Budvar Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2009

Saturday May 2nd

The Saturday of this year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival started bright and sunny with no hint of the events that were later to cause major problems for the festival organisers.

WILL VINSON QUARTET

My first gig of the day found me at the Everyman Theatre to catch a set by Will Vinson a UK born alto saxophonist now based in New York. Vinson was performing material drawn from his 2008 album “Promises” (his second CD release) alongside some more recent compositions. Vinson has established himself on New York’s jazz scene and also works with pop/rock performers, among them Rufus Wainwright.

His quartet included the US born, Berlin based guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, an increasingly influential figure on the international jazz scene. Completing the line up were bassist Mike Janisch a musician who has crossed the Atlantic the other way (i.e. an American based in the UK) and drummer Paul Wiltgen.

The quartet commenced with “Albemarle”, a track from the “Promises” album. Vinson’s unaccompanied alto introduced the piece before he soloed in a band format followed by Rosenwinkel. There was then a further solo from Vinson, the whole driven forward by Wiltgen’s busy (occasionally over so) drumming.

“Life Through My Shoes” occupied neo ballad territory and featured further soloing from Vinson, a player with a light, feathery alto sound. Rosenwinkel followed, his melodic, inventive playing sometimes reminiscent of the warm tones of Pat Metheny. Again there was a second solo passage from the leader.

“Heartbreak Tuna” again saw Vinson soloing first followed by a rock influenced solo from the impressive Rosenwinkel in which he made judicious use of effects. The guitarist also commenced the following tune, the slow burning “Limp Of Faith”.

Vinson showed his British roots in the title of the next tune “Adventures Of Bagpuss” from the “Promises” album. Unfortunately as he was introducing it the stage manager sidled up to him. Nobody thought much of this at first thinking it would merely be an instruction to makes this the last tune or “no encores”. Instead it transpired that there was a power cut back stage which had disabled the fire alarms and that there was no alternative but to evacuate the building.

The whole thing was surreal. The house lights were on, the band plugged in and yet..

Vinson gamely offered to play us out but this meant that an already reluctant audience exited more slowly than the stewards would have wished and the group were ultimately forced to cut the number short.

I felt sorry for the band. After a somewhat tentative start they were just starting to warm to their task and with the building cleared their potential CD sales disappeared in a puff of metaphorical smoke. I later bought one out of sympathy. It features an impressive cast-rising stars Lage Lund (guitar) and Aaron Parks (piano-see the review for his excellent “Invisible Cinema” elsewhere on this site) together with another ex pat Brit in bassist Orlando le Flemming and top US drummer Rodney Green. There is some fine playing on the album, as there was here but as yet Vinson’s compositions are not quite distinctive enough to really stand out from the crowd.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF STEAM

At this point I made my way to the Pillar Room to see The Golden Age of Steam the new project from Fraud co-leaders James Allsop (reeds) and Tim Giles (drums). The pair were joined by young keyboard maestro Kit Downes, formerly of Empirical and a recent collaborator with fellow keyboards man Tom Cawley.

Fraud’s incendiary appearance at the same venue a few years ago was a significant jazz event and introduced an extraordinary young band to the UK jazz scene at large. If Fraud emerged more or less fully formed GAOS is more of a work in progress. There were some good ideas here but there were fewer stand out numbers than in the Fraud repertoire and memorable melodies rather thin on the ground.

GAOS are fond of linking tunes together and commenced with a segue of “Mr Apricot” and “Mitten Of Wool”. The dialogue between Allsop’s tenor and Giles’ drums was impressive with the latter using a combination of hard and soft head sticks to convey drama as Allsop threw in some slap tongue effects.

“Goldfish Nightmare” featured weirdly Gothic organ from Downes using a portable Hammond XK3. Paired with Giles’ thunderous drums and Allsop’s squawking sax it sometimes sounded like Van Der Graaf Generator jamming without Peter Hammill. It has to be said that Downes’ keyboard suffered in comparison to the mighty B3 deployed by Tony Monaco in Pat Martino’s trio the previous evening. A question of economics I suspect but the XK3 wasn’t always entirely convincing .That said “Goldfish” was one of the more successful numbers, a convincing impression of writer Allsop’s creeping paranoia.

Allsop’s wonderfully surreal titles and deadpan announcements are a feature of the group. They even rival those of Jim Barr of Get The Blessing and as a uniquely British genre probably draw their inspiration from Django Bates and Loose Tubes. The wonderfully titled “For No Raisin” was inspired by the puns of Fozzie Bear and demonstrated the trio’s love of noise in it’s own right. Synth bleeps and Giles’ hand drums were among the sounds offered here.

“300 Golden Bees” coupled with “Monkey Phonics” saw Allsop deploying all the weapons in his arsenal, switching from bass clarinet to tenor during the course of the segue.

The final montage of “Eyepatch” and “Imaginary Handbag” was arguably the highlight of the group’s performance. With Allsop’s staccato sax riffing, Downes’ Hammond white noise and Giles’ apocalyptic drumming this was the closest GAOS got to duplicating Fraud’s methodology. After the storm came the calm as the set closed quietly with Allsop’s elegant bass clarinet. 

All in all this was a qualified success. GAOS are not afraid to experiment and I suspect that a lot of today’s music was wholly improvised. The trio obviously have considerable potential and it will be interesting to see how they develop. The power of Giles’ drumming is central to the group sound and for many onlookers he was the star instrumentalist here, demonstrating a high degree of skill and an admirable physical resourcefulness. File under flawed but interesting.

At this point I had hoped to witness pianist Nikki Yeoh’s Festival Commission at the Everyman as performed by her Infinitum Trio with guest John Surman. Unfortunately the power situation had not been rectified and the gig had to be shelved. The same thing happened to the BBC Big Band performance with guest soloist and artist in residence Dave Liebman. Ticket holders for these events had to have their money refunded which caused chaos at the Town Hall box office. Those who had been at the Vinson gig were deemed ineligible for this. 

Fortunately the situation was eventually sorted out and the evening’s sold out Madeleine Peyroux concert went ahead. I hope the loss of the two shows does not have a detrimental financial effect on the festival’s future. It would be disastrous if Cheltenham were to suffer as badly as Brecon. Overall attendances here held up well and I don’t foresee any serious difficulties.

What does John Surman do when he hasn’t got a gig to go to? Well the same as me, he goes and eats his dinner. It was a bit of a surprise to look around the Town Hall cafeteria and spot a jazz legend eating at an adjacent table.

Later I went outside to check out the Stuart Holmes Fringe events at the marquee in a sunny Imperial Gardens. Hundreds of people were enjoying the sunshine and the music and it’s good to see the festival reaching out to the town as a whole. I caught a brief glimpse of local five piece The Dixies who all looked about fifteen. Deploying trumpet, tenor, keyboards, electric bass and drums they performed breezy funk with an astonishingly high degree of technical ability and even featured their own material. With guest vocalist Sophie Macrae they performed Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” and even managed to sandwich some bhangra rhythms into the song’s mid section. This was great fun and their efforts were rapturously acknowledged by an enthusiastic crowd. 

THE PROFOUND SOUND TRIO

The next Pillar Room event featured an uncompromising set of free improvisation from the Anglo-American Profound Sound Trio. The trio sees veteran US improvisers Henry Grimes (bass, violin) and Andrew Cyrille (drums) collaborating with British saxophonist Paul Dunmall. The trio had previously made a big impression at the Vision Festival in New York City, their performance being documented on the CD “Opus De Life”. Birmingham Jazz had provided funds for Dunmall’s airfare to the States and Tony Dudley Evans persuaded the Americans to make the reverse trip and play at Cheltenham. Jazz On Three presenter Jez Nelson was on hand to introduce today’s concert which is to be broadcast on Radio 3 at 11.15 pm on Monday 11th May. 

The trio performed three lengthy improvisations featuring much “full on” playing tempered by gentler moments of real beauty. This was about mutual collaboration and combined wholly solo passages,various two way dialogues and full trio playing.

The first piece began with Grimes’ solo arco bass his dark tones subsequently offset by Dunmall’s soprano as the pair engaged in dialogue. Grimes then dropped out leaving Dunmall solo, the saxophonist building an impressive wall of sound through the use of overblowing. Grimes then returned, still using the bow to engage in further dialogue. Cyrille had sat impassively behind his kit all this time but now announced himself with a fanfare of splashing cymbals. The drummer then embarked on an inherently melodic and musical solo passage before being joined by Dunmall, now on tenor. The saxophonist soloed in garrulous manner, throwing in a touch of humour with a quote from “Windmills Of Your Mind”. Back to Grimes for a further burst of arco bass before he moved on to pizzicato. Dunmall now took up the cudgels again, blasting staccato phrases over the rolling thunder of Cyrille’s drumming. Finally Grimes’ bowed bass brought us full circle as the piece resolved itself.

Grimes then took up the violin to start the second piece unaccompanied. His style on the instrument is unorthodox but innately musical and he didn’t make his professional d?but on the instrument until the age of 70. Grimes is also a published poet and he intoned a few lines above his bowing. Dunmall subsequently entered on soprano sax with Cyrille providing a rolling pulse with soft head sticks behind him, but this was really Henry’s number. 

The third item was introduced by Cyrille’s drums and was something of a feature for him. His solo featured him playing inside his temporarily detached snare drum and also included face percussion.  Dunmall’s powerful soprano passage incorporated Middle Eastern elements and following another arco passage from Grimes Cyrille featured again with a delicate brush led passage. Grimes’ violin then made a return, interacting with Dunmall’s tenor, the burly saxophonist producing honking, guttural sounds as the trio ended with a demonstration of raw power.

It had been a fascinating exercise in improvisation. Watching musicians create something “in the moment” is always a fascinating process and there was no doubting the trio’s technical abilities. I thoroughly enjoyed this set as I frequently do when I see free improv live but it’s not the kind of thing I’d necessarily want to listen to at home. I’ll get the chance to judge when the set gets aired next week. My co-writer Tim will love every minute of it I’m sure and I have to say that in the here and now I was well impressed. Yes it was intense and uncompromising but there was a good balance of light and shade and even a little humour to keep the listener engaged. The enthusiastic audience reaction at the end of the gig was a testament to it’s success.

Another brief dip into the fringe revealed the young Oxfordshire band the CNS Allstars. Their twin tenor/twin trumpet, keyboards, electric bass, drums, congas and vocals line up performed punchy funk with an urban edge. Led by their keyboard player they even put a jazz twist to a Chemical Brothers number. 

ROBERT MITCHELL 3iO

Back in the Pillar Room the British pianist Robert Mitchell played what, for me, was the gig of the day. Mitchell’s modishly titled 3io with bassist Tom Mason and drummer Richard Spaven produced one of the best UK releases of 2008 with their album “The Greater Good” (reviewed elsewhere on this site). With it’s mix of originals and distinctive cover versions the album proved not only to be Mitchell’s most accessible work to date but also his best. The chemistry between the three members of the trio is excellent and Spaven’s distinctive and subtle use of hip hop grooves and broken beats gives 3io’s music a unique flavour.

At the Pillar Room the trio played very quietly and commanded the rapt attention of a sell out crowd from start to finish. Mitchell, affable between numbers and visibly more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him before was clearly enjoying himself. Hip hop patterns are not normally associated with quietness but Spaven’s subtly propulsive drumming was a marvel of taste linking superbly with Mason’s supple work on the bass.

The trio commenced with Mitchell’s “Cumulus”, the opening track on their album before moving on to an as yet unrecorded cover of the tune “Third Stream” by the group 4Hero. 

Mason’s ballad “Ochre” is one of the album’s outstanding cuts and following Mitchell’s solo piano intro the composer delivered an excellent bass solo, one of several over the course of the set.

Wayne Shorter’s “Dance Cadaverous” demonstrated Mitchell’s prodigious two handed piano technique and also included features for Mason and the excellent Spaven.

A quirky rendition of Galt McDermot’s “Space” was followed by the trio’s show stopping version of Massive Attack’s “Teardrop”. Mason picked out the melody on bass above Spaven’s implacable groove before entering into dialogue with his pianist. The bassist later picked up the bow to demonstrate his arco abilities, closing the tune with some stunning high register bowing. This was stunning stuff with the potential for more popular appeal and deserves to be heard by a wider audience than just the jazz cognoscenti.

The album’s title track co-written by Spaven and Dutch musician Vincent Helbers demonstrated the drummer’s way with a groove and featured super fast playing from Mitchell his two hands ablur in a stunning display of virtuosity.

Finally came an exquisite take on Radiohead’s “Everything In It’s Right Place”, less convoluted than Brad Mehldau’s explorations of the Radiohead canon but jaw droppingly beautiful in it’s simplicity.

Mitchell and his trio had risen to the challenge and had played a flawless and frequently beautiful set in front of a packed house. It had been recorded and may see the light of day on Radio 3 at some point in the future. Let’s hope so, this was a great team effort all round.

After the gig I spoke to Robert and Richard at some length and found them to be very likeable and personable guys. After the electrical problems earlier in the day it was pleasing to end my Saturday at the festival on such a high note.

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