Brecon Jazz Festival, Family & Jazz Day, Gardens and Marquee, Castle Hotel, Brecon, 04/08/2024.

PROLOGUE

The Covid inspired decision for Brecon Jazz Festival to be scheduled over three consecutive weekends in August resulted in the creation of a ‘Family & Jazz Day’, a relaxed and informal event designed to attract new listeners to the music, with the emphasis very much on families and with free admission for children.

The 2022 and 2023 events took place in marquees situated on the site of Brecon County Show, one of the largest agricultural shows in Wales. Both events were hugely successful, enjoying good weather and large attendances and each is reviewed elsewhere on The Jazzmann.

The Brecon Showground marquee was unavailable for 2024 but Brecon Jazz Festival organisers Lynne Gornall and Roger Cannon were determined that the Family & Jazz Day should continue and decided to transfer the event to the gardens of the Castle Hotel, a long-standing Festival venue which has hosted concert events in its spacious and elegant ballroom in addition to more informal performances in the grounds.

The gardens at the Castle Hotel are both spacious and scenic, with beautiful views across to the peaks of the Brecon Beacons, or Bannau Brycheiniog if you prefer. It’s a vista that once prompted the American guitarist Wayne Krantz, who had been performing in the ballroom, to exclaim “Wow, man! This is the best backstage area in the World!”.

Today a marquee and covered stage had been erected in the gardens, the hotel itself was open for food and drink and the Pizza Wagon food concession was also in attendance. The weather remained fine, although not as warm as in previous years, and the musical offering was comfortably the strongest to date with enjoyable performances coming from three very different bands, Baraka, The Jazz Passengers and Jingu Bang.

In addition to the main musical performances there were a number of workshops and activities that were suitable for both adults and children, including two vocal workshops hosted by musician Rod Paton, a Latin Dance session presented by dancers Bethany Miah and Lloyd Griffiths and two arts and crafts workshops variously hosted by Karin Mear and Nigel Evans and by Lindsay and Nick Hay with Ruth Gibbs. There was also face painting for the children, of which there were many.

Musical entertainment between the main acts was provided by the duo of Brecon Jazz stalwart Jane Williams on ukulele and vocals and Gareth Evans on guitar. The pair played an entertaining and enjoyable mix of jazz standards and original songs, their repertoire including the standards “Ain’t Misbehavin’”, Black Coffee”, “I Thought About You” and “I Put A Spell On You”. Williams, who also handled some of today’s announcing duties on the main stage, had performed with her full band at the 2022 Family event, while Evans had appeared at the same year’s Main Weekend as part of a duo with blues vocalist and guitarist Bella Collins at The Muse.

BARAKA

Ben Baddoo – balafon, percussion, lead and backing vocals, Chris Cobbson – guitar, Rowan Porteous – trumpet, backing vocals, Royston Gage – electric bass, lead and backing vocals, Tony Bailey – drums

Baraka is a Bristol based quintet featuring musicians from Africa and the Caribbean and their vibrant and highly rhythmic music reflects their broad range of influences.

The group are no strangers to Brecon Jazz Festival and performed a short set at St. Mary’s Church as part of the 2022 Festival. I also remember enjoying a show from the band at the 2016 Wall2Wall Jazz Festival in nearby Abergavenny.

The current Baraka line up features the Ghanaian musicians Ben Baddoo (percussion, vocals) and Chris Cobbson (guitar). The Caribbean is represented by bassist / vocalist Royston Gage, from Dominica, and Trinidadian drummer Tony Bailey.  The line up is completed by the British trumpeter Rowan Porteous. Previous editions of the group have included the Irish saxophonist / flautist / harmonica player Brendan Whitmore.

Sound problems delayed the start but the wait was well worth it, allowing Baraka to be heard at their best. This was the first time that I had enjoyed a full length set from the band and I was impressed by the joyousness of their playing and by the wide variety of musical styles that they embraced.

A short instrumental jam set the scene as Gage, Bailey and Baddoo established a groove that was complemented by Cobbson’s choppy, African style rhythm guitar and topped and tailed by Porteous’ brief trumpet solo.

This paved the way for “Ashawa”, a song originating in Ghana that featured vibrant West African rhythms and Baddoo’s lead vocals, backed by Gage and Porteous. The trumpeter was also featured as an instrumental soloist, his bright and brassy offering followed by Cobbson on guitar and by something of a drum and percussion battle between Baddoo and Bailey. An enjoyable and invigorating start.

The music re-located to the Caribbean for the reggae flavoured song “Roots”, which included English language lyrics sung by bassist Gage, with Baddoo and Porteous now in support.
As was frequently the case Porteous was the featured soloist with another fluent and colourful outing on trumpet.

A return to Ghana for “Yaa Amponsah”, a Highlife song with a title roughly translating as “Every Woman is a Princess”, and featuring an assured lead vocal from Baddoo and some dazzling high register trumpeting from Porteous.

Back to the Caribbean for “Moon Funsacosa”, a song from Dominica sung by Gage, with Baddoo in vocal support. Baddoo was also featured on balafon for the first time, sharing the instrumental solos with Porteous.

The “let’s party” sentiments of “Nobody Lives For Two Hundred Years” were given voice by Baddoo with Porteous and Cobbson offering vivacious instrumental support, their solos followed by a scintillating drum and percussion workout featuring Baddoo and Bailey.

We enjoyed a second visit to Dominica for the song “Moon Latte”, featuring Gage’s lead vocal and with Baddoo again on balafon. Instrumental solos came from Cobbson on guitar and Porteous on trumpet.

A hugely enjoyable set concluded with the rabble rousing “Trouble at Home”, sung by Baddoo, who also introduced the band members, all of these responding with individual cameos, as Cobbson was followed by Bailey, Gage and Porteous.

This was the best performance that I have seen from Baraka. All of the members impressed instrumentally and Baddoo also delivered a number of impressive vocal performances. Once again Cobbson’s mastery of a variety of guitar styles was particularly impressive, both as a rhythm player and as a featured soloist. Porteous also impressed as a fluent and fiery trumpet soloist, while Baddoo, Bailey and Gage represented a supple and hard grooving rhythm section.

My thanks to Chris Cobbson for speaking with me after the show and for running through the set list for me.

THE JAZZ PASSENGERS

Dick Hamer – tenor sax, flute, clarinet, Andy Hague – trumpet, flugelhorn, Phil Jarvis – trombone, Dave Jones – keyboard, Alun Vaughan – electric bass, Paul Sheppard – drums, Jenny Jones – vocals

Following what was billed as ‘World Music & Rhythms’ from Baraka the next act was billed as a ‘Swing Band’ and offered a more conventional style of swinging, mainstream jazz. Credit is due to the sound engineers for getting the timings back on track following the earlier delay and this performance got under way at the scheduled time of 4.00 pm.

Not to be confused with the rather more avant garde New York outfit of the same name The Jazz Passengers is a South Wales based ensemble led by multi-reeds player Dick Hamer, a stalwart of the Welsh jazz scene for many years. A previous visit to Brecon Jazz Club in January 2023 saw him leading a quartet featuring Rod Paton on keys and occasional vocals, Paula Gardiner on double bass and Liz Exell at the drums. That performance is reviewed elsewhere on The Jazzmann.

The other members of the Jazz Passengers line up are popular figures on the South Wales jazz scene, with Andy Hague crossing the Severn Bridge from Bristol to join today’s line up.

The Passengers’ repertoire features Hamer’s arrangements of well known jazz and swing tunes and the band kicked off with an instrumental version of the standard “Time After Time”, which included solos from Hague on trumpet, Vaughan on electric bass and Dave Jones at the keyboard, on an acoustic piano setting. Hamer’s arrangement saw the song tackled at a faster tempo than is usual, but this helped to make for a brisk and invigorating start.

Hamer welcomed vocalist Jenny Jones to the stage for the song “Just You, Just Me”. A popular figure on the Welsh jazz circuit Jones is a confident and accomplished singer with a genuine love of the material. Her singing was augmented instrumental solos from Hamer on tenor sax, Jarvis on trombone and Dave Jones at the piano.

Jenny remained on stage to sing “I’ve Got The World On A String”, giving another assured vocal performance, with the first instrumental solo coming from her namesake, Dave. Hamer’s tenor solo was accompanied by Vaughan’s five string electric bass only. Jarvis then rounded off the solos on trombone.

The next piece was an instrumental, “Unit 7”, a tune written by bassist Sam Jones (1924-81), known for his work with Cannonball Adderley and Wes Montgomery, among many others. This was a vehicle for the fluent soloing of Hague on trumpet, Jarvis on trombone and Vaughan on bass, these followed by a lively series of exchanges between drummer Sheppard and his fellow instrumentalists.

Jenny Jones returned to the stage to tell us the story behind the song “Why Don’t You Do Right?”, a song written by Kansas Joe McCoy and first recorded under the title “Weed Smoker’s Dream” in 1936 – who said drug references in popular song were new? Under the cleaned up title “Why Don’t You Do Right” the song was later a huge hit for Peggy Lee and it was this version that formed the basis for today’s arrangement, with Jenny’s vocals augmented by instrumental solos from Hamer on tenor sax, Hague on bluesy, vocalised muted trumpet and Dave Jones at the piano.

Next Jenny told us the tragic tale of the Brazilian bossa nova vocalist Sylvia Telles, who died in a car accident in 1966 aged just thirty two. Telles worked frequently with Antonio Carlos Jobim and Jenny dedicated today’s performance of Jobim’s “Dindi” to Telles’ memory. Singing a combination of Portuguese and English lyrics Jenny’s vocals were complemented by solos from Hamer on flute, Hague on Harmon muted trumpet and Dave Jones at the piano, while Vaughan and Sheppard impressed with their command of the Brazilian rhythms.

Hank Mobley’s classic hard bop composition “This I Dig Of You” was performed as an instrumental and included features for all the players with Hamer leading things off on tenor, followed by Hague on trumpet, Jarvis on trombone and Jones at the piano. Vaughan featured with an unaccompanied electric bass solo, followed by Sheppard at the drums.

Hamer’s arrangement of the jazz standard “After You’ve Gone” saw Jenny Jones returning to the stage to duet with Dave on the voice and piano intro. A subsequent acceleration of pace saw Sheppard switching from brushes to sticks and also incorporated some impressive interplay between the horns, with Hamer now featuring on clarinet.

An instrumental arrangement of the song “On a Clear Day” featured Hague on flugel for the first time as he shared the solos with the leader on tenor and Dave Jones at the piano.

After some discussion with the event organisers Jenny Jones returned to the stage for the deserved encore, a vocal version of the Ray Nobles song “Cherokee”, a tune more often heard as an instrumental. Jenny’s assured singing incorporated a brief scat vocal episode, with Hamer on tenor and Jarvis on trombone the featured instrumental soloists.

This was an enjoyable set of straight ahead jazz performed by some of South Wales’ most popular jazz musicians and it was very well received by the Brecon audience. Although there was nothing overly adventurous here this was perfect musical fare for a laid back Sunday afternoon.

JINGU BANG

Scott Hammond – drums, Ruth Hammond – tenor sax, bass clarinet, Korg synthesiser, Dale Hambridge – keyboards, Greig Robinson – electric bass, Tammy Payne – percussion

Jingu Bang is a Bristol based quintet founded by Jethro Tull drummer Scott Hammond and fronted by his wife, Ruth, on a variety of reeds and occasional keyboards. The band also includes Dale Hambridge on keyboards, Greig Robinson on electric bass and either Tammy Payne or Lisa Cherrian on percussion.

The Jingu Bang band name has its roots in Chinese mythology but its musical inspirations are primarily American. The group’s primary influences date back to the fusion era of the 1970s and include electric era Miles Davis, Weather Report and particularly Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters. 

This was Jingu Bang’s second visit to Brecon Jazz Festival following an appearance at 2021’s ‘hybrid’ event when they had played indoors at the same location in the Castle Hotel ballroom. Despite a wind that consistently blew sheet music around, a problem for all three bands, Scott Hammond declared himself happy to be playing outside, rather than dealing with the echoing acoustics of the ballroom, which had been half empty back in 2021 due to Covid regulations.

More recently I have enjoyed a performance by a four piece version of the band (no percussionist) at a Music Spoken Here event at The Marr’s Bar in Worcester in October 2023.

The group’s repertoire remains essentially the same as at that those two earlier shows, a selection of fusion classics, the majority of them written by Hancock.

The performance commenced with Scott Hammond striking a large gong emblazoned with the Jingu Bang band name as Ruth conjured swirling, oscillating sounds from her Korg synth.  “Sounds like Hawkwind!”, observed one spectator. Scott then began to lay down a funky drum groove, augmented by Robinson’s muscular electric bass and the clavinet like sounds generated by Hambridge, who was playing a rack of two Nord keyboards. The tune was Hancock’s “Palm Grease” and featured dynamic solos from Ruth on tenor sax and Hambridge at the keyboards, now deploying an electric piano or ‘Rhodes’ sound.  An excellent, high energy start, with Scott’s drums at the heart of the music throughout.

Next up was “King Cobra”, a tune by saxophonist Tom Scott and his band LA Express, a highly popular outfit back in the day. Scott is also well known for his role as a sax soloist and horn arranger on Steely Dan’s classic “Aja” album.  A funk infused arrangement featured suitably sinuous tenor sax melody lines and a powerful solo from Ruth. She was followed by Hambridge, adopting an electric piano sound on the keyboards as Ruth doubled on Korg synth.

Scott described Hancock’s composition “Butterfly” as being “almost a ballad”, but although it was less frenetic then the opening two numbers it still retained a cerebrally funky undertow, with Ruth featuring on bass clarinet and again doubling on Korg during Hambridge’s electric piano solo.

The only original tune of the set was Scott’s composition “Bristol Bonsai”, a piece that was also performed at Worcester and which stands up well in comparison to the Hancock material. This was introduced by Payne’s congas, joined in dialogue by Ruth’s bass clarinet. Hambridge added keyboard shadings before Scott Hammond and Robinson established a groove, the piece culminating in a drum and percussion dialogue between Scott and Payne, with Scott making extensive use of cowbell. Hambridge subsequently took over once more with an electric piano solo.

It was back to the Hancock repertoire for the classic composition “Actual Proof”, introduced by Robinson on funky electric bass and incorporating a pitch bending solo from Ruth Hammond on Korg synth. Ruth is a highly accomplished keyboard player and plays keys with a number of other groups including the Hopkins Hammond Organ Trio and the all female quartet Starlings, the latter visitors to Brecon Jazz Club in March 2024. Hambridge was also featured as a keyboard soloist, coaxing a variety of different sounds from his bank of Nords. Robinson was also featured more extensively on electric bass.

Following the complexities of “Actual Proof” the band turned to one of their mates for the next piece. “Charlotte United” was written by Gary Bamford, a keyboard player from Swindon, and deployed simpler, but no less effective melodies and funk rhythms. Well suited to Jingu Bang’s approach this tune incorporated features for Hambridge on electric piano,  Ruth on tenor sax and Robinson on bass. Once again this was a piece by an English writer that stood up well against its American counterparts.

Hancock’s splendidly funky “Heartbeat” represented a showcase for the keyboard players with Ruth featuring on Korg and Hambridge deploying a mix of clavinet and electric piano sounds.

The first piece from the pen of Jaco Pastorius” was “Opus Pocus”, a composition from his eponymous debut solo album from 1976 and a track on which Hancock played. Introduced by Scott Hammond ad Tammy Payne this piece also featured solos from Ruth on tenor sax and Robinson on Jaco-esque electric bass.

The last Hancock piece was “Spider”, again ushered in by Payne, but this time with her congas and other percussion underscored by Hambridge’s Nord generated synth washes. She then combined with kit drums, electric bass and Hambridge’s filthy clavinet sounds to create a web of grooves that underpinned Ruth’ s raunchy tenor sax solo.  The performance also included an electric piano solo and a drums / electric bass / percussion workout with Payne’s congas again to the fore. This was seriously low down and dirty, heavy duty funk that evoked an enthusiastic response from the audience.

Equally popular with the crowd was the choice for the closing number, the Weather Report tune “Palladium”, written by the late, great Wayne Shorter. Featuring Ruth on tenor sax this piece also included a Zawinul inspired keyboard solo from Hambridge and a final percussion feature from Tammy Payne, who was feeling the cold and was probably glad to have something energetic to do.

It was now around 8.40 pm and the shadows were beginning to lengthen, bringing the end to an enjoyable and entertaining day of music making featuring three very different bands, all operating underneath the broad stylistic umbrella that we call jazz.

Fortunately no actual brollies were needed on a day that saw many families with young children enjoying the music and all the associated activities. The weather could have been better, but it could have been a whole lot worse and overall this was a very successful event and the best of the three so far in purely musical terms. Let’s hope it can continue, whatever the location.

 

 

 

 

 

blog comments powered by Disqus