Saturday at Titley Jazz, 30/07/2011

The Rodd Farm Estate, Titley, Herefordshire, 30/07/2011.

SWINGIN’ THE SAMBA

The extended line up at the 2011 Titley Jazz Festival engendered an early (11.00 am) start with saxophonist Alan Barnes again opening the proceedings. The weather was much improved (the Friday of the festival had been cold and drizzly) and the summery sounds of Barnes’ Swingin’ The Samba project now felt thoroughly appropriate. Actually the “Samba” tag proved to be a bit of a misnomer as Barnes and his colleagues conducted a thorough exploration of all kinds of Latin jazz with a healthy dose of Afro Cuban and Caribbean sounds also featuring alongside the Brazilian samba and bossa stylings. The same line up but with drummer Dave Barry replacing Brown recorded an album “Swingin’ The Samba” featuring much of today’s material back in 2002.

Joining Barnes were tenor saxophonist Art Themen, drummer Steve Brown, bassist Geoff Gascoyne (depping for Arnie Somogyi who was gigging elsewhere) plus a new face in the form of pianist John Donaldson. The all star line-up kicked off with Barnes’ own “La-teen-o” with Brown clearly relishing the chance to get stuck into the Latin rhythms of a piece that owed something to the compositional style of pianist Horace Silver. Themen took the first solo on tenor and then played claves as Barnes followed him on alto. Donaldson kept his solo short thus allowing plenty of room for Brown’s increasingly exotic series of drum breaks.

Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Favela” saw Barnes switching to clarinet and soloing superbly alongside features for Themen, Donaldson and Gascoyne. Next came Horace Silver’s tune “Swingin’ The Samba”, the piece that obviously inspired the project. Barnes was now back on alto and featured alongside Themen and Donaldson with Brown turning in another series of drum breaks.

Guitarist Kenny Burrell’s “Chitlins Con Carne”, from his classic 1963 Blue Note album “Midnight Blue” was here powered by a powerful and insistent Gascoyne bass riff and also featured the bassist as soloist alongside Barnes on alto and Themen on tenor.

I’ve watched Alan Barnes perform many times over the years but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him pick up a tenor saxophone before-until now that is. Sonny Rollins’ calypso “Hold ‘Em Joe” featured the twin tenors of Barnes and Themen with Barnes revealing himself to be a more than capable improviser on the instrument. Themen’s solo included a quote from “Jeepers Creepers” and we also heard from Donaldson at the piano and Brown at the drums.

The quintet’s second set opened and closed with two of Dizzy Gillespie’s Cuban inspired pieces. Things kicked off with the popular Latin jazz classic “Manteca” with solos coming from Themen, Barnes on alto, Donaldson and Gascoyne.

Next came Duke Ellington’s “Limbo Jazz” , described by Barnes as “Coleman Hawkins meets Duke Ellington”. This proved to be another two tenor work out with solos also coming from Donaldson and Gascoyne.

The gentle bossa sounds of “Maria Mocha” followed with solos coming from Themen, Barnes on alto and Donaldson.

To conclude the quintet tackled Dizzy Gillespie’s ambitious “Rio Pakistan”, an attempt to blend the music of the Middle East with that of Brazil which the trumpeter recorded with veteran jazz violinist Stuff Smith back in 1957. Propelled here by the distinctive sound of Brown’s hand drums the piece featured the woozy, Middle Eastern styled sounds of Themen on soprano and Barnes on clarinet alongside a slightly more conventional solo from Donaldson. This was certainly one of the most interesting pieces that the quintet selected but it seemed to be an oddly low key way to close what had been a consistently entertaining set.     

Inevitably Barnes and Themen took most of the plaudits but pianist John Donaldson also made a strong contribution, a keyboard performance to rank alongside those of the excellent Titley “house pianists” Dave Newton and Steve Melling. 

DON WELLER/BOBBY WELLINS QUINTET

Newton was back at the piano for this twin tenor showcase featuring saxophonists Bobby Wellins and Don Weller. With bassist Andy Cleyndert and drummer Clark Tracey completing the group this was a line up with considerable appeal to the Titley faithful.

It transpired that festival organiser Dave Masters went to school with Don Weller and even played a little alto sax alongside him back in the day. This certainly helps to explain Dave’s propensity for saxophonists and as far as he was concerned the pairing of Wellins ‘n’ Weller must have been a marriage made in heaven.

The quintet started with a highly innovative arrangement of “My Funny Valentine”, played at a far quicker tempo than usual and with solos coming from both saxophonists. We also heard from Gascoyne at the bass and Tracey rounded things off with a series of drum breaks but the pick of the solos came in the form of a sparkling contribution from pianist Dave Newton.

The late saxophonist Dick Morrissey’s arrangement of the jazz standard “Lover Man” gave the tune a Latin twist with solos coming from Weller, Newton and Wellins.

Wellins seemed far more relaxed in this context than he had with the Stan Tracey Quartet the previous evening. Perhaps it was because of the fact that he now had a front line partner to share the load. However he was still in superb form when Weller left the stage to allow Wellins to perform a ballad feature supported by the rhythm team. The tune was announced by Wellins as a “Rogers & Hart song” but unfortunately he didn’t give the title. Maybe somebody out there reading this can enlighten me. Whatever, it was a lovely reading, with a solo piano introduction by Newton and with typically emotive Wellins ballad soloing. Newton’s solo was laced with subtle quotes and Cleyndert provided a suitably resonant solo from the bass.

Also unannounced was the rollicking tenor duel that closed the first set with both horn men soloing loquaciously and with similarly lively contributions coming from Newton, Cleyndert and Tracey, the latter enjoying a powerful, full length solo.   

The second set commenced in similarly lively fashion with “No Jiving Please” with solos from Newton, Weller, Wellins and Cleyndert and the mandatory breaks from Tracey.

Weller’s lovely dedication to his wife, “Di’s Waltz” cooled things a little with features for both saxophonists plus Newton and Cleyndert. The relaxed mood continued as Wellins temporarily exited as Weller was featured on Billy Strayhorn’s “Chelsea Bridge”, another fine example of warm, breathy tenor ballad playing with Newton’s lyrical piano also a highlight.

“I Want To Be Happy” took things storming out with the two tenors combining quirkily and effectively before the obligatory round of solos. Wellins went first followed by Newton who threw a few bars of “I Got Rhythm” into the mix. Next came Weller and finally Tracey with another extended drum feature. Not surprisingly the audience loved this and gave the quintet a suitably warm reception.

TRUMPET SUMMIT

For me one of the highlights of the day was the Trumpet Summit featuring two of Britain’s most distinctive trumpet soloists, Guy Barker and Bruce Adams. This dynamic pairing was backed by a rhythm section of Steve Melling (piano), Geoff Gascoyne (bass) and Steve Brown (drums). In what had been a saxophone dominated festival thus far Barker and Adams represented a welcome blast of fresh air and both played brilliantly in the company of a highly accomplished rhythm section.

Together Barker and Adams gave us a guided tour of the history of the jazz trumpet whilst leavening the lesson with a welcome touch of humour. The fun started straight away as the pair shaped up to give us a dose of Herb Alpert before Melling leapt from his piano stool to spare us all.  Obviously this was all scripted but this musical joke ensured that the audience was on their side from the off.

The real opener was the Clark Terry/Bob Brookmeyer number “The King” with blazing open horn solos from both trumpeters plus features for Melling, Gascoyne and Brown. On the choruses Barker and Adams made use of plunger mutes to give a theatrical, vocalised, wah wah effect. We were to see this deployed again later in the set.

Bix Beiderbecke’s insanely catchy “Davenport Blues” was introduced by the two unaccompanied trumpets before becoming something of a feature for high note specialist Adams. Melling and Gascoyne also weighed in with telling solo contributions. Rex Stewart’s ballad “Morning Glory” then demonstrated a more gentle side of Adams’ playing with Melling similarly lyrical at the piano.

I’ve always been a great admirer of Guy Barker’s playing and the quintet’s version of Freddie Hubbard’s “Up Jumped Spring” was a timely reminder of his soloing abilities on the open horn. Adam’s muted solo provided a nice contrast with Melling and Brown also featuring.

“A Girl In Calico” closed a superb first half with Melling leading off the solos before two contrasting features from the trumpeters with Barker using a cup mute and Adams a plunger. Gascoyne and Brown then rounded things off.

Louis Armstrong’s “Some Day You’ll be Sorry” detonated the second set as Barker and Adams duelled audaciously with each other, horns blazing and flaring before Melling and subsequently Gascoyne took over. Dizzy Gillespie’s “Ow!” offered little let up with the trumpeters again trading phrases but with cup mutes being used on the solos. Melling, Gascoyne and Brown all featured again too.

Barker’s solo feature was a brief version of “Boy Meets Horn” written in 1938 by Duke Ellington for trumpeter Rex Stewart, the latter a huge influence on both Barker and Adams. With Adams off the stand Barker was joined by guests Alan Barnes, once again on tenor sax, and Mark Nightingale on trombone.

Clifford Brown’s bop anthem “Sandu” brought this terrific set to a close with the core quintet tearing into the piece with fiery open horn solos coming from both trumpeters and with the entire rhythm section also featured.

Barker and Adams had given a master-class in the trumpeter’s art, delving deep into the history of the instrument and demonstrating a wide range of techniques. The playing was technically dazzling throughout and both sets were executed with an infectious joie de vivre.

STAN TRACEY OCTET

Stan brought the same octet to Titley last year with himself on piano, Guy Barker on trumpet, Mark Nightingale on trombone, Sammy Maine on alto sax and both Simon Allen and Dave O’Higgins on tenor saxes with Andy Cleyndert (bass) and Clark Tracey (drums) rounding out the group.

Unfortunately he played virtually the same set this time round featuring his “Hong Kong Suite” in the first half of the concert and his “Amandla Suite” in the second. I’m rather loath to write the same review twice as my notes indicate that both the running order of the movements and the order of the solos within those pieces were virtually identical. Respectfully I therefore refer readers to last year’s coverage elsewhere in our “Features” section.

One significant difference was that last year one movement of the “Amandla Suite” was omitted due to time constrictions. “Building Bridges” was played this time round and proved to be a fine example of Tracey’s ensemble writing with the principle soloists being Maine on alto and Guy Barker on trumpet.

Naturally there was some fine soling from this all star crew as the octet progressed through the two suites and it’s always a joy to see Dave O’Higgins play but I couldn’t escape that nagging feeling of deja vu and wished that Stan had instead chosen to include other items from an extensive octet repertoire that has been one of his favourite formats over the years. I suspect however that finding suitable rehearsal time for this may have been a problem and I guess that at eighty five years of age Stan is quite entitled to repeat himself if he wants to! 

LIANE CARROLL TRIO

I recently reviewed pianist/vocalist Liane Carroll’s excellent new album “Up And Down” and was very much looking forward to seeing her perform with her regular working trio featuring bassist Roger Carey (also her husband) and drummer Mark Fletcher.

“Up And Down” is lavishly produced and features a number of illustrious guest soloists, among them Kenny Wheeler and Julian Siegel, plus string and big band arrangements so this trio show was very different but in many ways much more thrilling. I saw one of Carroll’s solo shows several years ago but neither this nor the new album prepared me for the superlative levels of interaction between the members of the trio. This is a genuine three way dialogue with a high degree of spontaneity and musical risk taking.

Carroll is a hugely extrovert character with a soulful but highly flexible voice and she’s a highly accomplished pianist too. She obviously likes a drink and was knocking back the ale from the beer tent during the performance which only helped to fuel her musical devil may care attitude not to mention her rambling, sometimes surreal, between song announcements

The trio kicked off with a segue of “What Now My Love” and “Old Devil Moon” with Carroll giving an early demonstration of her formidable scatting ability. Carey, on electric bass guitar proved to be an agile soloist loosely in the Jaco Pastorius tradition and the effervescent Fletcher matched Carroll herself for sheer bravado with some dynamic drumming.

Tom Waits is one of Carroll’s favourite writers and her version of “Take Me Home” from her new “Up And Down” album was a good example of the way that her soulful voice can wring the maximum amount of emotion out of a song.

Cole Porter’s “Love For Sale” and Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” offered further examples of the trio’s fiery but good natured musical sparring with the Ellington tune also acting as a vehicle for solo features from both Carey and Fletcher.

Noel Coward’s “Mad About The Boy” and particularly Michael McDonald’s “I Can Let Go Now” were moving solo voice and piano renditions. The juxtaposition of these two pieces is a good demonstration of Carroll’s wide ranging tastes. She doesn’t just limit her song choices to the orthodox jazz canon, she picks songs from everywhere as long as they’re good and offer room for interpretation. Billie Holiday’s blues “Fine And Mellow”, a more conventional jazz choice, rounded off an excellent first half.

The second set kicked off with a stunning vocalese version of “Dinah” with dizzying scat vocals plus extended bass and drum features. The ballad “You Don’t Know Me” lowered the temperature before the trio embarked on a lengthy and discursive medley that took in Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” John Coltrane’s “My Favourite Things” (echoes here of saxophonist Peter King’s take on the piece the previous evening) and what Carroll described as “Gershwin’s Summertime in the style of Michael Flatley”, the latter a reference to Carroll’s Irish (Waterford) roots.

“Embraceable You” ( the butt of several sheep jokes) introduced guest saxophonist Alan Barnes who added fluttering alto sax to Carroll’s ballad rendition. She then concluded a superb performance by returning to the Tom Waits canon for a moving rendition of the Waits/Kathleen Brennan composition “Your Picture In A Frame”.

Carroll’s performance was the second major highlight of the day and proof that the Titley crowd will welcome a degree of variation from the tried and trusted as long as it’s good. And this most certainly was. 

 

       

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