Photograph of Tina May by Bob Meyrick

Saturday at Brecon Jazz Weekend, 13/08/2016

The Saturday of the Brecon Jazz Weekend incorporated performances co-ordinated by the three organisers of the event, Brecon Jazz Club, Theatr Brycheiniog and Brecon Cathedral.

I began my day at the Theatr where there was an all day schedule of concerts, most of them taking place under the “Brecon Jazz Futures” banner, a programme of events featuring talented young musicians curated by music educator and long time Brecon visitor Marc Edwards. 

Edwards had used his contacts at Britain’s leading music colleges and many of the performers were either students or recent graduates of the jazz course at these institutions. Others had been talent spotted by Edwards, often on line, and the result was a richly varied programme encompassing a variety of music styles but with the standard of musicianship universally high. The skills of these young musicians were a credit to their tutors and on the evidence of the Brecon Jazz Futures programme the future of British jazz will remain in safe hands for many years to come.

DOWALLY

The first show of the day began at the early hour of 11.00 am in the Studio suite at Theatr Brycheiniog and featured the young Scottish folk trio Dowally, one of those groups that Edwards had located on line.

Comprised of violinist/vocalist Rachel Walker, guitarist Dan Abrahams and accordionist Phil Alexander the trio presented a mix of songs and instrumentals in a broadly similar format to that adopted by the Anglo-Scottish trio Lau, with whom they share an identical instrumental configuration. I’d wager that Dowally have almost certainly listened to Lau and would very likely cite them as an influence.

The majority of the group’s material is written by Walker and Abrahams and much of today’s set was sourced from the trio’s 2015 eponymous début album which also features the cello of guest musician Graham Coe, unfortunately not present today.

This was essentially a pure folk performance but it was well received by an open minded crowd who appreciated both the band’s instrumental ability and their affable and good humoured presenting style. After opening with a set of traditional sounding folk melodies written by Walker the group stretched out on the curiously titled group original “Horny Turkish Zebra in Croatia”.
Here the Lau influence was most pronounced with Alexander using the body of his piano accordion as an auxiliary percussion instrument while Abrahams’ guitar solo, played over an insistent accordion/fiddle drone exhibited a subtle blues influence. 

“Hear It Ring”, written by the American banjo player Abigail Washburn, was a kind of contemporary spiritual, confidently sung by Walker with the lads joining in on the harmonies.  Despite the earliness of the hour Walker also had the audience singing along with Abrahams and Alexander - “Hear it ring, God’s Great Divine Bell!”.

The original tune “Cosy House” possessed an ethereal beauty that was sometimes reminiscent of an Irish air and was a piece that celebrated the simple joy of being inside in front of a roaring fire on a cold, wet, winter’s day. Lively album opener “Wally Pumpkin” featured Walker’s violin virtuosity alongside some tightly focussed ensemble playing.

Walker had the audience singing along again on the traditional Scottish song “Cold, Haily, Windy Night”, one of those “lover at the window” songs that exist in various incarnations within the Celtic folk music tradition. This was teamed with the traditional instrumental “The King’s Bangs”.

Walker moved to the whistle for an as yet untitled instrumental and asked the audience to name it.  This seems to be something that happens at every gig and despite some good suggestions I get the impression that they’re still looking for a title!

Besides their love of traditional Celtic music Dowally also have a fondness for old time Americana and they included two such pieces, “Sandy River Bell” and Sal’s Got sand Between Her Toes” in a lively set of tunes that also included the original “Chris and Emily’s”. 

A further slice of Americana followed as Walker led the audience through the traditional song “Cluck Old Hen”, which was refreshing in its nursery rhyme like innocence and period rustic charm. Great fun for all.

The trio finished the set with an invigorating instrumental that featured fiddle and accordion simulating the sound of trains, another import from across the Atlantic perhaps? 

I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed Dowally’s set with the trio impressing both individually and collectively on an eclectic mix of folk related material. It’s probably fair to say that most jazz listeners, having progressed thus far, are also receptive to other musical styles and this proved to be a successful gig for both the band and the audience. An unexpectedly enjoyable start to the day.

GSD ENSEMBLE

There were more crossover sounds at the next Jazz Futures performance which took place in the main house at Theatr Brycheiniog.

GSD Ensemble are an eight piece aggregation combing a jazz quartet (piano, tenor sax, electric bass, drums) with a classical string quartet. Led by pianist Sam Davies the group also featured bassist Dan Peate, drummer Jon Needham and saxophonist Caitlin Lang plus the string quartet of Beka Reid and Abi Hammett (violins), Will Chadwick (viola) and Polly Virr (cello). 

Like many of the other performers on the Jazz Futures programme the ensemble originated at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music with members of the jazz and classical course coming together to create GSD. The four string players also perform as a self contained entity as the GSD Quartet and were to appear in this format later on in the day, but unfortunately I had to miss that concert. Indeed, due to other commitments I was only able to see around half of the octet’s performance but this was enough to give a feel for their music which is also influenced by the music of the cinema, as evidenced by the nature of the original writing and also by the inclusion in the programme of “Pure Imagination” from the film “Charlie And The Chocolate Factory”.

In 2015 GSD released the EP “Golden Rule” and have recently recorded a full length album, “Wildfire”, which is due for imminent release. I assume that most of today’s music was sourced from there.

GSD’s blend of different strands of music was very much in the ethos of the Jazz Futures programme as a whole. Anchored by Davies’ piano, which often introduced the pieces, the ensemble’s music embraced jazz, classical and folk influences with the band sometimes breaking down into its two component quartets, particularly for jazz solos from Davies and tenor saxophonist Lang. Elsewhere we heard folk style fiddling from the violinists and melancholy, classically inspired cello from Virr.

But mostly the ensemble worked together, often using Davies’ solo piano introductions as the basis for a gradual layering of instruments, the resultant music often taking on a cinematic or anthemic quality. Among the pieces played was “This Way Home”, a tune sourced from the Ensemble’s “Golden Rule” EP.

Although I had to leave early I was impressed with GSD for both the quality of the musicianship and the high level of integration between the jazz and classical players. The group is still a work in progress but they seem to be very much on the right lines. Jazz / classical crossovers are both more common and more successful than they once were with the current crop of string players more versatile, adaptable and open to the process of improvisation than previous generations. I’m informed that the concert by GSD’s string quartet was also excellent with much to engage the jazz audience.

Despite my early departure this is a project that I’ll be continuing to keep an eye on.

TREFOR OWEN QUARTET with MEGAN THOMAS

The second Brecon Jazz Club event was at a sold out Guildhall for a performance by a quartet led by guitarist Trefor Owen. A highly experienced musician Owen also runs North Wales Jazz and today’s concert was a collaboration between this body and Brecon Jazz Club. It’s become something of a tradition for Owen to introduce BJC’ s festival concerts in Welsh, the honour for this falling today to violinist Heulwen Thomas who was to perform with another line up later on in the weekend. 

In some respects this concert was a continuation of BJC’s 2015 Festival programme at the Guildhall which was a celebration of the jazz guitar featuring artists such as Remi Harris, Deirdre Cartwright, Will Barnes and Martin Taylor.

Owen took to the stage with fellow guitarist Andy Hulme and the pair duetted on the standard “Alone Together”, alternating the solos and sharing the rhythm duties between them. This was very much a partnership of equals.

In 2015 Martin Taylor had held a capacity audience at the Guildhall spellbound with a masterful solo guitar performance. Owen and Hulme had a similar effect upon their listeners as you could hear a pin drop during the duo’s elegant renditions of Stevie Wonder’s “Lately” and Burt Bacharach’s “Wives And Lovers”, both tunes chosen by Owen for the beauty of their melodies. 

In November 2014 I enjoyed a performance by Owen and his Shades Of Shearing group, also featuring Hulme, at a Black Mountain Jazz club night in Abergavenny. The popular local double bass player (and sometime vocalist) Ruth Bowen now joined the ranks for two tunes from Owen’s Shearing repertoire, the jazz standard “East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon” and the little heard Henry Mancini song “Dreamsville”. The grounding presence of Bowen’s bass gave the guitar duo even greater scope for their compelling six string interplay as they continued to exchange fruitful ideas.

The group was now expanded to a quartet with the addition of classy vocalist Megan Thomas, a graduate of the Jazz Course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. It was the first time that I had seen Thomas perform and I was impressed with her poise, technique and versatility on standards such as “A Foggy Day In London Town” and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark”, which saw her yearning vocal bringing out the full beauty of the rarely heard lyric.

Jobim’s “Triste” found her singing in both English and Portuguese and a lively “Caravan” saw her trading solos with the two guitarists. A hugely successful concert concluded with Thomas singing the standard “I’ll Be seeing You” before a well deserved encore saw the vocalist demonstrating her scatting abilities on an upbeat version of “All Of Me” which also gave Owen and Hulme a final opportunity to display their impressive six string skills.

This was a well paced performance that provided good exposure for young vocalist Thomas and enhanced the already impressive reputations of the other performers. Although there were no real surprises the quality of the performances delighted the capacity crowd at a concert that represented another triumph for organisers Brecon Jazz Club. 

ASTEROPE

Back at the Theatr the next band to perform on the Jazz Futures programme was Asterope, a new quintet comprised of student/graduates from London’s Royal Academy of Music led by saxophonist and composer Tom Barford. The band also featured guitarist Billy Marrows, pianist Rupert Cox and drummer Dave Storey with the experienced Bristolian bassist Will Harris (Moonlight Saving Time, Michelson Morley etc.) deputising for regular incumbent Flo Moore.

The band’s set was formed entirely of Barford’s original compositions and commenced with “Matterhorn” which was centred around a Tyner-esque piano motif and featured Barford and Marrows doubling up on the melody with solos coming from Cox on piano, Barford on tenor and Marrows on guitar.

“Cardio” found Barford’s tenor stating the theme prior to a fluent, spiralling guitar solo from the impressive Marrows. Meanwhile Barford’s own solo included some incisive probing in the tenor’s upper register.

“Malicious Meg” incorporated some appropriately malevolent guitar riffing from Marrows followed by a powerful solo from Cox that featured some mercurial right hand runs and insistent left hand comping. Barford maintained the energy levels on tenor prior to a closing drum feature from Storey above the relentless chime of Cox’s piano figures.

Barford explained that “Real One” was inspired by a friend who was going through rough times. Attractively melodic the piece included a sustain rich solo from Marrows followed by the composer’s mellifluous tenor. But the loudest applause was saved for Harris’ melodic bass solo, being based fairly locally he was probably the only musician in the quintet with whom the audience was previously familiar.

The next piece was unannounced but was introduced by the trio of Cox, Harris and Storey with the drummer initially deploying brushes. However the intensity levels began to build during Cox’s highly percussive piano solo and Barford’s subsequent tenor excursion before Storey, now wielding sticks rounded things off with a powerful drum feature.

Asterope concluded their set with the boppish “Mean It” with Marrows’ guitar solo fuelled by Harris’ propulsive bass and Storey’s sizzling cymbals. Barford and Cox both soloed individually before thrillingly trading phrases and the piece was climaxed by an extended Storey drum solo.

Although there were moments when the tunes felt a little bit like compositional exercises there was much to enjoy about Asterope’s set. The standard of musicianship was very high throughout with Barford, Marrows and Cox all impressing with their solos. Storey also featured strongly and Harris blended into the group superbly. The core of the set featured a blend of melodic jazz with rock elements that sometimes reminded me of the music of Theo Travis, another saxophonist who likes to work with guitar players. However Barford’s physical resemblance to a young Travis may have helped me to form this conclusion.

Asterope have yet to record but it would be good to see this music committed to disc. Barford, a saxophonist and composer with considerable potential, is yet another talented young musician to keep an eye on.

CARAVELA

Caravela are a London based quintet specialising in the music of Portugal, Cape Verde and Brazil. Fronted by the charismatic vocalist Ines Loubet the band also features pianist Joseph Costi, guitarist Telmo Sousa, bassist Pedro Velasco and drummer Ben Brown.

The band take their name from the Caravels, the small sailing vessels in which the Portuguese navigators explored the Atlantic, taking them to Brazil, Cape Verde and West Africa.

The songs were sung in entirely in Portuguese so I wasn’t able to get many of the titles but Loubet’s between tunes announcements were conducted in flawless English, which helped to give some valuable insight into the meanings behind the songs. Much of this was already apparent from the passion of her singing, an extraordinary and transcendent vocal performance.

But it wasn’t just about Loubet, the instrumentalists supported her brilliantly with Costi, Sousa and Velasco moving between the acoustic and electric versions of their respective instruments as the music required.

The set opened with Loubet ‘s singing, accompanied only by the sounds of two tambourines played by herself and Costi. Brown’s drums and shakers plus Sousa’s acoustic guitar were subsequently added to the equation as the music began to gather momentum.

The second piece began with a stunning passage of vocal percussion that made me think that the music had temporarily been re-located to India, but clearly this kind of ‘mouth music’ is part of the Afro-Brazilian tradition too.

Based upon the Baio rhythm of North East Brazil Hermeto Pascoal’s “Bebe” with its soaring, wordless Flora Purim style vocals and Costi piano solo probably represented more familiar ground for jazz listeners.

The pianist also featured strongly on a song telling a tale of wife swapping in Brazil (“it doesn’t end well” explained Loubert) that also name checked the Maracana Stadium. 
 
But it wasn’t all about Brazil.  The lovely “Zeta” was written by a Cape Verdean composer in honour of his mother and included a liquid electric bass solo from Velasco. “Farewell” was written from the point of an economic migrant from Cape Verde and featured Loupet encouraging the audience to sing along wordlessly with the lilting, folk like melody.

The original tune “Maraguese” addressed the Portuguese diaspora with Loupet announcing “you can be anywhere in the world but you never forget where you’re from”.

These were just the highlights of a powerful and impressive set that periodically included pithy but sparkling instrumental solos from Costi and Sousa plus a couple of features for drummer Brown who was thoroughly convincing in his mastery of the varying rhythms deployed in this exotic (to British ears) music.

By turns dramatic, beautiful, melancholy, celebratory and incantatory this was a remarkable set with the compelling and technically gifted Loupet commanding the attentive and pleasingly sizeable audience in the Theatr’s Studio space.

I’m no expert on World Music but it struck me that Caravela were very much the real deal with this passionate, emotional and thoroughly convincing performance that mixed technical excellence with a raw, emotive, authenticity.

It seems that others agree with me. Caravela were invited to participate in a late night prom at the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, a performance that was subsequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Caravela were one of THE highlights of the Brecon Jazz Futures programme. A surprising, but thoroughly deserving festival success.

TINA MAY sings THE MUSIC OF BRAZIL

There were more Brazilian sounds to enjoy at the Guildhall at this Brecon Jazz Club curated performance by vocalist Tina May who fronted an eight piece ensemble featuring both locally based and visiting musicians.

May recalled performing Brazilian inspired music at the same venue back in 1989 as part of guitarist Dylan Fowler’s group Frevo. I remember being present at what was an excellent and memorable gig and like the singer also remember that she was heavily pregnant at the time and sang perched on a stool at the front of the stage. I still have the cassette, signed by Tina, that I purchased at the gig. 

May is a graduate of the RWCMD in Cardiff and has always maintained strong links with Wales. She was joined in a three pronged vocal front line by Cathy Jones, who also played percussion, and Alexa Dene who also featured on the flute. Cardiff based Jonathan Crespo played both trumpet and percussion with RWCMD alumni Aidan Thorne (double bass) and Lloyd Haines (drums)  forming a very capable rhythm section. Keyboard player Pedro Asencio and guitarist/vocalist Gui Tavares added an authentic Brazilian presence to a very talented ensemble.

May and her colleagues played the music of Brazil in a style jazz followers are familiar with, an Anglicised version if you will, and arguably less authentic than the music of Caravela. But for all that it still sounded good as Tavares’ acoustic guitar introduced “A Felicidade”, the first item in a programme of material written by Antonio Carlos (Tom) Jobim. May shared the lead vocal with the impressive Jones, the latter a popular figure with Brecon Jazz Club audiences following a successful visit to the club fronting her own group in March 2015. Also playing a range of held hand percussive instruments Jones was in particularly good voice this afternoon and her performance was highly impressive, more than holding her own in comparison to the nationally known May.

“So Danco Samba” featured the trumpet playing talents of Crespo, a Cardiff based musician who I was seeing perform live for the first time. I was hugely impressed with Crespo’s playing throughout the set, his tone rich and burnished, his playing assured and fluent – and he wielded a mean shaker too! Also featuring as a soloist on this piece was Asencio on electric piano.

Jobim’s “Chega de Saudade” was given an English language lyric by the great American vocal artist Jon Hendricks who retitled it “No More Blues”. May demonstrated her class here by singing the lyric first in English and then in Portuguese. Instrumental solos came from the two Brazilians in the line up, Tavares and Asencio.

Dene was featured singing the Portuguese lyric to “Insensatez”, also known as “How Insensitive”, a melody based on a Chopin prelude. The Cardiff based vocalist was primarily deployed as a harmony singer with May and Jones handling the majority of the lead vocal parts but this was a nice feature from her.

Announcing “One Note Samba” May was at pains to point out the origins of samba in the slave trade. Musically the piece included a series of thrilling scat vocal/trumpet exchanges between May and Crespo and a feature from the talented young drummer Lloyd Haines, a musician now making his way on the London jazz scene.

“Bonita” featured Dene on flute and Tavares on guitar and vocals. The latter’s guitar playing was at the heart of many of the arrangements and his singing provided the ensemble with a distinctive fourth voice.

The inevitable “Girl From Ipanema” featured Dene singing the English lyric and exchanging scat vocal lines with Crespo, with Asencio again functioning as the other featured soloist.

“Corcovado” (aka “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars”) featured the lead vocals of the impressive Cathy Jones, who also told the tale of her visit to the mountain, getting trapped on the slopes in a storm and having to be rescued by a team of Brazilian firemen! She seemed to be quite excited about that!
Jones’ percussion was also an integral part of the ensemble sound and she was also due to lead a Latin voice/percussion workshop over the course of the weekend.

The concert ended with the whole band playing percussion instruments of one kind or another as they sang a song with a lyric translating as “How Can We keep Our Children safe”, Jobim’s comment on the one time military dictatorship in Brazil. The music sounded tribal and African, a further reminder of the true origins of Brazilian music.

Performed in front of a capacity audience this concert was another triumph for Brecon Jazz Club. Again the standard of singing and playing was commendably high with May, Jones, Crespo and Tavares arguably the most impressive performers. The show was presented in a good natured manner by the effusive May,  one of The UK’s most adventurous and accomplished jazz singers and also a trained actress.

NERIJA / DENNIS ROLLINS’ VELOCITY TRIO

The concert programme at Theatr Brycheiniog concluded for the day with this exciting double bill.
The event was supported by Jazz4Jed, the charitable foundation set up in memory of Jed Williams, the man whose adventurous and visionary programming did so much to put the original Brecon Jazz Festival on the map.

NERIJA

Nerija is the young all female, multi cultural septet that emerged out of the Tomorrow’s Warriors scheme and is now beginning to make waves on the UK jazz scene. I was fortunate enough to cover the band’s performance at the Green Note in Camden Town at the 2015 EFG London Jazz Festival and was hugely impressed by the group’s energy and musicianship.

Unfortunately I missed around twenty minutes of Nerija’s set here due to a scheduling clash with the Tina May event at the Guildhall. However all the virtues that made that Green Note show such a success were in evidence again here, qualities that were very much appreciated by the biggest audience of the day in the Main House at Theatr Brycheiniog. The crowd gave Nerija a terrific reception on their first visit to Wales.

I’ll refer readers to my London Jazz Festival coverage of the Green Note gig for the full Nerija experience but here’s something of the flavour of the Brecon show where Nerija performed with their customary verve and skill. The first thing that strikes you about the band is the punchy exuberance of the four woman horn section featuring Nubya Garcia (tenor sax), Cassie Kinoshi (alto), Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet) and Rosie Turton (trombone). These four are all highly accomplished soloists and all got to enjoy impressive individual features during this set. But they’re also highly effective as a unit and came across like a veritable juggernaut during the more forceful and energetic moments of the programme.

The front line were well supported by guitarist Shirley Tetteh, also an accomplished soloist and in many respects the linchpin of the band, and by double bassist Inga Eichler. On drums, replacing the busy Lizy Exell was Olly Sarkar, - like fellow percussionist Jason Long at the Green Note here cast in the role of ‘token bloke’! 

All of the classic Nerija characteristics were here with the band’s music including many of the elements associated with the music of Africa and its diaspora. We heard the West African cadences of Tetteh’s guitar and the joyous, celebratory sounds of South African Township Jazz alongside more contemporary funk/soul grooves and hip hop inspired broken beats. 

Nerija’s members are all writers and their different styles add colour and variety to the group’s sound. It’s not all hammer and tongs, the tunes embrace a range of dynamics and one pensive tenor solo by Garcia was particularly affecting. 
   
The material included Eichler’s “A & R”, Kinoshi’s “Mirrors” and Turton’s “Fisherman”. All of the pieces were characterised by the fluent, powerful and increasingly confident soloing of the horn players allied to the strong but supple and intelligent support of the rhythm section, all of this bound together by the sound of Tetteh’s guitar.

As at the Green Note I had the pleasure of talking with Nubya Garcia after the gig. She gave me the good news that the band’s début album will be released in September 2016, the recording financed by a successful Kickstarter campaign. This is indeed good news, Nerija’s music deserves to be widely heard and the album is sure to be one of the most eagerly awaited British jazz releases of the year.

DENNIS ROLLINS’ VELOCITY TRIO

Dennis Rollins’ Velocity Trio is an unlikely and probably unique success story, I mean, how many trombone and organ trios are there? Guitar and Hammond – check, saxophone and Hammond – check – but Hammond and trombone?! Yet somehow Rollins and his colleagues make it all work and make it seem like the most obvious instrumental combination in the (jazz) world. 

It wasn’t always this way. When I first saw the Velocity group, admittedly with a different line up, back in 2009 at the Lichfield Real Ale Jazz & Blues Festival it was very much a work in progress. In the years since Rollins has honed his approach and established a stable personnel in the shapes of organist Ross Stanley and drummer Pedro Segundo, these two featuring on both of the trio’s widely acclaimed albums, 2011’s “The 11th Gate” and 2014’s “Symbiosis”.

Velocity Trio is now a commendably tight unit, one that is capable of delivering consistently interesting and entertaining live shows. I’ve seen the trio perform on a number of occasions since that Lichfield gig including club performances at Much Wenlock and Abergavenny and also as part of the Stroller programme at the 2014 Brecon Jazz Festival. Rollins and his colleagues have done the business at all of these performances and tonight was to be no different, even with Segundo absent and replaced by the very capable Tim Carter.

The trio hit the ground running with the animated Rollins’ leading his troops through the rousing “Utopia” with solos coming from Rollins on trombone and Stanley on his KeyB organ, a modern generation instrument capable of generating a remarkably authentic vintage Hammond sound.

“Emergence” was inspired by one of the most influential organists in the history of jazz, the late, great Larry Young (1940-79), and particularly Young’s classic 1965 Blue Note album “Unity”. This featured the wailing and churning of Stanley’s keys plus a series of fiery trombone and organ exchanges.

Inspired by the possibilities of spiritualism the spacey and dramatic “The Other Side” was introduced by a highly musical drum feature from the impressive Carter, a musician who I was previously unfamiliar with. His atmospheric rumbles and filigree cymbal work were looped and treated by Rollins, his soundscaping skills producing a fascinating backdrop of interlocking rhythms, these in turn providing the canvas for solos from Stanley’s keyboards, at times adopting an electric piano sound, and the leader’s trombone. The dry ice that was seeping from the side of the stage seemed particularly appropriate for this piece, which concluded as it began with the sound of Carter’s drums.

Rollins’ rousing and infectious stop-start arrangement of Pink Floyd’s “Money” has long been a favourite item at the trio’s live shows and tonight was no exception. The dry ice swirled again and there was even something of a light show as Velocity paid homage to the Floyd. Carter’s funky grooves fuelled solos from both Rollins and Stanley before the drummer rounded thing off with his own feature.

Another popular set piece has been Rollins’ adaptation of Eddie Harris’ enduring “Freedom Jazz Dance”. “We take the tune round the universe” explained Rollins - “but we always come back to the same beat” he added as he encouraged the audience to clap along to the simple groove that formed the fulcrum of the arrangement. Meanwhile the three musicians did indeed head for the outer limits with solos from Stanley and Rollins plus an extended drum feature for the hard working, sweat drenched Carter.

At the end of a relatively short set the deserved encore was Rollins’ gospel tinged arrangement of Amanda McBroom’s song “The Rose”, written in 1977 and subsequently covered by Bette Midler, Elaine Paige and Westlife! The leader’s sumptuous trombone sounds were complemented by   Stanley’s church like organ and Carter’s gently supportive brushed drum grooves. If jazz ever does lighter wavers this arrangement will be right up there.

Although I’d seen Rollins and the trio perform broadly similar sets before this was still hugely enjoyable. Rollins is a great communicator and always presents his shows with a warmth and charm that has also made him an acclaimed educator. The standard of musicianship was impeccable and I highly impressed by Carter who deputised for the hugely talented Segundo with great aplomb.

The Velocity Trio will be back in Wales on September 3rd 2016 when they appear at the Wall2Wall Jazz Festival in Abergavenny. Please visit http://www.wall2walljazz.co.uk for details.

In the meantime I’ll leave the last word to pianist Andy Nowak who had played with his own trio the previous evening at the Cathedral - “Ross Stanley! - what a badass!”.

Quite, I couldn’t have put it better myself. 

COMMENTS (via Facebook) ;

Jonathan Crespo;
My first review after all this time in Cardiff, thank you sir for your kind words. They mean a lot.

John Anderson;
Thanks Ian, I agree pretty much with your accounts of the events I saw. I particularly thought NÉRIJA were fantastic. Very much a band to follow. Without in anyway wishing to diminish the fantastic efforts of the three organising groups better co-ordination of publicity and programming are areas for discussion for next year, AND WE MUST HOPE THERE WILL BE A NEXT YEAR. Brecon is much too valuable a festival to lose.

Roger Warburton;
Nice review Megan…...

 

 

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