Saturday at Cheltenham Jazz Festival, 04/05/2013.

Photograph of Oren Marshall of Sons of Kemet by Tim Dickeson http://www.timdickeson.com

A packed Saturday programme featured performances by musicians from the UK, the US and Europe in a line up that not only criss crossed musical boundaries but also spanned the generations as young hopefuls rubbed shoulders with established stars as part of a refreshingly diverse schedule.

TRONDHEIM JAZZ EXCHANGE

My day began at the Parabola Arts Centre for the now well established annual collaboration between the students on the Jazz Course at Birmingham Conservatoire and their counterparts from the equally well established course at Trondheim Conservatory in Norway.

The music presented at these showcases is always of a remarkably high standard with the Norwegian students collaborating with their English hosts in a series of small group performances. The Trondheim brigade had flown into the UK earlier in the week and enjoyed several days of intense rehearsal with the Birmingham based players before presenting the fruits of their labours on the Friday evening at the free “commuter jazz” early evening special in the foyer of Birmingham Symphony Hall. Today was therefore the second public outing for the all original programme formulated by the students and the quality of the writing and the playing was proof of just how hard they had worked over the course of the last few days.

Introduced by Tony Dudley Evans the first group featured Birmingham’s Tom Syson (trumpet) and Stu Barker (double bass) alongside the Norwegians Andy Yeo (guitar) and Ole Mofjell (drums). Last year’s concert at the same venue featured a printed programme giving some details about the musicians involved but this was conspicuous by its absence this time and I’m no authority on Norwegian surnames! However a little research on the net appears to have tracked down most of them.

In any event the group played three entertaining pieces, the first featuring Syson’s eloquent trumpeting above a background of interlocking rhythmic patterns with the drummer exhibiting a Jon Christensen-like rhythmic flow. Syson’s sometimes breathy, vocalised trumpet sound intertwined neatly with Andy’s guitar on a convincing piece of contemporary European jazz.

The second piece began with a passage of unaccompanied guitar before Syson delivered a powerful solo that demonstrated a more forceful side to his playing. Barker’s bass feature then provided the bridge into Yeo’s solo, the guitarist utilising his FX pedals to create a richly atmospheric layered sound as Mofjell moved between sticks, brushes and bare hands whilst also deploying a range of small percussive devices. Syson then returned for the more assertive outro.

The quartet then concluded their set with a brief ballad, again introduced by the guitar and featuring a delightful trio passage for guitar, bass and trumpet with Syson again adopting a softly vocalised tone that spoke of the influence of Norwegian trumpeters Nils Petter Molvaer and Arve Henriksen.

The second group proved to be a quintet featuring pianist Andy Woodhead, alto saxophonist Dan Bayliss and drummer Will Cotterell, all from Birmingham plus vocalist Kari Eskild Havenstrom and bassist Egil Kalman, both from Trondheim. Their first piece featured Havenstrom’s English language lyrics and scat vocals with pianist Woodhead taking the instrumental honours.

The second tune, “West Stow”, from the pen of Bayliss, featured Havenstrom’s wordless vocals and the composer’s alto plus a bass feature from Kalman before the piece culminated in a series of absorbing piano and drum exchanges featuring the Birmingham pair of Woodhead and Cotterell.

Woodhead, originally from Sheffield, proved to be an engaging announcer who revealed that his composition “Alex” was about his family’s pet Labrador. The tune itself was suitably playful with the pianist displaying his soloing abilities alongside Havenstrom’s soaring wordless vocals. This was a very different group to the first band but their music was equally engaging and equally valid.

Unfortunately the stage hand-overs were taking a little longer than anticipated and the event was running slightly behind time. When introducing “Group Three” Tony Dudley Evans suggested that those of us with tickets for the Dave Douglas performance scheduled at the Jazz Arena might like to think about leaving early. Unfortunately this meant that I could only stay for one number featuring the quartet of trombonist Tom Dunnett and drummer Rick Yarborough and their Trondheim band mates saxophonist Alex Rigaud (originally from France) and Gustav Holmqvist (electric bass).
Dunnett’s trombone introduced a piece that saw the horns coalesce in a Mingus like vibe and which featured an exceptional tenor solo from Rigaud, arguably the best of the event.

Overall I felt the quality of this year’s showcase fell just short of that in 2012 and it was also disappointing to have to leave early. Nevertheless both conservatoires continue to produce some exceptional young musicians and I have every faith that they will continue to do so. An enjoyable and heart-warming start to an excellent festival day.

DAVE DOUGLAS QUINTET with HEATHER MASSE

New York based trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas has visited Cheltenham on a number of occasions, the most recent being in 2009 when his “Keystone” quintet delivered the best gig of that year’s festival at the much missed Everyman Theatre.

A restless creative spirit Douglas has produced much new music in the intervening years and today’s performance presented material from his two most recent releases “Be Still” (2012) and “Time Travel” (2013). Besides Douglas only tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin remained from the group that visited in 2009. However today’s quintet was a similarly stellar line-up featuring pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Linda Oh and drummer Johnathan Blake.

The quintet began with a couple of instrumentals from the “Time Travel” album, the blend of Douglas’ trumpet and McCaslin’s tenor proving to be just as irresistible as it was back in 2009. The pair traded ideas, intertwining above the tight, punchy grooves laid down by Mitchell, Oh and Blake with Mitchell also showing his credentials with a feverishly inventive solo. Mccaslin’s tenor playing combined jazz fluency with an r’n'b like raunch and Douglas’ trumpeting was consistently bright and agile. The “Time Travel” album is a celebration of Douglas’ recent 50th birthday and the trumpeter, enthusiastic and articulate as always, announced his intention to perform the music in all fifty states of the US.

“Be Still”, recorded with vocalist Aoife O’ Donovan, represented a collection of folk songs and hymnals that Douglas originally collected for his mother’s funeral and subsequently arranged for jazz quintet. It’s therefore an extremely personal record and one that formed the core of today’s set with guest vocalist Heather Masse fulfilling O’ Donovan’s role. Mitchell and Oh also appear on the record alongside saxophonist Jon Irabagon and drummer Rudy Royston.

Welcoming Masse to the stage Douglas announced that they would perform “Be Still My Soul”, the setting of a prayer to music by the Finnish composer Sibelius. Oh’s powerfully plucked bass was prominent in the arrangement and Douglas’ solo was imbued with a quiet intensity. Mitchell, who I last saw augmenting the Claudia Quintet, also made a telling contribution whilst Masse’s delivery of the lyric was assured and effective. This was a rather lovely start to the vocal part of the performance.

However I was less keen on a rather dirge like treatment of the traditional folk song “Barbara Allen”, a tune that travelled to the US from Ireland. Douglas changed the lyric of “This Is My Father’s World” to “This Is My Mother’s World”, the words again delivered with elegance and conviction by Masse alongside plangent solos from Douglas and McCaslin.

“Be Still” also includes contemporary material and a set highlight was a performance of Gillian Welch’s murder ballad “One Morning” which produced a stunning bass solo from Linda Oh, her tone huge and singing and her dexterity little short of astonishing. More importantly her solo was articulate, melodic and beautifully constructed. It has to be said that overall the piece was marred by extraneous noises, the sound of ambulance siren and the creaking of the Jazz Arena tent in the breeze ? and this in pretty decent weather. “I feel as if I’m on a ship” quipped the outwardly genial Douglas but one suspects that deep down he was not pleased.

Masse left the stage for Time Travel’s “Beware Of Doug”, a playful piece about an elderly cougar that Douglas encountered in the Canadian Rockies. With its boisterous syncopated rhythms sounding like a kind of 21st century ragtime the piece proved to be a great blowing vehicle that produced brilliant solos from Douglas, McCaslin, Mitchell and Oh with Blake climaxing the piece with a series of exuberant drum breaks.

Masse returned for the final two numbers, the first a setting of the Lutheran chorale “It Is Enough” featuring her soaring wordless vocals which dovetailed effectively with Douglas’ trumpet. Meanwhile McCaslin delivered an equally stratospheric tenor solo.

The performance ended with “God Be With You Till We Meet Again”, a traditional parting hymn that was delivered with the minimum of embellishment and which consequently produced a considerable emotional impact. Despite a rousing reception there was to be, appropriately, no encore although those wishing to see more of Douglas still had the opportunity to attend the talk “Setting Up Your Record Label” which featured Douglas, who runs his own Green Leaf imprint, alongside Edition Records’ Dave Stapleton.

Overall this was another impressive performance from Douglas. For me it didn’t quite match the 2009 show, I’m less inclined towards vocal jazz anyway, and outside factors were also a consideration with Masse’s vocals sometimes drowned out by extraneous noises. For all this Douglas remains a formidable creative force and his obvious enthusiasm for the music is infectious.
He’s a musician I’d readily go to see again any time.

I was also pleased to discover the playing of Linda Oh. The bassist is a band-leader and composer in her own right and has recorded for Douglas’  Green Leaf label. Her performance here suggested that her solo albums should be well worth checking out.

GOGO PENGUIN

Back at the Parabola Arts Centre (hereafter PAC) a large crowd exuded a real air of anticipation for the performance of the young Manchester based trio GoGo Penguin. The group created a real buzz with the release last year of their album “Fanfares” (Gondwana Records) and they have also built up an enviable reputation for the quality of their live performances.

Pianist Chris Illingworth and drummer Rob Turner studied at the Royal Northern College of Music alongside founder member Grant Russell (bass) who appears on the album. Russell has since been replaced by Nick Blacka, a busy figure on the Manchester jazz scene who has worked with Beats & Pieces Big Band, the Magic Hat Ensemble and with saxophonist Nat Birchall’s group. Today Blacka sounded as if he’d been playing with GoGo Penguin all his life and also proved to be an engaging interlocutor between tunes as he handled all the announcements.

The most obvious influence on the young trio’s sound is E.S.T. but they also cite rock and electronic artists such as Radiohead, Aphex Twin and Fourtet as inspirations alongside contemporary classical composers Gyorgy Ligeti and the little known Finn Einojuhani Rautavaara.

They began with Illingworth’s title track from “Fanfares” immediately establishing a groove that borrowed not only from E.S.T. but also from more overtly hip hop influenced artists such as Massive Attack. Drummer Turner is a master of contemporary rhythms, many of them sourced from the worlds of hip hop and electronica. The way in which he held down the groove allowed Blacka to adopt a fluid role on the bass, sometimes using the bow to add extra textures to the group sound. GoGo Penguin is a highly interactive trio with pianist Illingworth a key member of the ensemble rather than an out and out soloist. The group’s use of dynamics was also impressive, moving up and down the gears at will and negotiating tricky changes of direction with considerable aplomb.

Today’s programme offered a fascinating mix of material, some of it drawn from “Fanfares”, some of it from a second album that is already in the can but is still awaiting a title, artwork and presumably a label deal. The next piece, still untitled represented a first taste of the group’s new material and was something of a showcase for Blacka who introduced the piece at the bass, sometimes using the body of the instrument as auxiliary percussion. Turner’s incremental grooves drove the piece forward and things ended as they began with Blacka at the bass.

Turner’s “I Am That” saw the drummer augmenting his sound with small percussive devices (bowls and bells, tambourines and shakers) as he led the group through a three-way discussion that also included Blacka’s bowed bass and Illingworth’s economical piano chording. Once again the group’s control of dynamics was impressive as they subtly adjusted the mood of the piece.

From “Fanfares” the Turner/Illingworth composition “HF” developed from the gentle opening piano motif to embrace full on rocking out in Neil Cowley Trio style with Illingworth positively slamming out the chords. Also from the album “Seven Sons Of Bjorn” represented Illingworth’s tribute to Esbjorn Svensson and featured Blacka’s bowed bass at its most Dan Berglund like, derivative if you will but still hugely exciting and enjoyable. Indeed a youthful vitality was common to all the group’s performances allied to formidable technical skills for such a frighteningly young looking band.

Most of the other pieces were unannounced and were presumably sourced from the forthcoming album. All offered the same mix of energetic grooves, skilled changes of tempo and dynamics and the occasional set piece, a passage of solo piano here, Blacka’s looped and layered bass there and always Turner’s technically brilliant polyrhythmic drumming driving the group on.

This was the first of several high profile festival gigs with The Penguins seemingly set to play at many of the UK’s major jazz events this summer. Their youthful brio and technical brilliance ensured that it was a triumph with a large PAC audience replicating the standing ovation given to Marius Neset the previous evening and calling the group back for an encore.

If one were to have a criticism it would be that there was a lack of light and shade. This is a band that doesn’t do ballads and as yet GoGo Penguin can’t match E.S.T’s sometimes surprising emotional depth. However they are already a highly competent band with enormous technical skill and an equally enormous potential. They made a lot of friends today with their energetic and exciting performance and I predict a successful summer ahead for the band and very healthy sales for the new album. GoGo Penguin can certainly cut the proverbial mustard live and are beginning to create a distinctive group identity for themselves. 

RAVI COLTRANE QUINTET

One of the highlights of last year’s London Jazz festival was the appearance at Ronnie Scott’s of saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and his quartet. 2012 also saw the release of Coltrane’s acclaimed Blue Note label album “Spirit Fiction”, a record that most critics acknowledged as establishing Coltrane as a significant jazz figure in his own right, the forty something year old finally emerging from the shadow of his famous father John.

Today’s festival performance saw Coltrane leading a quintet line up that also featured trumpeter Ralph Alessi, a significant contributor to “Spirit Fiction”, in the front line. Cuban born pianist David Virelles, who had made such a favourable impression at Ronnie’s remained on board with Drew Gress (double bass) and Eric McPherson (drums) replacing the London pairing of Dezron Douglas and Johnathan Blake respectively. Incidentally I spotted Blake seated not too far away from me taking in today’s show in the company of Donny McCaslin and Matt Mitchell from the Dave Douglas band.

With album personnel Alessi and Gress on board there was a greater emphasis on the “Spirit Fiction” material than there had been in London. The quintet opened with Alessi’s “Klepto”, a typically complex theme featuring some intricate interplay between the two horns and probing solos from Coltrane, Alessi and Virelles.

Virelles then introduced Coltrane’s “Word Order” with a passage of solo piano before Coltrane and Alessi stated the theme, this acting as the jumping off point for extensive solos from both on a piece that steered closer to ballad territory.

“13th Floor” saw McPherson’s powerful drumming fuelling lengthy solos from Coltrane, Virelles and Alessi, the trumpeter sometimes making use of the Harmon mute. 

There had been the sense that much of the material thus far had been little more than a string of solos, impressive as many of these were. The quintet’s version of the late, great Paul Motian’s “Fantasm” thus represented a much needed change in mood and style. A true ensemble piece this was a fully integrated group performance. Yes, there were solo features beginning with Coltrane’s unaccompanied tenor intro and his later solo with bass accompaniment only. Gress also featured with a beautifully judged solo above the soft rumble of McPherson’s soft head mallets and overall it was the sheer spaciousness of the performance that made such a refreshing change.

Coltrane ended in Cheltenham as he had begun in London with a tear up version of Thelonious Monk’s “Skippy”. With Alessi on board today’s take on the tune was very different with both horns doubling up on the notoriously tricky theme and with Coltrane and Alessi vying for excellence with Virelles on a succession of blistering solos. Alessi’s contribution was easily his most fiery of the set. I saw the trumpeter appear at this festival in 2008 with his group This Against That (also featuring Coltrane and Gress) and I found his approach rather too dry and academic. As Chris Parker observed in his review of today’s gig for London Jazz News something of that feeling also pervaded today’s performance. For me it didn’t quite catch fire in the way Coltrane’s London set had done, perhaps it was the difference between a club and arena environment, perhaps Coltrane and Alessi went some way towards cancelling each other out but it didn’t connect with me in quite the same way. Coltrane was as engaging a stage presence as ever but was less central than he had been in London. Maybe it’s Alessi I have a problem with, although I thoroughly enjoyed his contribution to the recent album by the British based Cloudmakers Trio featuring vibraphonist Jim Hart, bassist Michael Janisch and drummer Dave Smith. Maybe I was expecting too much after the brilliance of Coltrane’s London show. They say you should never go back but the next act I saw proved this premise wrong in spectacular fashion.

SONS OF KEMET

In June 2012 I saw Sons Of Kemet give a brilliant performance at a Jazzlines event at the Hare & Hounds in Birmingham. Led by saxophonist/clarinettist Shabaka Hutchings the group boasts a unique line up featuring the twin drums of Tom Skinner and Sebastian Rochford plus the extraordinary tuba wizardry of Oren Marshall. On the face of it the chordless configuration may look unpromising but the quartet make an extraordinary sound that has created quite a buzz among the jazz cognoscenti whilst also attracting the attention of younger listeners. The PAC was again virtually full for this keenly anticipated festival performance and Hutchings and his colleagues didn’t disappoint. 

Given the nature of the line up it’s not surprising that Sons Of Kemet are an extremely rhythmic band with the interlocking rhythms of Rochford and Skinner also linking up with Marshall’s astonishingly agile tuba vamps and basslines. This rhythmic lattice gives Hutchings the freedom to stretch out on both his chosen reeds, often imparting the music with a the North African/ Middle Eastern flavours suggested by the band’s title.

The set began with Hutchings on clarinet, weaving and soaring above the consistently interesting rhythmic patterns generated by his colleagues. Rochford and Skinner rarely doubled up, their interlocking rhythms were well structured and precise, each man seemed certain of his role and the pair never got in one another’s way. Hutchings has worked with both before, as part of Zed U with Skinner and as a member of Rochford’s Polar Bear, and it’s clear that he places great trust in both of them. With Rochford using chains and shakers to broaden the band’s sound and with Marshall using the body of his instrument as auxiliary percussion there was plenty going on to absorb the listener even without Marshall’s admirably nimble blown vamps and bass lines and Hutchings’ richly imaginative clarinet soloing. When Marshall soloed with remarkable fluency on the tuba Hutchings provided fascinating counterpoint on the clarinet.

When Hutchings switched to tenor the momentum was maintained and even the obligatory drum duet between Rochford and Skinner was full of interest, the pair more concerned with overall structure and musicality than mere displays of technique. This was a genuine collaboration rather than the showy Gene Krupa/Buddy Rich “drum battles” of old.

“Let Freedom Ring” explored Hutchings’ Caribbean heritage, his high register clarinet sounding almost flute like above Marshall’s tuba generated bass lines and Rochford’s delicate hand drumming.

The much anticipated Sons Of Kemet d?but album is now due for release in September 2013 and will contain “Beware”, one of Hutchings’ most powerful pieces and one that was also included in the band’s Birmingham set. Driven by Marshall’s weighty tuba vamp and the deep grooves of the twin drummers the tune featured a towering tenor sax solo from Hutchings later augmented by powerful foghorn like blasts from Marshall. 

The closing “Itis”, another piece that had featured at Birmingham, was even more dramatic with urgent, squawking saxophone and rasping tuba, the two wind instruments intertwining above the varying swing and funk grooves generated by Skinner and Rochford. Marshall’s bass lines were a reminder that the tuba fulfilled the bass function in the formative days of jazz back in New Orleans before later being supplanted by the double bass. 

“Itis” brought a brilliant set to a rousing close. If anything this had been even better than the Birmingham show with a greater degree of subtlety about the group’s interchanges, particularly early in the set. However as “Beware” and “Itis” demonstrated the group’s nascent power is still there and for my money they just get better and better. Pretty much everything Seb Rochford gets involved with delivers something of interest and this band is no exception. Not that Rochford in any way outshone Tom Skinner who also made a superb contribution to the success of this music. Oren Marshall never fails to deliver and his blend of musicality, sonic inventiveness and sheer physical resourcefulness on the most unwieldy of instruments never ceases to amaze and impress. As for leader Hutchings his status as a BBC Radio 3 New Generations Artist is more than justified by the music of this extraordinary band. Hutchings is a brilliant technician but also possesses a keen intelligence (musical and otherwise) that ensures that he is always exploring, among his various ongoing projects he has made recent excursions into the sometimes scary world of free improvisation. This is a musician who is constantly pushing himself, always ready to listen and learn.

Like Marius Neset and GoGo Penguin Sons Of Kemet were given another tremendous reception by the PAC crowd and rightly so, this had been a superb performance. For myself I was delighted that I had chosen to return to Sons Of Kemet’s music, this was more than a match for their Birmingham show and besides the visceral excitement I also detected clear signs of artistic growth. A winner, by a short head, of my award for gig of the day.

EDITION QUARTET

It’s a rarity these days to see a tuba at a jazz gig ? and then two come along at once. The Edition Quartet, an ensemble assembled by Edition Records co-founder Dave Stapleton featuring Stapleton himself on piano alongside fellow Edition artists Neil Yates (trumpet and flugelhorn) Marius Neset (saxophones) and Daniel Herskedal on tuba. It was also ironic that we’d gone from seeing a group with two drummers to one with no drums at all, an interesting contrast.

Whilst introducing the quartet Tony Dudley Evans thanked BBC Radio 3 Late Junction presenter Fiona Talkington who had also been involved in organising tonight’s event through the Conexions scheme designed to bring British and Norwegian musicians together. Talkington was present in the audience as she had been for Marius Neset’s very different performance with his Golden Xplosion quartet the night before.

Tonight’s ensemble was essentially a chamber jazz ensemble who drew their inspiration from such Edition Recordings as Neset and Herskedal’s “Neck Of The Woods”, Yates’ “Five Countries” and Stapleton’s “Flight”. They began with a segue of tunes that felt like a suite developing from Stapleton’s solo piano intro through the remarkable trumpet fluttering of Yates, his technique influenced by Irish folk forms and the playing of folk flautists such as Michael McGoldrick.  With Stapleton’s piano linking everything together and providing a kind of harmonic glue the blend of the three horns was consistently fascinating but the individual and duo set pieces were also absorbing as Stapleton linked up with first Neset and then Yates, the latter having now made the switch to flugel horn and utilising the instrument’s warm, round tone to the full. Elsewhere Neset and Herskedal produced percussive effects from their instruments, Neset manipulating the pads and keys of his tenor, Herskedal producing an extraordinary form of “mouth percussion” via the tuba.

Herskedal’s own “Good Morning Denmark” built from his own solo tuba intro gradually introducing tenor sax and trumpet with Yates taking the first solo. Neset then soloed backed by Herskedal’s tuba bass line only, shades of their duo recording “Neck of the Woods”  and their superb live performance at Dempsey’s, Cardiff in September 2012 which is reviewed elsewhere on this site and included this non-album track.

The next piece began with a stunning duet between Yates and Stapleton with the trumpeter first directing the bell of his horn into the innards of the grand piano to obtain an echo effect. Yates later adopted his unique flute like tone again in an exchange that was one of the highlights of the concert.
After a linking passage of solo piano Stapleton linked up with Neset before the piece concluded with a further “Neck of the Woods” style duet between Neset and Herskedal with the tubist producing almost human sounds and cries from his instrument.

Initially classically trained Stapleton has always maintained a fondness for the idiom and his album “Flight”, which includes a strong contribution from Neset, is a successful fusion of jazz and classical influences. From this record “Running East” began at the piano before developing through a piano/tuba duet to produce lush voicings for all three horns. Neset’s solo is a key part of the recorded version and he and Stapleton linked up well together here with the saxophonist bringing a rare (in this context) element of bluesiness to the music.

Herskedal’s solo tuba feature allowed for comparisons with Marshall who had apparently stayed behind to watch his fellow tubist in action. In Sons Of Kemet Marsahall stands to play, his instrument mounted on a stand, Herskedal, however, chooses to remain seated. There’s an earthiness about Marshall’s playing in the Kemet group that Herskedal largely eschews but both players possess extraordinary technique and imagination and both are not afraid to make use of electronics ? some of Marshall’s solo recordings are astounding as he manipulates the familiar sound of the tuba into something else entirely. Herskedal’s electronica is a little less extreme but here he effectively looped and layered his sound to create effects that ranged from a choir to a steam locomotive. Stapleton, our announcer for the evening, revealed that Herskedal is currently working on a project for solo tuba and string orchestra, the results should be fascinating.

The final number, Herskedal’s “The Wedding March” teamed the composer’s tuba with Neset’s soprano sax before bringing in Stapleton’s piano. A characteristically beautiful Herskedal tune based on Norwegian folk forms the piece featured gloriously lyrical solos from Stapleton and from Neset on soprano followed by further delightful exchanges between Stapleton and Yates on the trumpet. 

It had been a very different show to Neset’s performance the previous evening and offered ample evidence of the Norwegian’s versatility. Another large audience seemed to love it almost equally and with this being the last show of the day the quartet returned for an encore of South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim’s lovely tune “The Wedding”, a piece first recorded for the composer’s “Water From An Ancient Well” album and covered by Herskedal and Neset on “Neck of the Woods”. Here the Norwegian duo linked up beautifully, with Neset back on tenor, and with Stapleton filling out the sound we also heard from Yates on trumpet. A delightful way to finish a low key but thoroughly absorbing and enjoyable concert and to end a day of largely excellent music. With large attendances at every event it would seem that the Cheltenham Jazz Festival remains in very good health despite the current harsh economic climate. It’s a tribute to the strength and imagination of the programming that audiences continue to support an event that isn’t exactly cheap, certainly by jazz standards.  Well done to Tony Dudley Evans and all concerned

Ian’s Star Ratings;

Trondheim Jazz Exchange 3 Stars

Dave Douglas Quintet 3.5 Stars

GoGo Penguin 4 Stars

Ravi Coltrane Quintet 3.5 Stars

Sons Of Kemet 4.5 Stars

Edition Quartet 3.5 Stars

Overall 4 Stars

         
             

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