Photograph of Matt Lush and Loz Collier of Siglo Section sourced from the Siglo Section Facebook page

BRECON JAZZ FESTIVAL 2024, MAIN WEEKEND
SUNDAY 11th AUGUST 2024

RACHEL STARRITT / GLEN MANBY QUARTET with guest STEVEN KIRBY, GUILDHALL THEATRE
Rachel Starritt – piano, Glen Manby – alto sax, Paula Gardiner – double bass, Liz Exell – drums
with Steven Kirby - guitar

In musical terms the Sunday of the Main Festival Weekend was the busiest thus far with five very different ticketed events being presented at different venues around the town.

The day kicked off at the Guildhall with a quartet co-led by two Brecon Jazz favourites, pianist Rachel Starritt and alto saxophonist Glen Manby. They were augmented by the stellar rhythm section of bassist Paula Gardiner and drummer Liz Exell, two more Brecon stalwarts, with the Festival’s American guest, guitarist Steven Kirby, joining the group for some numbers.

Unsighted since her birth in 1994 Rachel Starritt is a young pianist from Bridgend who has studied both jazz and classical music at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD) in Cardiff. She has also studied at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and at the Conservatori Liciu in Barcelona. Her jazz tutors have included such jazz piano greats as Nikki Iles and Huw Warren.

Starritt pursues parallel careers in the classical and jazz worlds and is a member of the British Paraorchestra. As a classical musician she has performed internationally but her love of improvisation has drawn her increasingly towards jazz.

Brecon Jazz Club & Festival has been very supportive of Starritt’s jazz career and the pianist and her trio featuring bassist Clem Saynor and drummer Alex Goodyear performed livestream sets for the Virtual BJF in 2020 and the Hybrid BJF of 2021.

In March 2023 Starritt appeared at a Brecon Jazz club night at The Muse leading a trio featuring Liz Exell at the drums and Ashley John Long on double bass. This line up had never played together before but bonded instantly to deliver a set comprised of Starritt’s adventurous and inventive arrangements of a number of jazz standards. She has a very thorough knowledge of the standards repertoire and her approach to her chosen material is unfailingly audacious and inventive, very much in the spirit of Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau on the occasions that these great American pianists play jazz standards.

The 2023 Brecon Jazz Festival saw Starritt returning to The Muse, this time leading a trio featuring Exell and bassist Ursula Harrison. This latest edition of the Starritt Trio delivered another superb performance, which, like all its predecessors is reviewed elsewhere on this site.

Glen Manby is an alto saxophonist and composer based in Cardiff who has been a mainstay of the South Wales Jazz scene for many years leading his own small groups ranging from trio to quintet. I first recall seeing him play way back in 1994 when he led his quartet in a performance at the now long defunct Cardiff Bay International Jazz Festival. Since then I have seen him perform on a fairly regular basis at Club Nights and Festivals in both Brecon and Abergavenny.

Manby was also a member of the cult Cardiff band - and Brecon Jazz Festival favourites - The Root Doctors led by trombonist/vocalist Mike Harries. Currently he is a member of Chapter Four, the house band at Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre. He has also held teaching posts at a variety of South Wales music education establishments.

Manby cites his primary influences as being fellow alto players Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Stitt and Phil Woods. He has also mentioned the inspiration of such lesser known figures as Andrew Speight, Australian born but now based in San Francisco, and the late Latin jazz saxophonist Mario Rivera. Personally speaking  I also detect something of Jackie McLean in Manby’s incisive tone.

In 2016 Manby released his debut album “Homecoming”, which featured an intriguing mix of Manby originals and outside material, not all of it the usual jazz standards. The album featured an all star quintet including trumpeter Steve Waterman, pianist Leon Greening, bassist Adam King and drummer Matt Home. “Homecoming” is reviewed here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/glen-manby-homecoming

Manby is due to release a new album, “When Sunny Gets Blue” on 33Jazz later in 2024. Recorded with a South Wales based trio led by drummer John Gibbon and featuring pianist Guy Shotton and bassist Olly Blanchflower this recording places a greater emphasis on the standards repertoire and is already available at gigs. My thanks to Glen for providing me with a review copy of the album, which I intend to take a fuller look at in due course.

Today’s performance featured a mix of original compositions by Manby and guest Steven Kirby alongside Starritt’s imaginative arrangements of jazz standards, Welsh hymn tunes and jazz compositions by artists such as the late American pianist McCoy Tyner (1938-2020).

Indeed the core quartet commenced with Tyner’s “Blues For Gwen” which included an astonishing piano solo from Starritt as she channelled something of Tyner’s spirit during the course of a torrential and turbulent passage of unaccompanied piano, introducing avant garde flourishes that almost steered the music into Cecil Taylor territory. Some audience members didn’t quite know what to make of it and it was certainly a dramatic wake up call for an early Sunday afternoon. Elsewhere Manby soloed in saxophone trio format as Starritt took a well earned rest, and there were also features for Gardiner and Exell, the latter entering into a series of lively exchanges with Manby and Starritt.

Starritt’s arrangement of the Welsh hymn tune “Ar Hyd Y Nos” began with a passage of unaccompanied piano and later incorporated more orthodox jazz solos from Starritt, Manby and Gardiner.

Starritt and Manby shared the announcing duties and it was the saxophonist who selected the next piece, a Charlie Parker inspired arrangement of the ballad “Embraceable You”, introduced by a combination of piano,  double bass and alto sax as Exell temporarily sat out, before later deploying brushes behind Manby’s alto sax solo.

Manby’s original composition “The Road to Sougia” was inspired by “a long and winding road in Southern Crete”. It’s a piece that appears on the forthcoming “When Sunny Gets Blue” album and boasts a suitably sinuous melodic theme, played by the composer on alto, that formed the basis for his subsequent solo. Starritt’s new found admiration for the music of McCoy Tyner again found expression during the course of a lengthy solo that embraced Tyner-esque flourishes and a wilful dissonance that some listeners again found unsettling. Following Gardiner’s double bass solo Manby returned to complete the winding journey with a second solo.

Guest guitarist Steven Kirby, a professor at the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, USA expanded the group to a quintet as they played his original composition “Plan B”, a tribute to the late, great pianist and composer Bill Evans (1929-80). This was an elegiac ballad that featured Exell wielding brushes and which was notable for the blend of guitar and alto on the melodic theme. Subsequent solos came from Starritt on piano, Manby on alto and the composer on guitar, all making fluent and thoughtful statements that were very much in keeping with the reverential mood of the piece.

A second Kirby original, “Line Game”, the opening track on his 2003 album “North Light”, represented something of a contrast. This was a far more energetic and fast moving piece, ushered in by Exell at the drums and featuring some tricky, be-bop inspired guitar and sax unison melody lines, played over an insistent piano ostinato. Subsequent solos came from Kirby on guitar, Manby on alto, Starritt on piano, again sounding distinctly Tyner-ish, and finally the impressive Exell at the drums.

Kirby now left the stage as the core quartet tackled the Herbie Hancock composition “Driftin’”, a tune from the pianist’s 1962 debut album “Takin’ Off”. Manby stated the theme and took the first solo, followed by Starritt, who explored the full range of the keyboard whilst simultaneously delivering some of her most lyrical playing of the set.

Manby’s next selection was a Charlie Parker tune variously recorded under the titles “Segment” and “Diverse”. Manby stated the theme and took the first solo, followed by Starritt with another bravura solo that seemed to explore the history of jazz piano from Tatum to Tyner, whilst throwing in a whole lot more besides.

The performance concluded with Kirby returning to the stage for a quintet performance of his tune “Webop”, a piece that he had also played with the Zach Breskal Trio at The Muse the previous day. It sounded very different in this new instrumental format with Exell’s crisp drum grooves helping to fuel solos from Kirby, Manby and Starritt, the latter making audacious allusions to “I Got Rhythm” as part of this updating of the bebop tradition. There were also cameos from Gardiner and Exell as today’s performance ended on an energetic note, resulting in the first standing ovation of the day at The Guildhall.

The gig had been a triumph for the musicians and for Festival organisers Lynne Gornall and Roger Cannon who had been instrumental in bringing this band together.

Nevertheless there were some listeners who expressed reservations about Starritt’s contribution, feeling that the pianist had been overly dominant and that her contribution had been ‘over the top’. She had certainly played in a manner that I had never encountered from her before but personally I enjoyed this new, adventurous approach. Starritt is an inquisitive musician who never likes to stay in one place for too long and her discovery of the music of McCoy Tyner has clearly opened up new avenues for her to explore, fully utilising her prodigious piano technique in the process. That said I could see where the doubters were coming from, her solos were invariably longer than anyone else’s, although it should be said that she was billed as the co-leader of the group. It would be interesting to know what her fellow musicians made of her performance.

The majority of the audience were impressed enough to give the band a terrific reception. I was also pleased to hear more of the impressive Kirby’s original writing and it was good to see Manby taking a composer credit too. All in all an excellent start to the day.

SIGLO SECTION BIG BAND, THE GUILDHALL

Matt Lush – drums
Loz Collier, Joe Bentley, Catrin Nicholas, Morgan Rees – trumpets
Tiggy Blackwell, Jake Durham, Ben Thorpe, Tom Kilby – trombones
Blyth Bennett, Sam Robertson – tenor saxes
Coren Sithers, Alex Bingham – alto saxes
Jessica Ruth Morris – baritone sax
David Roberts – piano
John Close – guitar
Cameron Saint – acoustic and electric bass

Siglo Section is a Cardiff based big band co-founded by drummer Matt Lush and trumpeter Loz Collier, who remain the band’s musical directors, principal arrangers and de facto leaders.

Formed in 2019 the band is largely comprised of alumni from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) and the band name is derived from ‘siglo’, the Welsh word for ‘swing’.

In addition to the full on big band the members of the Siglo Collective also perform in smaller units, usually as a quartet or sextet and sometimes with guest vocalists.

In 2020 members of Siglo Section collaborated on a remarkable remote big band performance for the Virtual Brecon Jazz Festival. The music was recorded in lockdown on-line, with tracks being built from the drums upwards, with the rhythm tracks featuring drums, bass, piano and guitar being laid down first before parts were emailed to the leaders of the trumpet, trombone and woodwind sections, who in turn forwarded them on to their colleagues. Collier then edited and mixed the musical performances while Lush masterminded the accompanying videos. 

It represented a remarkable achievement and it was only fitting that Siglo Section should eventually be invited to Brecon Jazz Festival to play for a real live audience. They were rewarded with a near packed house at The Guildhall and the fans were treated to a terrific performance by a young and highly accomplished band whose members looked as if they were enjoying every minute of it.

Siglo opened with “The Chicken”, a tune combining propulsive funk grooves with a punchy, authentic big band sound. The featured horn soloists included trombonist Tiggy Blackwell and tenor saxophonist Blyth Bennett, both of whom had featured as part of Cameron Saint’s Mingus Project band at The Castle Hotel the previous Friday. With this in mind it was perhaps appropriate that the other featured soloist should have been Saint on electric bass.

Saint moved to double bass for “Splanky”, which featured the sound of Morgan Rees on plunger muted trumpet and included further solos from Bennett on tenor sax and David Roberts on piano.

Collier was the featured soloist on his own arrangement of “Chant”, a tune written by his fellow trumpeter, Donald Byrd. We also heard again from the impressive pianist David Roberts.

The Mingus links surfaced again with a rendition of the great bassist / composer’s “Boogie Stop Shuffle”, introduced by Saint on double bass and featuring the sound of plunger muted trumpets and trombones. Collier and Roberts were again featured as soloists, alongside Bennett on tenor sax. A joyous and exuberant collective performance was rounded off by the irrepressible Lush at the drum kit.

The personable drummer handled all the tune introductions and next announced the Gershwin classic “Summertime”. This was performed in a warm and lush arrangement that again featured vocalised trumpet sounds and with the impressive trombonist Tiggy Blackwell then emerging as the principal soloist

Siglo’s version of pianist / composer Cedar Walton’s composition “I’m Not So Sure” was in turn inspired by a recording of the piece by the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove. The busy Roberts was again a featured soloist, alongside the similarly busy Collier.

Collier’s arrangement of a second Gershwin classic, “I Got Rhythm” was a feature for alto saxophonist Coren Sithers, who had appeared elsewhere at the Festival playing tenor with the Mingus Project and with the Ursula Harrison Quartet. Blackwell and the trombone section also fulfilled a prominent role in the arrangement.

The late composer and arranger Sammy Nestico (1924 – 2021) remains a popular figure with contemporary big bands and once worked as an arranger for Count Basie. “For Lena and Lenny”, co-written by Nestico and Quincy Jones, was a ballad that featured the sounds of muted brass and also acted as a vehicle for tenor sax soloist Blyth Bennett. Like his colleague Sithers Bennett is a versatile musician and on Friday had been featured on alto as a member of the Mingus Project.

Lush displayed his skills as an arranger on “Lightwalk”, a convincing piece of genuine big band swing that included solos from guitarist John Close, alto saxophonist Alex Bingham, trumpeter Joe Bentley and Lush himself at the drum kit.

The trio of Lush, Roberts and Saint introduced “Hayburner”, a swinging ensemble piece written by Nestico that put the emphasis on collectivity and included no individual solos.

For “Pennsylvania 65000”, a tune most commonly associated with Glenn Miller, Lush encouraged a little audience participation, with the large crowd responding enthusiastically, bellowing the chorus in between solos from Bentley on trumpet and Bennett on tenor.

Time constraints meant that the band had to omit a couple of numbers from their planned set list and the performance looked set to conclude with “Sunny”, which saw Saint moving back to electric bass and driving a big band groove that helped to fuel solos from Roberts and Collier, the latter with an expansive solo that peaked with some astonishing high register trumpeting.

Such was the audience reaction to Siglo Section, the second standing ovation of the day and one that was even more ecstatic than the first, that they were allowed the rare luxury of an encore, “Sing Sing Sing”, a showcase for Lush’s dynamic drumming.

The general consensus was that this had been one of the best gigs of the Festival. This still youthful big band was admirably tight and polished and featured some excellent individual soloists within its ranks. Co-leaders Lush and Collier impressed with their arranging kills and Lush also presented the show in confident and jovial fashion. He’s something of a showman, whose drum kit was located at the front of the stage.

The members of Siglo Section were genuinely delighted to have played in front of such a large and appreciative audience and the organisers’ decision to bring the band to the Festival to perform live was fully vindicated by this brilliant collective performance.

ELIANE CORREA’S CUBAN QUINTET, GUILDHALL THEATRE

Eliane Correa – piano, vocals, Dunia Correa – lead vocals, percussion, Landy Diaz – trombone, Frank Portuondo – electric bass,  vocals, Alejandro Martinez – percussion, drums

Pianist and sometime vocalist Eliane Correa leads a quintet of London based Cuban emigrees playing a mix of original compositions and songs from the ‘Great Cuban Songbook’,  material originating from the 1940s and 50s that will be familiar to European listeners via the celebrated Buena Vista Social Club recordings.

Correa had previously appeared at the Guildhall as part of the 2018 Brecon Jazz Festival when she was the leader of a London based sextet accompanying trumpeter Mait Hontele, Dutch born but now resident in Colombia and a real star of contemporary Latin music. My review of that show can be found as part of that year’s Festival coverage.

In addition to leading her own groups, including a twelve piece salsa band,  Correa is a prolific session musician and also the organiser of the London Latin Jazz Festival.

Correa’s music draws on her Latin heritage but also encompasses elements of jazz, a key component in her music, plus soul, funk and rock. Today’s show placed the emphasis on the Latin and jazz elements but as my knowledge of the Spanish language is scant I’m not going to try to give my usual song by song account but instead will attempt to give an overall impression of another remarkable performance that provided the third standing ovation of the day at the Guildhall, again from an almost capacity audience.

Although Eliane Correa sings herself and handled the majority of the announcements the quintet was actually fronted by lead vocalist Dunia Correa, who also played scraper throughout. Drummer / percussionist Alejandro Martinez played a hybrid drum / percussion set up featuring elements from the conventional Western drum kit alongside congas and other items of Latin percussion. The line up was completed by Frank Portuondo on electric bass and Landy Diaz on trombone. Diaz shared the majority of the instrumental solos with Eliane and proved to be a fluent, imaginative and versatile soloist.

Eliane Correa proved to be a flamboyant and inspired instrumental soloist who played with great flair and physicality, sometimes standing up to play as she immersed herself in her solos like a female, Latin-ised version of Keith Jarrett. As a singer her backing vocals were a good foil for the confident lead singing of Dunia Correa.

The quintet presented their music with great elan and energy and at one point Dunia had virtually the whole crowd on its feet as she attempted to teach the audience members the basic steps of Cuban salsa, not an easy task in an all seater theatre on one of the hottest days of the year. Nevertheless everybody made a bit of an effort and some of the more enthusiastic dancers made their way into the aisles for the rest of the set. But for most it was a case of “the mind is tripping, but the disc is slipping”, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t fully appreciative of the music.

Between numbers Eliane spoke of how she was attempting to address the gender balance in Cuban music, which has traditionally been very male orientated. This finds expression in the lyrics of her original compositions and in the fact that all of the bands that she works in feature a mix of genders, today’s quintet being no exception.

The material played included songs documented on the Buena Vista Social Club album, among them “Chan Chan”, the album opener that has become the recording’s most famous song, effectively its ‘signature tune’.

Also included was an unmistakably Cuban adaptation of the endlessly versatile and malleable Juan Tizol / Duke Ellington composition “Caravan”.

Throughout the set I was captivated by the interlocking rhythms generated by the combination of piano, electric bass and drums / percussion, with Dunia’s scraper also an integral component. Although I couldn’t understand the lyrics both Correas were captivating vocal performers, with Portuondo also adding backing vocals. As previously alluded to Diaz was also an impressive performer, his trombone representing a vital melodic component of the music.

This was a rich, vibrant, colourful and energetic performance that delighted the Guildhall audience and earned the quintet a rousing reception and TWO encores. A clearly delighted Eliane Correa made a point of thanking the crowd and also the Festival organisers Lynne Gornall and Roger Cannon, plus the sound team from Ratio Studios headed by Emily Darlington and Gavin Hales, who had done a great job at the various venues throughout the weekend.

JPG GROOVE TRIO, THE WELLINGTON HOTEL

John-Paul Gard – keyboards, Chris Cobbson – guitar, Paolo Adamo – drums

I managed to catch a couple of numbers from this excellent Bristol based trio led by keyboard player John-Paul Gard. With the leader deploying a range of keyboard sounds, including the Hammond sound for which he is best known, this was music from the funk and fusion end of the jazz spectrum as played by three top quality musicians.

I’d have liked to have heard rather more of this but left when the trio took their break in order to make my way to Brecon Cathedral for the next ticketed event.

The members of the JPG Groove Trio are all highly popular on the South Wales jazz circuit and it would be nice to see the trio invited back to the Club or Festival on a more formal basis.

When they are playing this style of music they would also be a good fit for the Music Spoken Here series of jazz / funk / fusion events that take place on a regular basis at the Marr’s Bar venue in Worcester.

During the course of the weekend Gard also appeared on the Central Stage in the town square as part of a quartet featuring saxophonist Dominic Norcross and Elaina Hoss, this group playing an enjoyable mix of jazz, soul and blues.

ROSIE FRATER-TAYLOR, MINDSET STAGE, BRECON CATHEDRAL

Rosie Frater-Taylor – guitar, lead vocals, Azz Loukic – keyboards, backing vocals, Dave Edwards- electric bass, Tom Potter – drums, Verushka – backing vocals

The final concert event at the Mindset Stage featured the London based singer / songwriter Rosie Frater-Taylor and her quintet.

The daughter of jazz vocalist Josie Frater and jazz drummer Steve Taylor she has released two full length albums to date, “Bloom”, dating from 2021 and “Featherweight”, which first appeared in February 2024.

As befits a child from a musical family Frater-Taylor’s influences are rich and varied and include Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, PJ Harvey, John Mayer, Meshell Ndegeocello, St Vincent,, Madison Cunningham  Zero 7, Tania Maria, Seal and Pat Metheny.

It’s an eclectic mix that results in a music that shares jazz and indie rock sensibilities. I saw a short live performance by Frater-Taylor and her then current band, including dad Steve Taylor on cajon and percussion, at a Daylight Music Event at Union Chapel as part of the 2019 EFG London Jazz Festival. I have to admit to not really being overly impressed due to the lack of genuine jazz content and the fact that none of the songs really reached out and grabbed me.

I found tonight’s show rather more engaging but a relatively sparse attendance – the media buzz that surrounds Frater-Taylor in London doesn’t seem to have reached as far as Mid Wales – and a fuzzy acoustic didn’t help matters. Brecon Cathedral is well suited to small, acoustic acts but with larger, louder, electric ensembles the sound tends to bounce around the walls and get distorted and muddy. As a result I couldn’t pick up much of the lyrical content, although I liked the timbre of Frater-Taylor’s voice and was also impressed by her abilities as a guitarist.

Frater-Taylor’s band included Azz Loukic on keys and backing vocals, Dave Edwards on six string electric bass and Tom Potter, previously heard with Scottish jazz saxophonist Matt Carmichael, at the drums. The line up also included a young lady known only as Verushka on backing vocals.

The material was sourced from both albums and also included a number of interesting and inspired covers. The performance began with “Better Days” from Frater-Taylor’s debut, followed by “Heartbeat” from the new album “Featherweight”.

Frater-Taylor’s jazz sensibilities found expression in the instrumental opportunities offered to her fellow band members, with Potter featuring on “Falling Fast”, another tune from the new album.

Meanwhile “Think About You”, the opening track from “Bloom” featured a remarkable voice generated synth solo from Loukic, a kind of keyboard equivalent to a guitarist’s voice bag. This generated an ecstatic reaction from an audience that included a mix of curious first timers and a handful of hard core RF-T fans. This song also featured Frater-Taylor as an instrumental soloist and saw her making effective use of live looping techniques and other guitar effects.

The first of a series of interesting covers came with the Kate Bush song “Running Up That Hill”, which worked effectively in a slowed down arrangement that again saw Frater-Taylor making use of a range of pedal generated guitar effects.

“Featherweight” includes a cover of the TLC song “No Scrubs”, another interesting choice with Frater-Taylor’s approach to the song inspired by US singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham. This was another piece that demonstrated Frater-Taylor’s considerable abilities as a guitarist.

“Hold The Weight”, the first single to be taken from the “Featherweight” album featured the quintet at their rockiest, with Edwards’ six string bass prominent in the arrangement. From the same album “Give and Take” continued the mood with Edwards still playing a major role and with Frater-Taylor delighting in the role of lead guitarist.

By way of contrast “Skin Deep”, also from the new record, was a solo performance from the leader, a fragile and intimate episode featuring just voice and guitar.

Loukic and Verushka returned for “Stop Running”, also from “Featherweight”, a trio performance featuring live looping techniques and the vocal harmonies of Frater-Taylor and Verushka.

The full band then concluded the performance a cover of the Fleetwood Mac song “Dreams”, written by Stevie Nicks. Like the Kate Bush item this featured a slowed down arrangement that was again extremely effective and which also featured Frater-Taylor as an instrumental soloist.

The Frater-Taylor Quintet was well received by those that were there and merch sales seemed to be brisk, but I still suspect that both the band and the organisers may have been disappointed with the size of the actual turnout.

I found myself getting more and more into the performance as it progressed and would be intrigued to hear Frater-Taylor on disc. The reservations about the Cathedral acoustics remain, those about the quality of the songs less so, and let’s face it although Frater-Taylor receives coverage from the jazz media and appears on the bill at jazz festivals she doesn’t really have any pretensions about being a ‘jazz act’. She does what she does, but it’s probably true to say that she does so with a ‘Jazz Mindset’.

THE FABULOUS RED DIESEL, THE MUSE

Kat Lee-Ryan – lead vocals, keyboards, flute, percussion, Simon Dobell – trumpet, guitar, backing vocals, Beatrice Gullick –double bass,  trumpet, tuba, backing vocals, Wil Lee-Ryan – drums

This year’s late night ‘party slot’ at The Muse featured The Fabulous Red Diesel, a quartet from Hastings / St. Leonards, Sussex, fronted by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Kat Lee-Ryan, aka Ms. Kitty, who also writes the group’s material.

The band members are experienced multi-instrumentalists who have all been on the music scene in their individual capacities for years. Since coming together in Hastings they have attracted a cult following for their quirky songwriting and their colourful,  high energy and highly irreverent live performances. The eccentrically attired quartet engage with their audiences constantly and any TFRD performance is equal parts serious gig and party.

Summing up the quartet’s performance immediately after the show Chris Jones of BJF’s planning committee described the group as variously being “quirky, flamboyant and utterly bonkers”. After what we had just witnessed it was impossible to disagree with him.

Formed in 2016 TFRD have already managed to release eight albums, although, admittedly, some of these are live recordings.

Arriving late after after the Frater-Taylor gig overran I stumbled in to the venue just in time to hear “Plastic Ginger”, a song about an inflatable doll! TFRD’s sometimes humorous songs address a broad and eclectic range of subject matter,  often written from a feminist standpoint, but the band do have a serious side as well, but more on that later.

Ms. Kitty is a surprisingly soulful vocalist and an accomplished keyboard player, She also plays Roland Kirk / Jethro Tull style flute and shakes and rattles various items of percussion. Situated centre stage she was very much the focus of attention, but that’s not to say that the rest of the band didn’t have their moments.

Beatrice Gullick, whom Kitty has dubbed ‘Miss Bea Have’ is also a multi-instrumentalist, handling the bass parts on both double and tuba as well as adding a dash of trumpet and backing vocals.

Simon Dobell is equally proficient on trumpet and guitar and spent the evening switching between the two as the music required, whilst also adding a smattering of backing vocals.

Drummer Wil Lee-Ryan, Kitty’s husband, was happy to quietly sit at the back and lay down the beat, variously driving and anchoring the band in an effective but unostentatious manner.

Much of the material performed was sourced from the band’s latest album “Goddess The Seahorse” and included the breezy “Summer End” with its FX pedal generated wah wah trumpet solo, a sound that Dobell was to deploy on numerous occasions, including on the following “Apple Tree”.

Elsewhere we were to enjoy a trumpet duet featuring Dobell and Gullick on “Innocence”, a song from the album “The Queensbury House Sessions”.

This was quirky pop with a jazz flavour, a music that was eminently danceable, as evidenced by the title of “Grooving Around”, just one of the many songs that tempted a number of dancers onto their feet to groove around in the space at the back of the venue close to the bar. Among those spotted ‘throwing shapes’ were BJF’s Lynne Gornall and Ruth Gibbs from The Muse.

The rollicking “Put That Woman Down” introduced a New Orleans flavour to the proceedings, something that continued on “Timelord” with its refrain “if I was a Timelord I would save you”. This was a song that featured Gullick’s rumbustious tuba playing, something that cropped up on numerous occasions during the set, with Kitty requesting the audience to shout “Tuba!” in the style of a football chant to indicate if they wanted the bass line on a song to be carried by the brass behemoth rather than the double bass. Inevitably Gullick’s tuba excursions were a big feature of this energetic, wilfully eccentric performance.

But there’s also a serious side to TFRD. “Timelord” is a song from the album “Sparkly Bird”,  the soundtrack to a musical theatre production that deals with suicide and mental health issues and which is based on a true story. Inevitably many of the other songs on this album are more serious in tone, but wouldn’t have been quite so suitable for this ‘Last Night of the Festival’ party.

Rather more in keeping with occasion was the raucous “Fur Coat, No Underwear” with its Latin-esque flourishes, jaunty flute solo and saucy pay off line, “Ermine round your shoulders, no pants upon your arse, get a little bolder, you’ll make yourself some brass”.

Now you can see where Chris Jones was coming from with that description as he thanked the band, the Festival organisers and others, before inviting TFRD to remain on stage for a deserved encore.

From “Goddess The Seahorse” this was “Beggars Would Ride”, a hard driving song featuring a soulful vocal and a lyric based on an old proverb.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable live event that saw the band establishing a terrific rapport with their audience. It was a great occasion and a good, light hearted way to round off the Main Weekend of an excellent Festival.

As much as I enjoyed the event I suspect that TFRD are a bit too much of a ‘novelty act’ to be convincing in the home listening environment, but as a live attraction they’re great and their colourful, quirky and exciting shows have gained them quite a following.

For me the real musical highlights of the day were the three performances at the Guildhall, all very different and all excellent in their own way, and with each one earning a genuine standing ovation. If I had to pick just one highlight I think it would have to be Siglo Section, this really was a brilliant big band performance, particularly from such young, but hugely talented musicians.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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