Roger Beaujolais Spin Quartet, Melville Centre, Abergavenny, 25/09/2026 (Part of Wall2Wall Jazz Festival)

Roger Beaujolais – vibraphone, Pete Oxley – guitar, Andy Hamill – double bass, Alex Goodyear – drums

The opening event of the 2026 Wall2Wall Jazz Festival, co-ordinated by Black Mountain Jazz, was this stand alone concert featuring an all star quartet led by vibraphonist and composer Roger Beaujolais.

The band name comes from the presence in the group’s ranks of guitarist Pete Oxley, of Hejira fame, who in addition to working as a performing musician also runs the Spin Jazz Club in Oxford and has done so for twenty seven years.

The quartet was originally assembled for what was intended to be a one off performance at The Spin in 2025 but once BMJ’s Debs Hancock had heard about the group from drummer Alex Goodyear she was determined to bring them to Abergavenny. A graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff Goodyear is now based in Reading but remains a great friend of the Club. A rising star of the British jazz scene Goodyear also works with saxophonist Jon Lloyd, pianist John Law and the trio Yetii, among numerous others.

Group leader Roger Beaujolais was a late comer to both the vibraphone and the professional  jazz ranks. He has more than made up for lost time. Essentially self taught Beaujolais took up the instrument at twenty four and turned professional at thirty working first with the Chevalier Brothers and Ray Gelato during the 1980’s before becoming part of the 1990’s Acid Jazz movement. Beaujolais’ albums for the Acid Jazz label with The Beaujolais Band and Vibraphonic brought him a degree of commercial success including a US hit with Vibraphonic’s “Can’t Get Enough”.

In addition to two Beaujolais Band recordings and two Vibraphonic albums Beaujolais has also released eight more conventionally straight-ahead jazz albums under his own name, the majority recorded in a quartet or quintet format, establishing his own Stay Tuned label to document his output.  

He has also co-led a quartet with Soft Machine saxophonist Theo Travis, with whom he released the album “Berlin Vibe” in 2001.

The Jazzmann has reviewed several Beaujolais albums, among them “Blue Reflections” (2007), “Mind The Gap” (2013), “Sunset” (2017) and “Barba Lunga” (2019), the last of these a trio outing featuring the Italian musicians Giacomo Dominici (acoustic and electric bass) and Alessandro Pivi (drums).

I have also covered a number of Beaujolais’ live performances, the most recent being the themed show “A Tribute to Milt Jackson” which he presented at Kidderminster Jazz Club in 2021. My account of that performance, which provides the source for much of the above biographical detail, can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/roger-beaujolais-quartet-a-tribute-to-milt-jackson-kidderminster-jazz-club-07-10-2021

The success of the Milt Jackson show has also led to Beaujolais presenting another themed show tracing this history of the vibraphone from Lionel Hampton to the present day via Cal Tjader, Bobby Hutcherson, Gary Burton and more. A themed Hutcherson tribute is now in the planning.

As a jazz sideman Beaujolais has worked with pianist Tim Richards’ Great Spirit group, Jerry Dammers’ Spatial AKA Orchestra, saxophonists Mark Lockheart and Tommaso Starace, bassist Davide Mantovani and pianist/vocalist Wendy Kirkland. Indeed I first became fully aware of his playing during his tenure with Richards’ Great Spirit nonet.

He has also enjoyed a successful session career appearing on pop and rock albums by artists as diverse as Duffy, Rumer, Robert Plant, Roni Size, Guy Chambers, Omara Portuondo, Alexander O’Neal, Morrissey, Paul Weller, Alison Limerick, Kirsty MacColl, Graham Coxon, Tony Allen, Ed Motta, Neneh Cherry, Shola Ama, Colin Vearncombe (aka Black) and Fairground Attraction. It’s a wide ranging and very impressive list.

With Oxley in the ranks I was hoping that tonight’s programme would include some material associated with the 1970s Gary Burton bands that included guitarist Pat Metheny in the line up. Burton was particularly keen on the vibes / guitar configuration and in addition to Metheny a number of other guitarists passed through his groups, among them Jerry Hahn, Larry Coryell and Mick Goodrick. I wasn’t to be disappointed as the Spin Quartet delivered a programme that included no less than four Metheny compositions plus a further two from Chick Corea, another close Burton associate. The set list also included a couple of Beaujolais originals plus, a well chosen selection of compositions from guitarists John Scofield and Pat Martino and saxophonists Hank Mobley and Charlie Parker.

The evening commenced with “For Old Times”, a Beaujolais original and the title track of his 1999 quintet album. This gently swinging composition featured the leader’s wonderfully fluent four mallet vibes soloing – Beaujolais’ website describes him as a ‘vibraphone virtuoso’, and in this instance the self aggrandisement is fully justified. Subtly propelled by Goodyear’s brushed drum grooves the piece featured similarly accomplished solos from Oxley and Hamill before Goodyear, still deploying brushes, traded fours with Beaujolais and Oxley.

When my friend Justin McKeon saw Goodyear play with Jon Lloyd in Birmingham last week he requested that the Spin Quartet play the Chick Corea composition “Sea Journey”. This piece appears on the 1977 Gary Burton album “Passengers”, an ECM records release that also features Pat Metheny, drummer Dan Gottlieb and the twin basses of Steve Swallow and Eberhard Weber. I’ve loved this album for a very long time and “Sea Journey”, the opening track, in particular, so all kudos to Justin for helping to get this piece included in tonight’s set. Every day is a school day and although I’ve been listening to the Burton version for years I didn’t realise that Corea had originally written the tune as a solo piano piece. This welcome nugget of information came from Oxley, who shared the announcing duties with Beaujolais throughout tonight’s show.
The quartet’s performance didn’t disappoint, my heart lifting as Beaujolais, who played with four mallets throughout the evening, struck up the familiar theme. The first solo went to Oxley, who played with a Metheny-like virtuosity and fluency before handing back to the leader for an expansive vibraphone solo, mallets dancing across the bars as he seemed to surf on the foot pedal. Not to be outdone Goodyear excelled with a dazzling hand drumming feature played out above that familiar vibraphone vamp. And a word too for Hamill, manfully undertaking the work of two bassists! This tune is a long time personal favourite and it was great to hear it again, and to see it performed with such skill and verve.

Something of a Chick Corea theme was beginning to emerge and next we heard “Windows”, a Corea composition that has become something of a contemporary jazz standard. I’m guessing that tonight’s rendition was inspired by the version on the 1998 all star recording “Like Minds”, an album featuring the collective talents of Burton, Corea and Metheny plus bassist Dave Holland and drummer Roy Haynes. Once again the members of the Spin Quartet more than did it justice, while also imposing something of their own stamp on it. Oxley’s silky, Metheny like melody lines were the springboard for solos from Beaujolais and himself, and also for the unassuming but excellent Hamill on double bass.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better Oxley called another of my favourite Pat Metheny tunes, in this case “Farmer’s Trust” from the Metheny Group’s live 1981 recording “Travels”. This gorgeous ballad features one of Metheny’s most beautiful melodies and once again tonight’s musicians served it faithfully and brilliantly, with Oxley’s guitar taking the melodic lead supported by Beaujolais’ vibraphone shadings, Goodyear’s delicately brushed drums and Hamill’s economical bass. The leader’s vibes solo was spacious and airy, an effective contrast to the high speed virtuosity that he had exhibited earlier on in the set. Oxley’s guitar solo was notable for its warm, Metheny like tone and he also played a short, unaccompanied guitar cadenza towards the close. Two of my favourite Metheny tunes in one set, who could ask for more?

The first set concluded as it began with a Beaujolais original, “Less Said”. This featured a more orthodox, straight-ahead jazz sound with Beaujolais stating the theme before handing over to Oxley for the first solo. Beaujolais then resumed at the vibes for the second solo as a superb first half drew to a close, rapturously received by an attentive and appreciative audience.

The second set was very much in the same vein as the first and began with “The Chief”, a Metheny composition dedicated to his former mentor Gary Burton. The tune appeared on the 1990 Burton / Metheny album “Reunion”, which at the time represented the pair’s first collaboration for thirteen years. In the Burton role Beaujolais delivered another dazzling vibes solo, the four mallets a blur as they fairly flew across the bars. Oxley followed with a similarly agile guitar solo, fuelled by Goodyear’s crisp drumming.

Beaujolais was once a member of a band called Soul Station, named after a Blue Note album by the late, great American saxophonist Hank Mobley (1930-86). From that classic recording Mobley’s composition “This I Dig of You” saw Beaujolais transposing the familiar melodic theme to the vibes and taking the first solo. He was followed by an extended double bass solo from Hamill, who impressed with both his dexterity and his melodic sensibility. Oxley and Goodyear then entered into a series of guitar and drum exchanges that became increasingly dynamic and flamboyant as they progressed. It should be noted the Beaujolais recorded this piece himself for his 2008 quintet album “Blue Reflections”.

The fourth and final Metheny composition was “Question and Answer”, the title track of the guitarist’s 1990 trio album with Haynes and Holland and later revisited on “Like Minds”. Metheny’s piece features a melody that is both attractive and ripe for improvising around.  Oxley took the first solo here, followed by Beaujolais and finally Goodyear, who switched from brushes to sticks for his drum feature.

Next a composition by another contemporary jazz guitar giant. John Scofield’s “Green Tea” was ushered in by Oxley as the quartet gave it something of a Brazilian feel with Oxley and Beaujolais sharing the solos.

Also written by a great guitarist “Mac Tough” was composed by the late, great Pat Martino (1944 -2021) as a celebration of his friend and collaborator organist ‘Brother’ Jack McDuff (1926 – 2001). This was a bluesy,  hard grooving piece, written very much in McDuff’s style with a catchy melodic hook cum riff that provided the foundation for extensive solos from Beaujolais and Oxley, plus a particularly dynamic drum feature from Goodyear.

Although audience numbers were disappointing in terms of bums on seats – this was something of a jazz ‘supergroup’, where the hell was everybody? - those that were there were both attentive and enthusiastic and gave the quartet a rousing reception.

The deserved encore was a ragged but joyous romp through Charlie Parker’s “Moose The Mooch”, a rhythm changes tune that saw Oxley quoting from “I Got Rhythm” as he followed Beaujolais’ opening solo. Not to be outdone Hamill shoehorned the Muppet Show theme into his bass feature, with Goodyear’s brushed drum feature finally rounding off a marvellous evening of music making.

As a long time fan of the Burton / Metheny partnership I absolutely loved this but there was so much more to enjoy too and the Spin Quartet is a fine band in its own right. Tonight was only the second gig for this group but it’s a line up that has the potential to be more than just a temporary alliance, although the busy schedules of the individual players may necessitate that it remains just an occasional project.

My thanks to Roger, Alex and Pete for speaking with me after the show and also to sound engineer Dave for doing a great job at the mixing desk.

Those that stayed away missed an absolute treat as Wall2Wall 2026 got off to an absolutely terrific start.

 

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