH event since Hejira in June 2024. We were really squeezed in tightly and I’ve never known queues like it at the bar!

The reason for the excitement was the presence of the nine piece musical behemoth that is the marvellously named Detroitwich Funk Machine, co-led by bassist / vocalist Tom Clarke-Hill and saxophonist / flautist Andy Shillingford.

Clark-Hill is an American living in Worcestershire who has always jokingly referred to the town of Droitwich Spa as ‘Detroitwich’, an inspired and amusing piece of wordplay that was begging to be used as a band name.

Born in Northern California into a musical family Clarke-Hill played piano and trumpet before switching to double bass at the age of twenty. He subsequently studied at the famous Berklee College of Music and during his time in Boston was fortunate enough to see live performances by such jazz luminaries as Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorious, Roland Kirk and George Benson in the city’s clubs.

It was when he was working on cruise ships that he met his English wife Jackie and he subsequently moved to the UK in 1993, quickly establishing himself on the Birmingham / West Midlands jazz scene as part of the house band at the Birmingham branch of Ronnie Scott’s and at The Bear in Bearwood.

He first met DFM co-leader Andy Shillingford, another Midlands jazz stalwart, some thirty years ago and the pair have collaborated in projects such as the 70’s Funk Machine, a forerunner of DFM, and The Straitjackets, a group dedicated to playing the music of The Yellowjackets. The pair are currently considering reviving this project under the new name Fellowjackets.

Clarke-Hill and Shillingford also play in the Birmingham based Fat Chops Big Band and it’s largely from the ranks of that long running outfit that the members of DFM have been recruited, notably trumpeter Alex Astbury and trombonist Dave Sear.

In addition to leading his own projects Clarke-Hill is also a prolific sideman on the Midlands jazz scene playing double bass with musicians such as Birmingham based trumpeter trumpeter Bryan Corbett and visiting soloists including pianist Dave Newton, tenor saxophonist Brandon Allen and the late great alto saxophonist Peter King.

As Dave Fuller’s ‘Piece Talks’ interview with Clarke-Hill reveals the bassist also works as an actor and voice-over artist, most famously as the voice of Tony the Tiger from the Frosties adverts.  He’s also been the voice of numerous Playstation games and of various Marvel superheroes! As he told Fuller it’s been a lucrative job, and particularly so during lockdown when it could be done remotely, but this aspect of Clarke-Hill’s work is now under threat from AI.

Turning now to tonight’s performance which featured the nine piece powerhouse blazing their way through a series of energetic and wildly funky arrangements of material by Herbie Hancock, Tower of Power, Blood Sweat & Tears, Chicago,  Crusaders, the Brecker Brothers, the Yellowjackets and more.

They kicked off with a rousing version of Tower of Power’s “Squib Cakes”, from TOP’s “Back to Oakland” album, which featured fat, punchy horn sounds, with Evans’ baritone prominent in the arrangement, and funky, hard driving grooves. Clarke-Hill took the first solo himself on five string electric bass. He was followed by bright and incisive horn solos from Astbury on flugel and Shillingford on alto. Also featured was the group’s hugely impressive young keyboard player Arran Shanghavi who deployed a Hammond organ sound during his solo. His playing was very much at the heart of the group’s music as he utilised a wide variety of keyboard sounds during the course of the evening. He is due to visit MSH as the leader of his own organ trio on June 11th 2026. That’s going to be a gig to really look forward to.

Next up the Blood, Sweat & Tears’  hit “Spinning Wheel” with Hill delivering a creditable and surprisingly powerful vocal performance and featuring instrumental solos from guitarist Morgan and trumpeter Astbury, with the horn section sometimes approximating the sound of a fairground ride.

Arranged by the prodigious talent that is Shanghavi Henry Mancini’s theme for the cop show Streets of Francisco became “Streets of Droitwich Spa”  and incorporated solos from Sear on trombone and Shanghavi himself on electric piano. There was also a wailing alto sax solo from Shillingford accompanied only by the drums of the hyper-active Brotherton, terrific crowd pleasing stuff followed by a near free jazz squall as the rest of the horn section piled in. The piece then resolved itself with a punchy, funky outro.

“Sly”, the first of several Herbie Hancock covers, saw Shillingford switching to soprano and Bowden doubling on flute. Shanghavi again featured as a soloist, deploying an electric piano sound and sharing the features with Shillingford on soprano.

Clarke-Hill encouraged the audience to join in with the Kenny Garrett tune “Happy People”, singing the tune title at the appropriate place. This saw Bowden, a previous visitor to MSH with his own Hypnos Files project, really cutting loose on tenor for the first time. I’ve always thought of Bowden as an alto sax specialist but he was undeniably impressive on the larger horn. Astbury’s trumpet, Shillingford’s alto and Sears’ trombone were all featured as the lead was passed around the horns.

Written by the celebrated American guitarist Mike Stern “Chromosome” combined melody with complexity in memorable fashion with Bowden featuring again alongside guitarist Morgan, who did a credible job of stepping into Stern’s shoes. The impressive Brotherton was also featured towards the close, circumnavigating his kit as the horns played a circling motif underneath him.

The Paul McCartney song “Maybe I’m Amazed” was performed as a kind of funk ballad and acted as a feature for Bowden, who delivered an expansive tenor solo that combined tenderness and earthiness in equal measure.

There was a particularly poignant moment when Hill performed a solo bass / voice version of the song “Here’s To Life”, which he dedicated to Brian Maher, aka Marzy, proprietor of the Marr’s Bar, who lost his son Conor recently. By Hill’s own admission the performance was a little ragged, but the emotion and solidarity with Marzy was very much there. Since I’ve been covering events at The Marr’s Bar I’ve got to know Marzy a little bit, but unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity to speak with him this evening, of all evenings. All at The Jazzmann send our condolences on your loss.

Hill also sang on the super funky “Diggin’ On James Brown”, another song from the canon of Tower of Power. The featured instrumentalist was trombonist Dave Sear, who did a fine job of channelling his inner Fred Wesley.

A lengthy first set concluded with “Hang Up Your Hang Ups”, a tune from Headhunters era Herbie Hancock. Featuring the sounds of wah wah guitar and funky clavinet this piece included solos from Clarke-Hill on electric bass and Sear on trombone. Shanghavi featured a range of keyboard sounds with Hammond underpinning Sears’ solo before he switched to electric piano for his own feature.

There was be no letting up in terms of energy levels at the start of the second set as the nonet invited the audience to strap themselves in for Tower of Power’s “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”, with Brotherton’s dynamic drumming fuelling swashbuckling solos from Sears on trombone, Shanghavi on organ and Bowden on tenor sax. A thrilling start.

Shanghavi then featured on electric piano on the Herbie Hancock tune “Tell Me A Bedtime Story”, rather less frenetic, but still a subtly funky item, that included the sounds of Astbury on flugel and Bowden on flute.

Perhaps the most obscure item in the programme was “B-Sting”, a tune by Brandon Fields, a Los Angeles based saxophonist who is something of a session veteran. It was also one of the highlights with Clarke-Hill demonstrating his phenomenal skill on electric bass, with slapping techniques coming to the fore. This seriously funky piece also included fiery solos from Shillingford on alto, Astbury on flugel and Morgan on guitar.

The second vocal item was the Crusaders’ “Just Because it’s Jazz (Don’t Mean You Can’t Dance)” with Clarke-Hill giving a convincing delivery of the rap style lyrics. The instrumental highlights came in a series of exchanges between Sear on trombone and Astbury on flugel.

Written by the American saxophonist Ronnie Laws but learnt by Clarke-Hill from a recorded version by keyboardist Jeff Lorber, “Always There” was introduced by Brotherton at the drums and also included a brief cameo from Evans on baritone prior to more expansive solos from Shillingford on alto and Morgan on guitar.

The repertoire of the Brecker Brothers was represented by the suitably pungent “Some Skunk Funk” with Bowden on tenor taking the role of the late, great Mike and Astbury on Harmon muted trumpet doubling for Randy.

A prime source of inspiration for Clarke-Hill and Shillingford the Yellowjackets just had to be included in there somewhere. “We’re going to take you to church” said Clarke-Hill as he introduced DFM’s version of their gospel influenced song “Revelation”, featuring the sounds of Clarke-Hill’s vocals, Shillingford’s alto sax and Shanghavi’s Hammond.

The deserved encore, the stage was too crowded for the band to temporarily vacate it, was a romp through Chicago’s “Approaching Storm”, originally written as a reaction to the turbulence of 1970s US politics but still sounding scarily relevant as a title today. It was a welcome reminder of how good the old horn driven Chicago could be (think also “Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?” and “25 or 6 to 4”) before they sank into maudlin balladry. Solos here from Sear on trombone, Astbury on trumpet and Shillingford on alto.

This was a hugely impressive and highly enjoyable live performance from a band featuring the cream of Midlands jazz musicians. The playing was commendably tight, but without descending into slickness, while also embracing a certain looseness and rawness. There was some inspired soloing from just about everybody involved and the whole band looked as if they were having great fun. The show was wittily presented by the irrepressible Clarke-Hill, even though he was hidden away at the back of the stage as part of the biggest line-up that MSH has yet presented at the Marr’s Bar.

The numbers were swelled by the presence of several friends and family of the band but regardless of the constitution of the audience tonight’s crowd represented a brilliant turn out with everybody getting right behind the band from the off. This was a terrific live event that saw everybody going home happy, hopefully to return in the same numbers for forthcoming MSH gigs. Dave Full-on, as Clarke-Hill has dubbed him, deserves this level of support on a regular basis.

 

 

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