Photograph of Ambrose Akinmusire by Tim Dickeson

Sunday at Cheltenham Jazz Festival, 04/05/2014.

Another bright and sunny day at Cheltenham Jazz Festival so without further ado on with the music.

TRONDHEIM JAZZ EXCHANGE

Now in its fourth year the Trondheim Jazz Exchange concert has become an established part of the Cheltenham Jazz Festival programme, an increasingly popular event which again drew a large crowd to the Parabola Arts Centre.

The event brings together young musicians from the jazz courses at the Birmingham and Trondheim Conservatoires pitching two musicians from each institution into a series of quartets to play original compositions largely sourced from within the group. It’s something that works surprisingly well and the results are commendably coherent and as has become the norm today’s concert produced some excellent music.

The Norwegian musicians fly over to England in the week before the festival and some fairly serious wood-shedding plus a warm up gig in Birmingham takes place before the students come to Cheltenham. As is customary today’s event presented three bands with Tony Dudley Evans introducing each one in turn.

The first ensemble, working under the name Trondheimingham consisted of UK musicians Harry Bolt (piano) and Gwilym Jones (drums) alongside the Norwegians Elisabeth Lid Troen (tenor sax) and Hallvard Gaardloss (electric and acoustic bass). They immediately hit their stride with Troen’s “Song For T.P.” with its melodic but surprisingly muscular saxophone and E.S.T. like grooves with Bolt, recently seen by yours truly playing with Clark Tracey’s quintet in Shrewsbury , taking an expansive solo at the piano. Jones’ drum feature acted as a bridge into Gaardlos’ piece “I’m Gonna Think About It” which saw the composer switching to acoustic bass. Spontaneous audience applause greeted the end of Troen’s spirited piece as the pace slowed to that of a ballad with Troen adopting a softer tenor tone as Jones moved over to brushes. The young quartet revealed themselves to be experts at building tension as the music began to quietly smoulder,  gradually gaining in intensity as Jones picked up his sticks.

They closed with “Night Lights” by the American saxophonist Walt Weiskopf with Troen stating the theme on tenor before solos from each member of the band beginning with Bolt at the piano and concluding with Jones at the drums. This helped to earn them an excellent audience reception but for this listener the most effective material was represented by the segue of original pieces that opened the set. Troen was particularly impressive, an assured and fluent soloist who I think we’ll be hearing a lot more of.

The second group featured the Norwegian musicians Maria Vali (vocals) and Martin Lie Svendsen (guitar) alongside Birmingham based students David Ferris (keyboards) and Jakub Valicek (drums) , the latter originally from Slovakia. The tunes were all written by the Norwegian contingent with Ferris providing the announcements.

They opened with Svendsen’s “Cheltenham Blues”, the composer’s guitar doubling up on the melody line with Vali’s wordless vocals. Svendsen’s solo exhibited a subtle rock influence and he dovetailed well with Ferris’ Crumair Mojo keyboard on its Hammond setting with Ferris also providing bass lines via a set of foot pedals.

Vali contributed the next piece, simply referred to as “Maria’s Tune” while the composer searches for a more descriptive or meaningful title. This was softer in tone and a feature for her wordless vocalising alongside Svensen’s guitar as the Birmingham contingent provided sympathetic support.

Svendsen’s “Dedicated To Sushi”, a celebration of Japanese sea food was a good way to finish, joyous and good natured with solos by Ferris at the organ and Svendsen on powerful fusion style guitar, the two instruments dovetailing well together. Vali’s playful wordless vocals topped and tailed the piece and ensured that the set ended on a high note.

Overall I wasn’t as impressed with this grouping as I had been by Trondheimingham. A little of Vali’s style of vocalising goes a long way and I don’t always find it very convincing unless the exponent is somebody of the quality of Norma Winstone. Nonetheless there were still plenty of moments to enjoy with both Svendsen and Ferris displaying plenty of promise. 

The final quartet appeared to be a little more experienced than their colleagues, final year students perhaps. Pianist Kjetil Andre Mulelid has already appeared on the Jazzmann pages as a member of the trio Lauv who released the highly promising EP “De Som Er Eldre Enn Voksne” in 2013, the title translating as “Those Who Are Older Than Adults”. Today Mulelid was joined by his countryman Axel Skalstad at the drums with Dan Serjeant on alto sax and Ben Muirhead on double bass making up the Birmingham half of the equation.

With their defiantly post bop style they sounded the most obviously “Nordic” band of the the three , the first piece (unannounced) being a kind of abstract ballad that featured Serjeant’s subtle alto probing, Mulelid’s experimental but lyrical piano and Skalstad’s atmospheric small percussion and hand drums.

A second piece featured a solo piano introduction before altoist Serjeant again impressed with his purity and clarity of tone. When Mulelid returned he delivered the most outstanding solo of the event, really stretching out and pushing the boundaries.

They closed with the pianist’s own “Burningham”, a more forceful piece of work that featured further inventive soloing from Serjeant and Mulelid, the pair urged forward by the propulsive rhythm work of Muirhead and Skalstad, the latter crowning the piece with a well structured and often explosive drum feature.

Once again the standard of music presented at this event was excellent and it is planned that the showcase will be repeated again in the summer when the Birmingham based students visit Norway.
Mulelid is already starting to make a name for himself on the international jazz scene and I expect several more of today’s protagonists to follow suit with saxophonists Troen and Serjeant turning in particularly impressive performances. David Ferris is already highly active on the Birmingham jazz scene and Svendsen also impressed with both his writing and his playing. As ever keep an eye on these highly promising young musicians.

AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE QUARTET

Originally from Oakland, California, but now based in New York City, trumpeter and composer Ambrose Akinmusire is currently one of the hottest tickets in jazz. His latest album for the Blue Note label “The Imagined Saviour Is Far Easier To Paint” is his most ambitious, and arguably best, release thus far and he presented some of the music from the album to a large and appreciative audience at the Jazz Arena venue.

Introduced by Tony Dudley Evans and sponsored by Jazzwise Magazine the concert will be aired on BBC Radio 3’s “Jazz On 3” programme at 11.00 pm on Monday May 19th with presenter Jez Nelson also interviewing Akinmusire and subjecting him to the programme’s “mp3 shuffle” feature.

I’ve seen Akinmusire play live on a couple of occasions, firstly as part of veteran French reed player Michel Portal’s group at the 2011 London Jazz Festival and then leading his own quintet at the Colston Hall in Bristol in 2012. Indeed today’s performance was originally scheduled to feature the same quintet but with saxophonist Walter Smith III unavailable we heard a quartet including Sam Harris on keyboards, Harish Raghavan on double bass and Justin Brown at the drums. Nobody in the audience seemed to be too troubled by the absence of Smith as this meant that we got more Ambrose for our money.

Initially inspired by Clifford Brown but seeing himself as part of a trumpet lineage reaching back to Louis Armstrong Akinmusire is a phenomenally talented musician who embraces every aspect of the trumpeter’s art. An assured and confident stage performer he has something of the bearing of a young Miles Davis and his albums exhibit a similar sense of adventure and artistic ambition. Akinmusire blends traditional and contemporary virtues in a thoroughly convincing fashion. He’s cool, he has street cred and his music incorporates influences from jazz to classical to hip hop.

Harris’ solo piano introduced the opening “Roll Call For The Absent” with Akinmusire subsequently joining him in thoughtful dialogue, the trumpeter’s sound including subtle vocalisations before the entry of bass and drums saw the centre of the dialogue shift to Harris and Brown. More conventional jazz solos followed from Akinmusire and Harris in a piece that was totally transformed from the recorded version.

Few tunes were announced but set highlights included the intimate trumpet/piano duet “Regret No More” and a spiky new tune entitled “Milky Pete” with its quick fire be-bop inspired exchanges, Rhodes solo from Harris and fiery but celebratory closing dialogue between Akinmusire and Brown, these two close friends and playing companions almost from infancy.

Throughout the set Akinmusire demonstrated his mastery of his instrument, sometimes muddying the astonishing purity of his tone with wilful smears and vocalised sounds, these ranging from a whisper to a growl. Akinmusire is a great technician but, as he has explained, his playing is not just about demonstrating his considerable “chops” but about making an emotional impact and taking his listeners on a journey. His albums do this by adding all kinds of additional elements, “Saviour”  utilises voices, strings and narration to create a cohesive, multi faceted whole embracing many different sources but this pared down quartet performance was equally convincing with its strong narrative arc and dynamic contrasts.

The quartet is a closely knit working unit and this showed with tight, disciplined ensemble work but with plenty of opportunity allowed for individual expression. Thus we heard expansive solos on both acoustic and electric keyboards from the impressive Harris and some stand out moments from Brown including a volcanic drum feature in which he circumnavigated his kit above the sound of chiming Rhodes as Akinmusire roared his old friend on.

So often the anchor Raghavan’s moment in the spotlight came with his solo introduction to the lovely ballad “Henya” from Akinmusire’s previous album “When The Heart Emerges Glistening”. Unfortunately the lyricism of his playing, plus that of Harris and Akinmusire, was spoilt by the hum of the air conditioning and by sound leaching into the tent from the too close free stage. This is a problem that has reared its head before at Cheltenham and really does need to be addressed, several commentators have remarked upon this including my fellow blogger Peter Bacon of the Jazz Breakfast and John Fordham of The Guardian. If the problem is highlighted in the pages of a national newspaper then surely it is time for action. Montpellier Gardens is a huge space and it should be possible to revise the site layout and situate the stages further apart. 

I don’t wish to end on a negative as this was quite excellent small group performance, much more tightly focussed than the quintet show at Bristol and with Akinmusire clearly “up for it”, his imperious playing combining sumptuous beauty and flawless technique with a nascent underlying power. His three companions also excelled, particularly Harris and Brown and the quartet were given a tremendous reception by a highly informed crowd.

Musically this was, a triumph, one of the outstanding performances of the festival, but one that would have been better served by a theatre or arts centre setting. In the meantime do try to hear the radio transmission which should successfully edit out the extraneous elements and present the music as it should have been heard. The albums “The Imagined Saviour Is Far Easier To Paint” and “When The Heart Emerges Glistening” are also highly recommended, if you can deal with the unwieldiness of those titles. 
 

IAIN BALLAMY’S ANORAK XL

Loose Tubes saxophonist Iain Ballamy is a compulsive creative force who has been involved in a myriad of wide ranging projects since the initial demise of the band in 1990. Among these was the quartet Anorak featuring pianist Gareth Williams, drummer Martin France and bassist Orlando Le Fleiming. The project marked Ballamy’s return to relatively conventional jazz territory following several years of restless experimentation, frequently involving the use of electronics, with the Anglo-Norwegian group Food.

Originally convened as the result of a Cheltenham Jazz Festival commission Anorak sees Ballamy building on the jazz tradition, taking well known standards as a starting point and developing entirely new compositions out of them, in his own words going beyond “mere contrafact”, which, he told us, he regards as cheating. 

The original edition of Anorak recorded an album for Basho Records in 2007 with Ballamy’s sense of humour shining through in such titles “I Got Rid Of Them”, “St. Ella” and “Of All The Things”. Managing to sound both traditional and contemporary it was a reminder of just how talented a straight ahead tenor saxophonist Ballamy can be, albeit with him adding much of his own musical personality to the proceedings.

Fast forward to 2014 and Steve Watts has replaced Le Fleming in the bass department but with the rest of the Anorak line-up remaining the same. Ballamy recently celebrated his fiftieth birthday by expanding the line up to seven pieces with the addition of horn players Nathaniel Facey (alto sax), Kieran McLeod (trombone) and Reuben Fowler (trumpet). This line up played a birthday show at London’s Kings Place venue before moving on to Cheltenham for this performance at the Parabola Arts Centre. Fowler’s place was taken on this occasion by Freddie Gavita who acquitted himself superbly in an all star band that gradually grew in authority as the show progressed.

Ballamy’s inventive arrangements, original compositions and deconstructions were well served by this highly talented band and they kicked off with Ballamy’s “Tribute to Alan Skidmore’s Tribute to John Coltrane”, the title a knowing nod to the way Ballamy found his way into jazz by working his way backwards. It worked for me too. The tune dates back to the album and found Ballamy taking the first solo on tenor sax and specialising on that instrument throughout, the previous day with Loose Tubes he’d been featured on alto (which you rarely see him play these days) and soprano. The always inventive Gareth Williams followed him on piano, one of UK jazz’s great eccentrics. Ballamy suggested that these days he might have substituted the name of Skidmore with that of Nat Birchall.

Ballamy dedicated “One For Gary” to a former organic fruit seller in London’s Borough Market , Williams introducing the piece with a passage of solo piano before France’s drums ushered in the horns with Ballamy and Gavita taking the solos. Drafted in at short notice ? he’d been with the band for less than a week - the young trumpeter acquitted himself superbly throughout, fitting in seamlessly with the ensemble passages and delivering a series of fluent, confident solos.

“Chomping At The Saveloy” (see what he just did there) began with long languorous horn lines embellished by Williams’ piano fills before quickening the pace and unleashing McLeod for a growling, plunger muted trombone solo, this followed by increasingly feverish pianistic pyrotechnics from Williams.

The title of “Floater” generated much ribald humour between Ballamy and his audience but the tune itself was often beautiful, the song like melody well served by the lush blend of horns before shading into freer territory in the later stages.

Ballamy revealed that “What’s In A Name” was in seven, though he didn’t count it in as such as the Tubes famously used to do. Solos here came from Facey on the alto and Gavita on flugel horn. All the younger horn players were alumni of the Royal Academy of Music and all had been taught by Ballamy at some point. Like several of his Loose Tubes colleagues the former “enfant terrible” has matured into one of the UK’s greatest jazz educators.

“On The Mend” was inspired by the work of the Gt. Ormond Street Children?s Hospital and featured a series of absorbing exchanges between McLeod and Facey plus solos from Ballamy, his first for a while, and Gareth Williams.

“Meadow” dates back to Ballamy’s 1994 album “All Men Amen”, the sleeve notes of which describe the piece as “an English idyll”. Indeed there is something of the folk inspired whimsiness of the first post Loose Tubes era about the piece, the pretty little tune here graced with some fine ensemble playing (no solos) with brushed drums from France and with McLeod making rather different use of the mute.

That sense of whimsicality has never entirely been abandoned as the wacky title of “Lobster Upgrade Monday” (a sign observed by Ballamy outside a restaurant) attested. With France striking up a groove this was a fast moving piece with barnstorming solos from Ballamy, Williams and Facey with the Empirical saxophonist really coming into his own.

Never mind the lobster, the decision to upgrade the Anorak quartet to a “little big band” was fully vindicated with this cross generational septet performing brilliantly on a series of ingenious Ballamy compositions. Another festival highlight and I understand that the BBC have recorded the band’s Kings Place performance for future transmission on radio 3’s Jazz Line Up.

DAN NICHOLLS’ STROBES +  BYRAMART

Keyboard player and composer Dan Nicholls is a graduate of the Jazz Course at Birmingham Conservatoire but is now based in London where he has become an increasingly influential member of the capital’s Loop Collective. He appeared at Cheltenham leading his own band as far back as 2008 and his career has blossomed in London where he now leads several different groups including the trio Strobes, the quartet Mirrors and Point X, a larger variation on Strobes with a distinct African element. In 2013 he released his full album d?but, the excellent “Ruins”, an imaginative blend of jazz and electronica which combined inventive playing and writing with an understated political edge. Something of a polymath (he is also an accomplished reeds player and features in saxophonist Tom Challenger’s Brass Mask) Nicholls is also keen to incorporate visuals into his work and both Strobes and Point X have included visuals in their live performances.

The Strobes performance at the Parabola Arts Centre featured Nicholls on keyboards and electronics, Matt Calvert on guitar and electronics and Dave Smith at the drums. There were also periodic visuals featuring the work of the New York based illustrator and animator Stephen Byram who has previously collaborated with saxophonist Tim Berne, the latter a strong influence on the young Nicholls.

Looking more like an indie rock group than the popular conception of a jazz band the young trio took to the stage and opened with “Winder”, the first of several one word indie style titles. On keyboards and laptop Nicholls quickly set up a series of intricate, interlocking keyboards patterns revealing the influence of Steve Reich and other minimalist composers. Allied to Calvert’s power chords and Smith’s assertive drumming this was an effective amalgam that quickly drew in the crowd, less populous than for Ballamy or Trondheim but still very respectable. Meanwhile Byram’s visuals were projected onto a screen suspended above the band, a mix of abstract and urban images that reminded me a 70’s style prog rock light show. However I have to say that the visuals were the weakest part of the performance, sporadic and not always seeming to be fully integrated with the music.

For “Helium” the images were more biological and mathematical as Nicholls and Calvert set up a series of dense rhythmic patterns that borrowed from the world of alt or math rock with the newly bearded Smith adding a welcome humanising element on the drums. I’ve previously thought of Calvert as being primarily an electronics artist ( he appeared at Cheltenham with his own Soundtrack project in 2010) but his searing playing here demonstrated just what a fine guitarist he is.

“Broke Speak” began in more impressionistic fashion with softly brushed drums and washes of spacey, ambient electronica courtesy of the lap tops and synths of Nicholls and Calvert. Byram’s visuals depicted rain, clouds, tress and flock of birds. Calvert moved back to guitar as the music took a more obvious melodic turn as Nicholls’ synthesiser solo suggested the influence of Loose Tubes keyboardist Django Bates. 

Similarly “Withdrawal” began with washes of layered electronica before lurching into a series of jagged Van Der Graaf Generator / King Crimson style riffs crowned with a wig out Calvert guitar solo. Young jazz musicians take a healthy approach to prog coming to it without any of the"baggage” that troubles the consciences of us older geezers , cheerily cherry picking some of its genuinely progressive ideas in a spirit of serious fun.

“Abbey and Room” was dedicated to Byram, a more ambient piece featuring more the artist?s abstract visuals and centred around Nicholls’ looping keyboard motifs. Here we encountered the first real longueurs of the set but we were quickly shaken back to full alert by the juddering odd meter craziness of “Horn OK Please”, an energetic musical depiction of the extreme noise and bustle of the traffic in Mumbai. Nicholls has studied both Indian and African drumming and rhythms and brings elements of this to his work with Strobes. 

The penultimate number was unannounced but was a cheerful little ditty that sounded like a souped up version of a 1960s or 70s TV sci-fi theme featuring Calvert’s surf style guitar and with Nicholls’ keyboards affecting a curious accordion like sound. Great fun, a bit of light relief after some of the heavier stuff, and very well received.

I thought the trio might finish with this but instead they closed with a piece featuring chunky alt rock and afro beat grooves, Smith gleefully slamming out the rhythms as a montage of Byram’s visuals merging US urban landscapes and swirling molecules unfolded above his head.

I was very impressed with Strobes, their imaginative use of electronics and non jazz elements and rhythms was refreshing and today’s performance represented a credible live extension of the studio created “Ruins” project. The visuals were a little bit hit and miss but overall the music was terrific, the trio’s collective imaginations maximising the possibilities afforded by the relatively sparse instrumental set up. Nicholls is a young musician with an enquiring mind, unafraid to mix artistic genres and he will continue to be a name to watch.

THOMAS STRONEN’S TIME IS A BLIND GUIDE

The final performance at the Parabola Arts Centre was by a new ensemble led by the Norwegian drummer and composer Thomas Stronen, a musician perhaps best known for his work alongside Iain Ballamy in the group Food, themselves previous Cheltenham visitors.

Stronen’s performance was sponsored by the Norwegian Embassy and was part of the Connexions programme, a scheme developed to encourage links between British and Norwegian musicians and curated by Late Junction’s Fiona Talkington. The concert was recorded by Radio 3 but will actually be transmitted on Jazz on 3 with presenter Jez Nelson at 11.00 pm on Monday 26th May 2014. Jez was observed interviewing Fiona before the show and that conversation will no doubt be aired as part of the forthcoming radio production.

The new group takes its name from “Fugitive Pieces” the award winning novel by the Canadian author Anne Michaels first published in 1996 and with the opening line “Time Is A Blind Guide”.
The music takes these words as its starting point and incorporates several spoken narratives reflecting and pondering on the idea of time itself. Stronen describes the ensemble’s output as “highly melodic and fusing jazz with classical music”. With this in mind the ensemble included no less than three string players, cellist Lucy Railton, violinist Nils Okland (who has appeared on the Jazzmann web pages as a member of the trio 1982) and double bassist Ole Morten Vagan. The Anglo-Norwegian line up was completed by pianist Kit Downes and female percussionist/vocalist Siv Oyunn Kjenstad. Stronen has toured the project in Europe but this was nevertheless Kjenstad’s first appearance with the band and she acquitted herself very well. I’d also like to single out Railton who was playing her second gig of the weekend and is quickly developing into one of the UK’s leading improvising cellists.

The ensemble began with a four part suite consisting of the movements “I Don’t Wait For Anyone”  (a reference to “time” itself) , “The Drowned City”, “Lost Souls” and “Suffocated In Darkness” - “all jolly stuff” quipped Stronen, “enjoy!”. The four movements were presented as a single piece of music with the focus on ensemble textures rather than conventional jazz solos. What was most impressive was the way that the strings were seamlessly integrated in to the music, Railton and Okand were at the very heart of the band, this was no “jazz with strings” project with the violin and cello some kind of an add on. With Vagan also making extensive use of the bow the “string trio” formed a highly effective unit who impressed throughout both individually and collectively. Okland played both the conventional classical violin and the eight string Hardanger fiddle with its additional resonating strings, the latter instrument also bringing an additional folk element to the music. The suite was punctuated periodically by spoken word narratives, a form of poetry, on the nature of time delivered by the voice of Kjenstad. This was music that ebbed and flowed, the whole greater than the sum of the parts but between the extensive written sections there were also opportunities for the individual musicians to express themselves including Okland on both types of violin, Downes on flowingly lyrical piano and Stronen himself at the drums. It was unusual to see him playing entirely acoustically following his electronic experiments with Food, however he did retain his battery of small percussion instruments,(finger cymbals, bells etc. ) contrasting these with an enormous bass drum which he deployed both gently and sparingly, confounding many expectations in the process.

“Pipa” used the sound of plucked cello and Hardanger violin to replicate the sounds of the Chinese stringed instrument with Railton and Okland achieving an authentically “Chinese” sound which was highly effective, particularly when offset by Vagan’s arco bass. Downes solo included prepared piano techniques as Kjenstad’s monologue evoked the measuring units of time “hours, days, years”. A closing ensemble passage saw the instruments intertwining to create a series of fascinating interlocking melodic and rhythmic lines and patterns.

“As We Wait For Time” was a brief ensemble piece while the linked “Fugitive Pieces” and “Time Is A Blind Guide” featured the sounds of bowed strings, piano and wordless vocals with impressive solo cameos from Downes, Railton and Vagan.

The closing “The Storm Carries” opened with the words of time itself “It is you who fly out of my moment” but this was a surprisingly upbeat meditation on the nature of mortality with its strong grooves, folk melody, sparkling Downes piano solo and a concluding drums and percussion dialogue.

Successfully blending jazz, classical and folk elements Time Is A Blind Guide was very different from anything else we’d heard today and there was almost too much to take in at the first sitting. Nevertheless the ensemble enjoyed an excellent reception from the late night Cheltenham crowd with a certain Ms. Talkington who was sitting just behind us appearing particularly appreciative.  It will be very interesting to hear this music again when it is transmitted again on the 26th May. It is also to be hoped that Stronen gets the chance to document this fascinating music permanently on CD or vinyl.   

Ian’s Star Ratings;

Trondheim Jazz Exchange 3.5 Stars

Ambrose Akinmusire 4 Stars

Iain Ballamy 4 Stars

Dan Nicholls’ Strobes 3.5 Stars

Thomas Stronen 3.5 stars

Overall 4 Stars

     

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