Saturday at Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2011

Saturday 30/04/2011

Photograph of Django Bates by Tim Dickeson

In these difficult times it’s pleasing to report that the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival was arguably the most successful yet. Founded in 1996 the festival has always maintained a good balance between the populist and the cutting edge and this year, more so than ever, it could truly be said that there was something for everyone. Of course the weather helped, glorious sunshine pretty much throughout the festival ensured that the fringe events taking place on the free Budvar stage in Imperial Gardens were very well attended with appreciative audiences giving the mainly youthful performers plenty of encouragement. It’s good to see the festival becoming an increasingly important part of the cultural life of the town, it shouldn’t just be about hard core jazz buffs like me.

The fact that the forty seven ticketed events generated a record 16,000 ticket sales is a sign that Cheltenham Festivals and artistic director Tony Dudley Evans are getting the balance right. This festival was both a commercial and artistic success with some superb music being played over the course of the festival. I took in a range of events that varied from the easy going popularism of festival closer Hugh Laurie to the sonic terrorism of Stian Westerhus and many points in between.

As usual my plan was to take in as much music as possible with the focus being on the more “serious” end of the jazz spectrum. My most keenly anticipated concerts were two performances by Django Bates plus a rare sighting of the brilliant Anglo/American collaboration Big Air, neither was to disappoint and there was much other excellent music besides.

OUTHOUSE QUARTET with HILMAR JENSSON

My weekend started in the Pillar Room with an appearance by Loop Collective band Outhouse who were augmented here by the New York based Icelandic guitarist Hilmar Jensson. Jensson collaborated with the band on their recent (very good) album “Straw, Sticks & Bricks” where his playing represented a significant addition to the group’s sound. However Jensson’s live performances with the group are infrequent and his presence here constituted a considerable bonus.

Outhouse are defined by their twin tenor sax front line with founding member Robin Fincker now being joined by Tom Challenger, a successor to previous incumbent Mark Hanslip who has left to concentrate on his improvising duo with drummer Javier Carmona. The Outhouse line up is completed by double bassist Johnny Brierley and the band’s de facto leader, drummer Dave Smith.

The bulk of the material the quintet played at this lunchtime session was drawn from “Straw, Sticks & Bricks” beginning with Fincker’s composition “Fool”. Woozy Polar Bear style tenor sax conversations contrasted well with the rock power brought to the group by Jensson, a musician prominent on the New York “Downtown Scene” and a frequent collaborator with Big Air drummer Jim Black in the latter’s band Alasnoaxis. The piece was climaxed by an impressive tenor solo from new recruit Tom Challenger.

Next up was another Fincker tune “Kitchen In The Middle” which opens the album. The band may have been better served to begin with it here rather than the more abstract ramblings of “Fool”. “Kitchen” possesses a killer opening riff that the likes of King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator would be proud of and is a guaranteed attention grabber. After the opening salvo came an unaccompanied tenor sax dialogue with Fincker and Challenger injecting a sense of humour as they concluded with a barrage of donkey noises. Jensson’s solo kept up the heaviness quotient, urged on by Smith’s succinct but powerful drumming.

Challenger’s darkly atmospheric “Bleak Sylvette” introduced a more reflective side of the band before Jensson’s “Uncle Fish Hook” upped both the weirdness and energy levels. Building from Smith’s drum intro increased layers of sound crumbled into abstraction before Smith struck up a hammered groove that acted as the spur for some dazzling unison passages for Jensson and the two horns. This was powerful, New York inspired stuff. 

The as yet unrecorded “Zoot” reintroduced an element of quirkiness and featured solos by Brierley at the bass and Fincker on tenor.

The next two tunes were unannounced. The first featured Jensson using a steel rod on the string of his guitar in the “glissando style” made famous by Daevid Allen of the rock group Gong. He also deployed a number of floor mounted pedals and other devices to further manipulate his sound on a piece full of malevolent chords and bludgeoning riffs( I suspect it may have been Challenger’s “We Need Two” from the new album).
The second piece featured Fincker on clarinet and was positively meditative in comparison with Smith’s cymbal scrapes and hand drumming and Brierley’s ruminative double bass solo adding to the fragile atmosphere(and this,I suspect was Fincker’s “Luna Verde”, also from the new record) 

Fincker’s “Golfo” featured more turbo charged unison riffing plus a towering solo from the composer above a soaring guitar backdrop. Also notable was the feisty duo exchange between guitar and drums.

The set concluded with Smith’s tune “Long Notes”, his hypnotic drum patterns the backdrop for Fincker and Challenger’s lazily interlocking saxophone lines and Jensson’s guitar atmospherics.

Outhouse had delivered an uncompromising, often loud, set that divided opinion. As an admirer of the band I certainly enjoyed it, my wife was less sure, and writing in The Times Alyn Shipton clearly hated it. For me it was a pretty good start to the day and even better things were to follow.

ANDY SHEPPARD’S TRIO LIBERO

We crossed into the Main Hall to hear this new project from the great British saxophonist Andy Sheppard. This time last year Sheppard was part of a brilliant performance in this same room by pianist and composer Carla Bley’s Lost Chords group. Sheppard’s own group was equally as impressive with the leader being joined by French bass player Michel Benita plus drummer Seb Rochford, leader of the group Polar Bear. Hailing from Bristol Sheppard is something of a local hero but even so it was hugely impressive that a saxophone trio should pack out such a large hall. Judging by the cheers that greeted Rochford as he made his way onto the stage members of his fan-base were out in force as well.

Although this trio is a relatively new venture the rapport between the players was apparent from the start. Sheppard has stripped away any superfluous elements from his playing and these days is concerned with the purity of melody and distilling the music to its essence. In this regard there are obvious parallels with Jan Garbarek and this makes Sheppard a natural for the prestigious German label ECM run by producer Manfred Eicher. Sheppard’s excellent 2008 album “Movements In Colour” marked his ECM d?but as a leader and now Trio Libero are also lined up to record for the label. On the evidence of this beautiful concert performance it’s easy to see why. Sheppard has come up with yet another set of winning tunes for this project and his playing and that of his two companions was excellent throughout.

They began in conversational mode with “Liberino” with Sheppard stating the theme on tenor before handing over to Benita for the first in a series of tasteful but highly dexterous bass solos. The French bassist is probably unfamiliar to British audiences but his stock in the UK is sure to rise on the back of performances such as this. Rochford, that most musical of drummers, kept a low profile but still exhibited an exquisite touch at the cymbals.

Sheppard switched to soprano for “Land Of Nod”, one of his most charming melodies and one with a distinct folkish quality, an element increasingly in evidence in Sheppard’s music. The dialogue between Sheppard’s soprano and Benita’s bass was enchanting, all underpinned by Rochford’s delightfully delicate hand drumming.

Not that Sheppard’s music is all about folksiness. Two “Space Walk” pieces revealed that he and his colleagues are more than ready to make use of modern musical technology. The first of these saw Benita loop an arco phrase on his bass and solo pizzicato above it in the style of Eberhard Weber.
Later in the set the second “Space Walk” saw Sheppard indulge in some live looping as well as adding dollops of echo to both his tenor and soprano sounds in the manner of Jan Garberek. To complete the comparisons Rochford’s drumming was reminiscent of the great Jon Christensen. I should stress that these comparisons are meant as compliments, this was simply great music and playing “spot the influence” only added to the enjoyment.

Elsewhere we heard the boppish “Rubbernecking” with Sheppard lithe and light on his feet at the tenor followed by the lush ballad “When We Live On The Stars” which saw Sheppard moving between tenor and soprano as the music took another folkish turn. Both pieces furnished pithy bass solos from the excellent Benita and characteristically sympathetic drumming from Rochford.

Although Sheppard proved to be an engaging but somewhat eccentric interlocutor between tunes there were nevertheless a couple he failed to announce. The first saw the trio veer briefly into vaguely Sonny Rollins like saxophone trio territory with busy dialogue between tenor sax and double bass plus an opportunity for Rochford to demonstrate something of his latent power. The other placed the emphasis on the melodic quality of Sheppard?s writing on a lovely, folk tinged ballad with the composer exhibiting considerable tenderness on the tenor.

The trio finished with what Sheppard described as “a happy tune”, the jaunty Be Skippy Be” which featured the leader’s joyous tenor above a suitably skipping bass and drum groove. They even had time for a brief encore with Sheppard’s soprano playing a thing of fragile beauty.

This had been marvellous music defined by a lightness of touch and an easy grace. It may have been easy on the ear but the level of musical sophistication was both obvious and impressive but without ever any hint of “showing off”. Messrs. Sheppard, Benita and Rochford served the music faithfully and left the audience smiling, all of them doubtless just waiting for that album to come out.

JOHN TAYLOR and JULIAN ARGUELLES

After leaving three ridiculously talented and elegant musicians in the Main Hall we trooped back across to the Pillar Room to hear two more; pianist John Taylor and saxophonist Julian Arguelles. Although from different generations the two have worked together on and off for over twenty years and have established a tremendous rapport. The pair can be heard together on the recently released Taylor album “Requiem For A Dreamer” (Camjazz) which features Taylor and Arguelles alongside Taylor’s regular rhythm pairing of bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Martin France. It’s a lovely record.

Duo gigs are among the most difficult to pull off but Taylor and Arguelles made it look easy, holding the audience engrossed for over an hour with a combination of just tenor saxophone and piano. Of course it helps that both are hugely experienced musicians and superb technicians, but it’s also a tribute to the quality of their writing. Both are brilliant composers and with the exception of a radical re-invention of the hymn tune “In The Bleak Midwinter” all the pieces came from one or other of the duo. There was no lazy reliance on standards here, this was all original material full of sophisticated harmonic ideas.

The concert opened with Taylor’s solo piano introduction to his own “Between Moons”, the composer eventually joined by Arguelles’ tenor. The saxophonist is an extraordinarily fluent player, his improvisations seemingly seamless. Over the years he has developed a highly personal, very British tone on the instrument. Taylor too has a unique sound, one with a classical player’s lightness of touch and general air of sophistication but a jazz man’s fearlessness and sensibility.

Arguelles and Taylor first worked together when Taylor guested on Arguelles’ 1990 album “Phaedrus”. Fresh out of Loose Tubes’ this was Arguelles’ first recording as a leader and it’s remarkably mature d?but that still stands up today and for me is something of a personal favourite.
I suspect it may be one of Julian’s too as the duo played the title track from the record, one of Arguelles’ most arresting melodies.

Arguelles’ “A Lifelong Moment” was followed by “Ambleside Days”, one of Taylor’s most enduring compositions and one that put the emphasis on the piano as a rhythmic instrument as Taylor used the body of the instrument as a percussive device and reached under the lid to pluck the strings.

I first heard a jazz version of “In The Bleak Midwinter” on the 1997 album “I.D” by trumpeter Henry Lowther’s group Still Waters. Arguelles was a member of that ensemble and arranged the piece for the group so it’s an arrangement he’s obviously carried with him. The melody was written by Gustav Holst, one of Cheltenham’s most famous sons, so the performance was most appropriate for the festival with Arguelles and Taylor bringing a distinct blues/gospel feel to the famous old tune.

A new Arguelles tune “Lah Di Dah Di” was followed by the only unannounced number of the set. Nevertheless this was one of the most striking, with Arguelles giving a remarkable demonstration of circular breathing above Taylor’s piano comping. It was then the pianist’s turn to take the lead on a piece of slow burning intensity.

They closed with Taylor’s sparky, complex “Unstuck In Time”, sourced from the recent “Requiem For A Dreamer” album.

This had been a spellbinding hour or so in the company of two master musicians. You could literally hear a pin drop, the audience were concentrating so hard and hanging on every note. Fortunately we will all get the chance to hear it all again as the concert was being recorded for Radio 3’s Jazz Line Up programme with the transmission date scheduled for early July.

SPIN MARVEL

Martin France is one of Britain’s busiest drummers, a member of several different bands and an in demand sideman who has appeared on over fifty albums. Only two of these have been as a leader and both have featured his Spin Marvel electro improvising project. Spin Marvel came about as the result of a Cheltenham Jazz Festival commission some ten years ago when France decided to reveal the more experimental side of his playing in an ensemble that incorporated electronic drums and all other sorts of technical wizardry. I was one of the lucky few to see the new group’s d?but at the much missed Everyman Theatre.

Although very much an occasional project the project has grown since then and taken on a distinctive Nordic flavour with the addition of the Norwegian duo of trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer and and soundscaper Terje Evensen to the British contingent of France, guitarist John Parricelli and bassist Tim Harries. After a lengthy interim the group’s second album “The Reluctantly Politicised Mr. James” (or more conveniently Spin Marvel 2”) was released on the Edition label in 2010.

The group’s Cheltenham appearance was particularly keenly anticipated with ticket sales doubtlessly enhanced by the announcement that none other than ex Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones would be making a guest appearance with the group, taking over from the absent Tim Harries.
Not that there were many elements here that would be familiar to Zep’s many followers. France and his colleagues performed one seamless improvised set stretched out across seventy five minutes with Jones revealing himself to be a more than competent jazz bassist and one of the featured soloists alongside Molvaer and Parricelli. The concept is similar to that deployed by that other Anglo/Norwegian group Food (who graced Cheltenham with their presence last year) co-led by France’s ex Loose Tubes colleague Iain Ballamy and with whom Molvaer has also worked. 

Seeing Spin Marvel live it immediately became apparent just how central Evensen is to their music.  The set began with the low rumble of computer generated thunder and electronic glitches, bleepings and whistlings were central to the rest of the set with Evensen’s contributions stitched deeply into the fabric of the Spin Marvel sound. Evensen was a constant presence in the music with the contributions of the other musicians swimming in out of focus. There were several searing, rock influenced, effects drenched solos from Parricelli who also made extensive use of his guitar’s tremolo arm. The clarion call of Molvaer’s trumpet cut through the maelstrom of electronica during his solos and elsewhere he was to be seen blowing into the bell of his trumpet to eerie effect. Jones played pretty much the whole time whether grinding out deep grooves or soloing in a liquid style derived from the twin sources of Jaco Pastorius and Colin Hodgkinson. The quality of his musicianship was impressive and there was hardly a Zeppelin moment moment in sight apart from one section where Parricelli, Jones and France briefly went into power trio mode.

As for France himself he largely kept a low profile, his drums providing colour rather than rhythm. Evensen’s electronically generated rhythms largely freed France from his timekeeping role but there were still moments of sheer rock power from this most versatile and adaptable of drummers.

Overall though I was a little disappointed. The hype surrounding the appearance of Jones probably didn’t help but somehow the totality of the Spin Marvel experience proved to be less than the sum of its parts. There were too many passages of aimless noodling, longueurs when the listener’s attention almost inevitably wandered with Evensen a too constant presence. Inevitably one was drawn to comparisons with Food’s performance last year which was very similar in concept but seemed less forced and more organic. Their set seemed to be conceived as a single entity rather than a string of inspired moments as Spin Marvel’s was.

Having said that Food have played together a lot more than Spin Marvel have. This then was a bit of a curate’s egg of a performance, a noble if only partially successful experiment- but still one of those occasions where the listener can say “I was there!” 

PHAROAH SANDERS

Tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders is one of those legendary jazz figures that I’ve somehow managed to pass by. Sanders famously locked horns with that other jazz legend John Coltrane in the latter stages of Trane’s career before going on to record “spiritual jazz” with Coltrane’s widow Alice. He subsequently went on to record a string of albums under his own name and later emerged as a kind of guru for the Acid Jazz movement. His has been a unique and fascinating career and I was very much looking forward to seeing the legend in action.

Sanders is no longer physically capable of the marathon soloing that defined his early years but he still has some of the old sound and old magic left and everything he played was pithy and relevant. He was superbly supported by a UK based pick up trio under the inspired leadership of pianist Jonathan Gee alongside the versatile and dependable bassist Mark Hodgson and the irrepressible drummer Gene Calderazzo. There seemed to be great deal of mutual respect between Sanders and the trio.  Gee and his colleagues covered for Sanders’ physical fragility with some great playing of their own and Sanders seemed genuinely appreciative of their efforts. The British based guys clearly felt honoured to be playing with such a jazz legend and pulled out all the stops for him with Gee and Calderazzo particularly inspired. Gee soloed on virtually every number and his playing was frequently dazzling.

Sanders is no great introducer of tunes but several of the items were recognisable as having been drawn from the old John Coltrane repertoire, among them “Giant Steps” and “Naima” which revealed Sanders’ largely unheralded ability as a balladeer. Perhaps the best of these was the trio’s version of “My Favourite Things” which sounded uncannily like the legendary Coltrane recorded version with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones et al.

Elsewhere we had Sanders r’n'b sax honking and fragile vocalising on an exuberantly swinging “I Got The Blues”. Sanders’ tenor sound was massive here and the rest of the trio were equally inspired with a great dialogue between Hodgson and Calderazzo topped off by an explosive drum feature from the latter. Best of all though was Gee’s exuberant and percussive solo which saw the pianist standing up at the keyboard. As Calderazzo subsequently took it away Gee could be observed wiping the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief.

Best of all though was the quartet’s version of “A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square” which opened with a moving tenor sax/piano duet before moving on to encompass solos from Sanders, Gee and the deeply resonant bass of Hodgson.

Writing in The Times Alyn Shipton described Sanders’ set as “lackadaisical” but I felt this was a little unfair. Certainly Sanders’ contributions were sparing but he didn’t seem physically capable to me of giving more than he did- and what he did play was made to count. Also the support of the UK trio shouldn’t be under estimated, all three acquitted themselves supremely well and added greatly to the success of the performance. Yes, one could have reservations but overall this was a hugely enjoyable set with many more pluses than minuses.

DJANGO BATES AND THE TDE’S

A theme that ran throughout the programme of the festival was the bringing together of musicians   who first came to prominence in the 1980’s, the so called “Loose Tubes/Jazz Warriors generation”,  with the rising young stars of today. With this in mind Radio 3 commissioned ex Tube Django Bates to write a suite of new music for a hand picked group of musicians straddling both generations. As the core of the group Bates called upon the members of Troyka with Kit Downes appearing on organ and keyboards, Chris Montague on guitar and Joshua Blackmore on drums. The group also featured Phronesis’ Jasper Hoiby making a very rare appearance on electric bass plus a quartet of horn players comprising of Jay Phelps (trumpet), Shabaka Hutchings (alto sax), James Allsopp (baritone sax) and the slightly older Denys Baptiste (tenor sax). Django didn’t play but merely conducted although he did perform an opening twenty minute solo set that featured material from his 1994 album “Autumn Fires (and Green Shoots)”.

Bates’ solo set was a timely reminder of just how good an acoustic pianist he is-we were to get an even better reminder the following day when he appeared with his “Beloved Bird” trio. Bates also added his idiosyncratic lyrics to some of the pieces and revealed that he’s a pretty decent singer too when he puts his mind to it. He punctuated the music with some of his characteristically quirky and surreal anecdotes, rigorously ticking each song off his list after it had been played and making a big deal of the twenty minute deadline. Material played included “I Could Write”, “If There Is Anyone Up There” and “The JT” (dedicated to John Taylor). The twisted ragtime of “Ralph’s Trip”  was dedication to Bates’ father and we also heard the song “Horses In Rain”, originally sung by Norwegian vocalist Sidsel Endresen on the 1996 Bates album “Good Evening…Here Is The News”.
His version of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” was brutally truncated when Bates realised, accidentally on purpose, that his twenty minutes was up. It was an hilarious end to a charmingly eccentric set which cast Bates as his own support act. Very Django.

The TDE’s (the band name is a homage to Cheltenham’s artistic director Tony Dudley Evans) was even better with a near capacity crowd thrilling to the audacity of Bates’ writing and arrangements and the quality of the playing of this brilliant young band. Bates kept up the surreal announcements throughout the set, dedicating the first number, “Chatter” to his Uncle Bob who used to work at Bletchley Park, apparently. Truth or fiction? I’ll let you make up your own minds.

Anyway the piece was a superb example of Bates’ characteristically busy and eventful writing style, he never seems to leave a space unfilled, with great opening solos from Hutchings on alto and Baptiste on tenor. The octet line up meant that the music neatly occupied the middle ground between Bates’  quartet Human Chain and his large ensemble Delightful Precipice.

“Elastic Resilience” was better still, with a garrulous intro by the four unaccompanied horns, followed by the chunky riffing of Montague and Hoiby and with Kit Downes sounding remarkably like Django himself on keyboards. However the highlight here was a bravado trumpet solo by the frighteningly youthful and brilliant Jay Phelps.

Phelps was also featured, this time using a mute, on the following “We Are Not Lost, We Are Simply Finding Our Way”. Other soloists were the powerful Chris Montague on guitar and most notably James Allsopp who delivered a barnstorming baritone solo punctuated by Downes’ keyboard squalls. The ensemble passages were of course as thrillingly densely knit as ever.

“Everyone’s Song For Kenny”, (the title a play on Kenny Wheeler’s modern standard “Everybody’s Song But My Own”) was introduced by Bates relating a less than flattering anecdote about the Swiss band-leader George Gruntz. Introduced by Phelps’ trumpet the music was relatively simple by Bates’ standards and built to an anthemic, organ driven grandeur by way of solos by Phelps on trumpet and Allsopp on bass clarinet.

The suite closed with “Froot Bole”, another piece of fiendishly tricky Bates writing crowned by a storming solo from Baptiste on tenor. Maybe Denys was warming up for his own gig on Monday.

This may have been complex, challenging music, real seat of the pants stuff, but the audience loved it and whooped and hollered for an encore. The ensemble returned for a second, gleeful run through of “Chatter” but this time taking it even faster with Hoiby and Hutchings the featured soloists.

Alongside Trio Libero this thrilling set was the highlight of the day. Whereas Sheppard’s music extolled the virtue of space Bates’ restless writing embraced a totally different philosophy but both approaches worked brilliantly in their own way. The TDE’s thrilling concert is set to be broadcast on Jazz On 3 on Monday 9th May 2011. I shall certainly be listening again, and let’s hope Django can get this brilliant music out on CD too.

Ian’ Star Ratings

Outhouse 3.5 Stars
Trio Libero 4.5 Stars
John Taylor & Julian Arguelles 4 Stars
Spin Marvel 3 Stars
Pharoah Sanders 3.5 Stars
Django Bates 4 Stars

Overall 4 Stars
         

 

 

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