Fumi Okiji’s Old Time Jazz Band, Stoke Prior Village Hall, Leominster, Herefordshire, 05/02/2015.

This performance by vocalist Fumi Okiji and her Old Time Jazz Band was part of an extensive rural tour being made by the group over the course of several months with “legs” in different parts of the country. Tonight was the first of three dates in Herefordshire and Shropshire before the band move on to rural Somerset later in the month. 

Tonight’s show was organised by the local village hall committee with support from Jazz Services and the local Arts Alive Association which promotes arts events embracing numerous artistic disciplines at venues throughout Herefordshire and Shropshire. Similar bodies exist in other parts of the country and I’m sure that similar arrangements will be in place in Somerset.

Arts Alive promise to present “professional shows at affordable prices in informal spaces” and with a ticket price of £8.00 to see some of the best jazz musicians in the UK tonight’s performance certainly delivered on that promise. The venues used by Arts Alive include theatres, arts centres and cinemas but most events take place in village halls and Stoke’s pleasingly retro 1930s construction was immaculately decked out for the occasion with cabaret seating and with customers invited to bring their own drinks. Free crisps, nuts, coffee and biscuits were provided as the committee created an atmosphere that was both informal and welcoming. They were rewarded with a sell out crowd which helped to create a good atmosphere and encouraged a positive response to some excellent music making. I have to say that it was a rare treat for me to be able to review a gig by artists of this calibre virtually on my door step. It made a nice change from driving forty or fifty miles to jazz events.

And so to the music. Fumi Okiji, a British singer of Nigerian descent has been fascinated with the art of jazz song since the age of seven. She became more deeply immersed in the music, both vocal and instrumental, during her teenage years after attending a series of jazz workshops conducted by the trumpeter Jim Dvorak. Okiji’s jazz influences are wide, spanning the whole of the music’s history from Louis Armstrong to Ornette Coleman and beyond. In 2010 she released the album “Deep Songs” on the F-ire Presents label as one half of the experimental duo The Man Who Laughs alongside guitarist and soundscaper Stefano Kalonaris. The album applied looping and sampler techniques to classic jazz standards to noirish effect, an interesting and innovative niche. She has explored similar territory with the Portrait Bellevue trio featuring cellist Ben Davis and pianist Zac Gvirtzman and is currently involved in a standards meets free improv project with double bassist Olie Brice.

Okiji’s Old Time Jazz Band is more straightforward and less obviously experimental than any of the above projects but she and her band still place a contemporary stamp upon their chosen repertoire.  And what a band it is, featuring some of the UK’s leading instrumentalists in the shapes of Ben Davis (cello), Idris Rahman (clarinet), Stuart Hall (guitars) and Roy Dodds (drums). Davis and Rahman have been frequent presences on the Jazzmann web pages, Davis as the leader of Basquiat Strings and for his work with Ingrid Laubrock, Oriole and others, Rahman with his pianist sister Zoe, clarinettist Arun Ghosh and as co-leader of the band Soothsayers. I’m familiar with Hall’s work with Django Bates as part of both Human Chain and Delightful Precipice while Dodds is best known to jazz listeners for his lengthy tenure with vocalist Jacqui Dankworth’s band. The drummer has also had a long pop and rock session career and was once a member of the group Fairground Attraction. 

The Old Time Jazz Band has recently released its début album “Old Fashion”, a collection of twelve songs mainly drawn from the 20s, 30s and 40s and embracing a variety of styles from New Orleans to blues to the Great American Songbook. Some of the tunes from the record were heard tonight but the album was recorded in December 2013 and in the true jazz spirit the band have already introduced a number of new songs into their repertoire. With exception of Okiji’s vocal mic the music was played entirely acoustically, no amps, monitors or speakers, which made a refreshing change for both band and audience. In the intimate atmosphere of the village hall every word, note and nuance could be clearly heard and I’d like to say thanks to my fellow Herefordians for listening so attentively. 

The band kicked off with Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady”, a particular favourite of Okiji’s and a song that was also performed by the Man Who Laughs duo. Hall’s acoustic guitar introduced the song, soon joined by Okuji’s rich, warm, well enunciated contralto voice. The carefully measured arrangement helped to bring out the inherent sadness of the words as Rahman and Davis complemented the lyrics with emotive instrumental solos underpinned by Hall’s sparse rhythm guitar.

“West End Blues” was written by Joe “King” Oliver but is most closely associated with Louis Armstrong. Introduced by Rahman on clarinet the song also brought Dodds to the party, the drummer having sat out the first number. Playing brushed drums almost exclusively throughout the evening he subtly pushed the tune forward as Okiji demonstrated her talent for blues phrasing and feeling. The performance was also notable for Davis’ plucked cello bass lines and for Hall’s use of a National Steel resonator guitar, a silver beauty on which he played a keening, authentically bluesy solo, sharing the honours with Rahman’s clarinet.

The 1940s standard “Sentimental Journey” was given a subtle blues inflection and featured solos from Rahman, Davis and Hall and this was followed by a playful and joyous rendition of Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer’s “I’m Old Fashioned”, closely associated with Ella Fitzgerald and essentially the band’s signature song.  Okiji negotiated the lyrics perfectly before handing over to Hall and Rahman whose lively solos were followed by a Dodds drum feature, jauntily brushed and also making effective use of the bass drum.

The highlight of the first set was a tender reading of the little heard Billie Holiday song “I’ll Look Around” which was largely performed as an intimate duet for just voice and acoustic guitar. Out of this emerged Davis’ mournful cello solo, an irresistibly lovely blend of the melancholy and the beautiful and evidence that he must surely be the UK’s finest improvising cellist. 

Following the harrowing Holiday piece the band lightened the mood with a little on stage banter - something that was a characteristic of the relaxed nature of the whole show. Then they enjoyed a little musical fun with a canter through Cole Porter’s “You Do Something To Me” with its lively interplay between Hall and Rahman propelled by Dodds’ brushed drum grooves and Davis’ finger snaps.

The first half concluded with an item recently introduced to the band’s repertoire, another obscure Billie Holiday song titled “You Let Me Down”. Okiji later told me that Holiday had recorded some 250 songs, a phenomenally productive output for an artist who died so young. Of course her best known songs are very widely heard but Okiji prefers to unearth some of the many obscure nuggets in that extensive back catalogue. A playful musical introduction was perhaps an allusion to the black humour in the lyric of what is essentially a classic “my man done me wrong” song in the best Holiday tradition. Hall took the first solo on guitar followed by Rahman on clarinet with Davis providing plucked bass lines and only taking up the bow for his own feature.

Set two commenced with Hall taking up his National guitar for the band’s rendition of W C Handy’s evergreen “St. Louis Blues” with an authentically sounding blues clarinet solo from Rahman.

An engagingly quirky arrangement of “Tea For Two” featured Hall’s Django-like guitar (that’s Reinhardt, not Bates!) plus further solos from Davis, at his most idiosyncratic on cello, and from Rahman on clarinet.

We heard more Ellington with a sombre arrangement of “Mood Indigo” with Okiji wringing maximum blues drenched emotion from the heartsick lyrics, her voice augmented by grainy cello and clarinet and Dodds’ atmospheric mallet rumbles. Instrumental solos came from Hall, Davis and Rahman.

“Basin Street Blues” maintained the blues theme. The much covered song was written in 1926 by Spencer Williams and was first immortalised by Louis Armstrong. It represented another chance to hear Hall’s National guitar as he traded phrases with Rahman, the pair prompted by Dodds’ brushed grooves before the drummer himself enjoyed a flurry of brushed breaks.

“Shake Sugaree” was written by Elizabeth Cotten, composer of the more famous “Freight Train”, and the song was later covered by Taj Mahal. Although it’s ostensibly a children’s song the lyrics about a destitute smallholder pawning everything they own are unremittingly grim and in 2015 seem to have acquired a new contemporary resonance. Okiji sang the words with great feeling and dignity in a moving, gospel tinged duet with Hall on National guitar.

Jerome Kern’s 1933 song “Yesterdays” was delivered with a loping swing and with solos from Hall, Davis and Rahman. The set then closed with the Duke Eliington/Billy Strayhorn song “Mount Harissa” which actually opens the “Old Fashion” album. Okiji delivered the mildly salacious lyrics with relish and even delivered a chorus of scat singing, something that had been pretty much absent for the rest of the performance as Okiji stayed close to the blues roots of so many of these songs. Dodds’ pattering hand drummed grooves provided the momentum for final solos from Hall and Davis. 

Okiji and her musicians had charmed their packed audience and a well deserved encore was inevitable. This was “Azalea”, yet another tune associated with Louis Armstrong. The band gave the piece a real New Orleans feel with Rahman the featured instrumental soloist.

So ended a hugely successful EVENT which had delighted a full house in this rural location. From the stage Okiji thanked Arts Alive, Jazz Services plus local organiser Stephanie who had also fed and watered the band.  This was a perfect example of what Arts Alive do in a show that was accessible enough for everybody to enjoy but also offered something for the jazz purist thanks to the top class vocal and instrumental talent that was on display. Musicianship of this calibre is rarely seen in Herefordshire. All involved with the success of this evening are worthy of congratulation. For details of future Arts Alive events please visit http://www.artsalive.co.uk

My thanks to Fumi for inviting me to review the show and for putting my wife and I on the guest list. It was also interesting to talk with the musicians afterwards and to learn that Fumi and Ben have moved relocated to Hastings due to the astronomical cost of living in London. Symptomatic of the times and food for thought for jazz fans and musicians alike.

The album “Old Fashion” (jes Grew Records) also convinces with its classy performances and witty arrangements of twelve songs across a range of jazz genres. 

Track listing;

Mount Harissa
He’s Funny That Way
You Do Something to Me
Sophisticated Lady
I’m Old Fashioned
West End Blues
Tea for Two
Mood Indigo
Big Stuff
Shine On, Harvest Moon
I’ll Look Around
St. Louis Blues

Fumi Okiji’s Old Time Jazz Band have further shows lined up as follows;

Friday 6 Feb
Clun Memorial Hall
Clun, Shropshire
SY7 8NY
Age range
All ages
Tickets Adult: £10.00
Time
19:30
Enquiries
01588 640254
Buy tickets on line at http://www.artsalive.co.uk

Saturday7Feb
The Market Theatre
Ledbury, Herefordshire
HR8 2AQ
Age range
All ages
Tickets Adult: £12.00 Child: £8.00
Time
20:00
Enquiries
07967 517125; http://www.themarkettheatre.com
Tickets unavailable online via Arts Alive

12Feb 2015
Charlton Horethorne, Somerset - national rural tour
Charlton Horethorne Village Hall,  Somerset
DT9 4NL
07:30 pm
http://www.takeart.org

13 Feb 2015
West Coker, Yeovil, Somerset - national rural tour
Commemoration Hall West Coker 08:00 pm
High Street
West Coker
Yeovil
Somerset
BA22 9AS
http://www.takeart.org

14 Feb 2015
Curry Mallet, Taunton, Somerset - national rural touring
Curry Mallet and Beercrocombe Village Hall 08:00 pm
Higher Street
Taunton
TA3 6SY
http://www.takeart.org

http://www.fumiokiji.co.uk

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