Photograph of Dee dee Bridgewater by Tim Dickeson

Thursday at Cheltenham Jazz Festival, 27/04/2017.

My first visit to the 2017 Cheltenham Jazz Festival found me enjoying two performances by artists celebrating the music of the American South.

First guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Marcus King appeared with his six piece band in the Jazz Arena, the venue sponsored this year for the first time by Pizza Express.

Later vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater transported us from the Victorian splendour of Cheltenham Town Hall to the mean streets of Memphis, Tennessee in a glorious celebration of that city’s unique musical heritage.

MARCUS KING BAND

First up was the guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Marcus King, a young musician who has already made a big impression on the American music scene. Still only twenty years of age King already has two albums under his belt, 2014’s self released “Soul Insight” and the following year’s “Marcus King Band”, released on major label Fantasy Records. The second album reached no. 2 on the Billboard blues chart and established King as a rising star with a rapidly growing following.

I’ll admit to not having heard him before tonight’s performance but it was immediately obvious from a near capacity Jazz Arena audience that he has already established something of a cult following in the UK. 

If the King band hailed from New Orleans their music could be described as a ‘gumbo’, such is their range of influences which embrace virtually every genre of American popular music, and particularly those of the South. Instead King comes from Greenville, South Carolina and is the son of blues guitarist Marvin King.

Steeped in music from an early age Marcus King’s influences include the Southern Rock of the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Texas blues of Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Added to this is a jazz/fusion influence, tonight’s set included a couple of instrumental tunes which allowed King’s band mates to demonstrate their considerable chops. On the brief “The Man You Didn’t Know” the sounds of country, or perhaps more accurately Americana, found their way into an already heady mix. 

A stocky figure wearing a trademark hat King bears a striking physical resemblance to the late Skynyrd vocalist Ronnie Van Zant. But King doesn’t just sing with a hoarsely expressive voice he also plays guitar in the spirit of Van Zant’s colleagues Gary Rossington and Allen Collins.

He fronts a tight band featuring keyboardist Matt Jennings, bass guitarist Stephen Campbell, drummer Jack Ryan and hornmen Justin Johnson (trombone, trumpet, tambourine) and Dean Mitchell (tenor sax, flute).

Tune announcements were rare so I don’t intend to give a song by song account but instead to give an overall impression of the performance. First impressions of King were those of a white bluesman in the tradition of Winter and Vaughan, a skilled guitar soloist, though as yet less inspired as his mentors, but arguably a more distinctive and emotive vocalist than either of these.

But soon King was tossing other elements into the mix - soul, funk and even jazz. The second song combined funk rhythms with a Stax inspired soulfulness that recalled Otis Redding. Then there was that short diversion into country with the “The Man You Didn’t Know”.

Next another about face with an extended instrumental piece from the band’s first album that saw the horn players come into their own. Initially Johnson and Mitchell just seemed to be there to provide extra colour, punch and punctuation but Johnson now impressed with a fluent trumpet solo, the most obvious ‘jazz’ moment of the set thus far. He shared the solos with King on guitar and Jennings on organ. The keyboard man was very much King’s right hand man, filling out the group sound with a variety of sounds ranging through Rhodes, clavinet and Hammond while also relishing his opportunities as a soloist. Some of the sounds that he delivered on his solos were deliciously filthy.

King continued to jump around the genres with the next piece featuring a honking r’n’b styled tenor solo from Mitchell before metamorphosing into a slow blues arrangement of Sam Cooke’s classic “A Change Is Gonna Come” featuring a soulful and emotive vocal from King who really made the song his own.

And so it continued with stratospheric blues guitar soloing juxtaposed with Stax style horns. The jazz quotient was realised with another instrumental piece that included an impressive electric bass feature from Campbell, his melodic playing making use of full chording in the manner of Back Door’s Colin Hodgkinson.

The single from the new album included an unexpected Mitchell flute solo alongside a typically soulful King vocal and the show concluded with an extended workout featuring funk rhythms and raunchy blues vocals and which also gave the mountainous and splendidly hirsute drummer Ryan the opportunity to pummel his kit.

Overall I enjoyed this first exposure to the music of the Marcus King Band, although his style now lies a little outside my usual current listening zone. This young and highly talented musician has already carved out a distinctive niche for himself as he explores a colourful spectrum of Southern sounds. A powerful and soulful vocalist he’s also a highly capable guitar soloist and an increasingly mature and accomplished songwriter. King has absorbed his influences well but has rapidly established his own identity, one that sits neatly in the lineage of Southern Rock.

In many respects King has it all, expect to hear a lot more from this multi-talented young musician.

DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER

Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater has enjoyed a long and illustrious career and is something of a jazz legend. However Bridgewater is a musician who has always been reluctant to be pigeon-holed and her CV includes forays into other area of music including pop, disco and Broadway musicals.

Tonight’s performance offered another example of Bridgewater stepping out of her jazz comfort zone. Her latest project is a celebration of, and homage to, the music of the city of her birth, Memphis, Tennessee.

Born in the city in 1950 Bridgewater’s family moved north when she was three years of age and the singer was raised in Flint, Michigan. But Bridgewater never lost touch with the music of her original home town and she grew up listening (under the bedclothes - natch) to the music of Memphis on the radio station WDIA, the first station to be programmed exclusively for Afro-Americans. Here she first heard many of the artists whose music was celebrated tonight.

Bridgewater has recorded an album of this music which is due for release in September 2017 and tonight she was joined by a well drilled group that she referred to as the Memphis Soul Band. The core of the group comprised of drummer, backing vocalist and musical director James Sexton, guitarist Charlton ‘CJ’ Johnson, keyboardist Dell Smith and bassist Barry Campbell.  The sound was sometimes enhanced by the horns of Arthur Edmaiston (tenor sax) and Marc Franklin (trumpet, flugelhorn) with backing vocals provided by sisters Shontelle Norman-Beatty and Sharrise Norman.

The evening began with the instrumental “Burnt Biscuits”, originally recorded by Booker T & The MGs and here a vehicle for organist Dell Smith who also acted as MC as he introduced this “Celebration of Memphis” and welcomed Bridgewater to the stage.

The singer bounded on on a pair of crutches, her injuries the result of a backstage fall while on tour in Indonesia. Although she was obliged to remain seated for the performance nothing fazed the energetic and charismatic Bridgewater as she and her band put on a hugely entertaining two hour show featuring a whole raft of classics from Memphis’ rich musical heritage.

The initial vocal number was Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland’s “Goin’ Slow” which immediately revealed that Bridgewater, that most versatile of singers, is blessed with a terrific blues voice. Backed by the core quartet her powerful and emotive vocal was complemented by a keyboard solo that saw Smith deploying both electric piano and organ sounds.

The Norman sisters came on to the stage to accompany Bridgewater on her rootsy and soulful rendition of Gladys Knight & The Pips’ “Givin’ Up”, a song also covered by Luther Vandross. The use of gospel style backing vocals, periodically throughout the set, proved to be highly effective.

The song “I Can’t Get Next To You” was originally recorded by The Temptations but Bridgewater’s interpretation took inspiration from the more rough edged performance recorded by Al Green.  Bridgewater’s between songs narrative ranged from flirtatious banter to autobiography to serious historical fact. Here we learnt that Green’s take on the song was recorded at Royal Studios in Memphis, owned by producer Willie Mitchell. In a nice touch of serendipity Mitchell’s son Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell worked on Bridgewater’s impending Memphis album which was recorded at the same venue. Tonight’s performance of the song featured the entire ensemble including horns and backing vocalists and with a searing guitar solo coming from Johnson.

The only song not directly related to Memphis was “Yes I’m Ready”, an enjoyable slice of soul originally recorded in 1965 by the Philadelphia based singer Barbara Mason.

Gospel music and political comment merged on “Why”, a song written by Pops Staples with a lyric part inspired by the Civil Rights movement and the shameful episode of the “Little Rock Nine”. Bridgewater was quick to condemn the present political situation in the US under the Trump administration but equally quick to praise the work of the charitable Stax Foundation and its work with underprivileged Afro-American youngsters.

A horn enlivened take on the old Carla Thomas hit “B-A-B-Y”, written by the prolific Isaac Hayes, proved to be one of the most popular items of the set with Bridgewater encouraging the audience to clap along to this joyous homage to the classic Stax sound.

The singer then took a well earned breather as the core quartet romped through another instrumental, “Chicken Pox”, presumably another Booker T tune, with solos from Smith on organ and Johnson on guitar.

No homage to Memphis would be complete without a tune associated with Elvis Presley. Bridgewater’s arrangement of “Don’t Be Cruel” brought a welcome blues/soul grittiness to the piece and saw the singer trading phrases with saxophonist Anderson above Sexton’s loose limbed drum grooves.

Another hugely popular item was “I Can’t Stand The Rain”, originally recorded at Royal Studios in Memphis in 1974 by Ann Peebles and later an even bigger hit for Tina Turner, effectively relaunching the latter’s career. But it was the Peebles version that was Bridgewater’s blueprint and the performance even included a sample of the electronic timbales that appeared on the original Peebles recording.

Blues icon BB King, another musician indelibly associated with Memphis, was celebrated with arguably his most famous song, “The Thrill Is Gone” with Johnson excelling on guitar and Smith again weighing in on keyboards.

Encouraged by Bridgewater the Norman sisters enjoyed lead vocal cameos on a segue of blues classics with Shontelle singing “Stormy Monday” and Sharrise “All Night Long”.

Bridgewater reclaimed Lieber & Stoller’s “Hound Dog” from Presley and treated it to a far earthier rendition in the style of Big Mama Thornton, by whom it was first recorded. A vicious ‘put down’ of a song Bridgewater recaptured something of the bitterness of the lyrics – alongside some rather theatrical dog like howling.

Equally bitter-sweet was the version of the now little remembered hit Soul Children hit “The Sweeter He Is (The Harder The Pain)”, written by Hayes and David Porter.

The entertainment closed with a stunning version of Otis Redding’s “Try A Little Tenderness”. By this time the enormous personality that is Dee Dee Bridgewater had the audience eating out of her hand and the inevitable encore was the gospel song “Take My Hand Precious Lord”, originally recorded by the Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson.

I have to say that I was extremely impressed by this hugely enjoyable performance by Bridgewater and her band as she stamped her own personality on these bona fide blues, soul and gospel classics, in much the same way as she does with her more familiar jazz material.

With her astonishingly flexible, expressive and versatile voice and vivacious, extrovert personality she’s a genuine star and the audience absolutely loved this show which maintained the spirit of the original songs but never tipped over into ‘tribute’ slickness or mawkishness. This was a celebration that managed to retain the spirit of the originals, including an essential rawness, but still found something fresh to say about them. Even being on crutches and joking about her ‘bionic leg’ couldn’t detract from Bridgewater’s appeal. I’d guess that plenty of people are going to be looking out for the “Memphis” album when it appears in September.

This was an evening that offered that some great music, even it wasn’t strictly ‘jazz’. Nevertheless an excellent start to this year’s Festival.

 

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