BMJ Collective with Hilary Cameron, Black Mountain Jazz, Melville Centre, Abergavenny, 09/03/2025.

Jack Mac (Jack McDougall) – tenor sax, Nick Kacal – double bass. Ryan Thrupp – drums
with guest  Hilary Cameron – piano, vocals

PROLOGUE

BMJ Collective is essentially the house band of Black Mountain Jazz.

Originally formed in 2021 for that year’s ‘hybrid’ Wall2Wall Jazz Festival the line-up has undergone a number of personnel changes and currently features founder member Jack Mac on reeds and occasional vocals, together with Nick Kacal on double bass and Ryan Thrupp at the drums.

Mac, Kacal and Thrupp also act as tutors at the BMJazz Katz sessions which bring young people  together for regular jazz sessions at the Melville Centre, with the intention of forming a youth big band. Mac is heading the programme and the Katz, together with their tutors, have already made three public performances, two of which have been covered elsewhere on this site.

The idea of the tutors then performing for the public in the evening following the Sunday afternoon sessions is not only for ticket sales to contribute towards the teaching costs, but also for the students to see their tutors performing at their best and embodying the JazzKatz motto of “work, play, inspire”.

As these BMJ Collective gigs have now become regular events it is intended that a different guest musician will be invited to perform with the group each time. To date the   ‘BMJ Collective With’ series has featured vocalist Sarah Meek, pianists Ross Hicks Michael Blanchfield, Tom Berge and Anders Olinder, trumpeter Gethin Liddington and guitarists Chris Cobbson and John Close  Founding member Alex Goodyear also returned for a guest appearance at the drum kit, temporarily replacing Ryan Thrupp. All of these performances have been hugely enjoyable events and each has been reviewed elsewhere on The Jazzmann.

Every performance in the series has included an interesting selection of material sourced from the jazz canon and beyond, the majority of it chosen, or written, by the guest performer. All of the gigs have exceeded my expectations, representing far more than the usual obligatory or perfunctory ‘house trio with guest soloist’ session.   As I have previously observed,  “this is a series of events that continues to punch well above its weight”.

BMJ COLLECTIVE with HILARY CAMERON

The majority of BMJC’s guests have been based in South Wales or the Borders, many of them with close affiliations to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) in Cardiff.

Tonight’s show was different and introduced the Collective’s first London based guest, the pianist, vocalist and songwriter Hilary Cameron.

Cameron had once worked closely with Nick Kacal prior to the bassist’s relocation from London to South Wales, hence the decision to invite her to Abergavenny to perform with BMJC. Although Cameron had never worked with Mac and Thrupp before Kacal assured her that she would quickly establish a strong musical rapport with these two skilled and versatile musicians. This promise was borne out by tonight’s performance, which featured a typical BMJC mix of jazz standards, well chosen pop and rock covers and even a Cameron original.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music Cameron has worked as a pianist with saxophonists Simon Spillett, Clare Hirst and Paul Speare, trumpeter Barbara Snow, guitarist Tom Hannah, vocalist Zoe Schwarz, percussionist Andy Martin and with the bands Just East of Jazz, Big Band Metheny, The Claptones and Chico Chica. She has appeared at most of London’s leading jazz clubs. As a member of the house band at Googlies Jazz Club in Enfield she has backed many of the UK’s leading jazz artists.

In addition to her skills as a pianist Cameron is also an accomplished vocalist and in her work as a solo artist she combines both aspects of her talent. Tonight’s show represented an excellent example of this in a programme that combined vocal numbers with jazz instrumentals.

The evening commenced with Cameron at BMJ’s resident upright acoustic piano ushering in the jazz standard “The Night Has A Thousand Eyes”. She was joined by bass and drums before singing the opening verses and then handing over to Mac on tenor sax for the night’s first instrumental solo. Cameron then followed at the piano as the trio eased their audience in gently.

Next up was an instrumental version of the classic Charles Mingus composition “Nostalgia in Times Square”, with Mac stating the main theme on tenor and again taking the first solo. Kacal followed on double bass, then Cameron at the piano. All three soloists impressed with their fluency and inventiveness and the sparks that Kacal had promised began to fly during a series of instrumental exchanges between Cameron and Mac.

Things took an unexpected, but very welcome, turn with a slowed down jazz arrangement of the Joni Mitchell hit “Big Yellow Taxi”, which allowed Cameron the opportunity to demonstrate the full breadth of her vocal range whilst sharing the instrumental solos with Mac, the latter stretching out expansively on tenor.

The BMJ trio left the stage for Cameron’s solo voice and piano performance of “When Sunny Gets Blue”, which included an extended instrumental break.

Having now fully settled in Cameron recalled the trio and together they tackled Cameron’s original instrumental composition “Never Far Away”, which the pianist dedicated to friends in New York City, “three thousand miles away”. Introduced by a passage of unaccompanied piano this was a piece with a suitably wistful and nostalgic feel that incorporated solos from Mac and Cameron, sympathetically supported by double bass and brushed drums.

The ensemble continued to alternate vocal and instrumental numbers and the next item featured Cameron singing the jazz standard “Time After Time” – “not the Cyndi Lauper song”, as Cameron reminded us. In addition to Mac’s tenor soloing the performance also included a scat vocal episode from Cameron.

The first set concluded with an all instrumental take on the Ray Noble tune “Cherokee”. This was ushered in by a stunning passage of unaccompanied hand drumming by Thrupp, occasionally punctuated by Mac’s sax interjections and hand claps. The addition of bass and piano led into Mac’s theme statement, this followed by expansive instrumental solos from Mac and Cameron, with Mac returning to restate the theme and treat it to a series of variations. An excellent way to end a very enjoyable first half.

The second set began in energetic fashion with the lively Latin instrumental “Mambo Influenciado”, written by the celebrated Cuban pianist, composer and bandleader Chucho Valdés (born 1941). Cameron had seen Valdés perform at Ronnie Scott’s and was hugely impressed, hence her decision to cover one of his best known tunes. Following Mac’s theme statement the performance included solos from Cameron at the piano and the consistently impressive Thrupp at the drums.

Inspired by a recorded version by Ella Fitzgerald the ensemble’s rendition of “Stompin’ at The Savoy” included Cameron’s singing of the rarely heard lyrics, plus a further scat vocal episode. Mac and Kacal were also featured as instrumental soloists.

The jazz standard “Days of Wine and Roses” was performed as an instrumental, initially in piano trio mode but with the melodic sounds of Mac’s tenor sax added later. The arrangement included a short tenor sax / double bass dialogue, in addition to more conventional jazz solos from Mac, Cameron and Kacal.

As in the first set Cameron played one song entirely solo. This time the choice was “My Funny Valentine”, which saw Cameron delivering a beautiful and moving voice and piano performance.

Cameron is also an acclaimed jazz educator and often features the standard “How High The Moon” in her scat vocal workshops. Tonight’s version drew inspiration from both Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan and featured Cameron’s own scat vocals alongside instrumental solos from Mac and Kacal. Towards the close Mac and Cameron ‘traded fours’ with drummer Thrupp.

Piano and drums introduced a Latin-esque arrangement of the Antonio Carlos Jobim song “Triste”, another vocal item featuring Cameron’s singing of the English language lyric. Mac enjoyed an expansive tenor solo supported by the bustle of Thrupp’s rapidly brushed drums, the performance concluding with a joyous series of scat vocal and drum exchanges that were rather at odds with the song’s title.

The evening concluded with a highly effective jazz style arrangement of The Beatles song “Come Together”. “Being British we just had to play this” deadpanned Kacal before introducing the song on double bass. Cameron took an obvious joy in the singing of John Lennon’s surrealistic lyrics as Thrupp demonstrated his best Ringo impression. Everybody was having fun as Mac dug in for an earthy tenor sax solo, followed by further instrumental excursions from Kacal on bass and Cameron at the piano.

Everybody, even hardcore jazz fans, loves The Beatles and the ecstatic audience reaction to this saw the group remaining on stage to deliver an encore of “Bye Bye Blackbird”, this presented as another vocal item, ushered in by the sounds of double bass and voice, plus occasional interjections from the drums. With the addition of Mac’s sax the piece began to gather momentum, with instrumental solos following from Mac on tenor and Cameron at the piano.

Cameron was quick to praise the excellent Kacal, who had also contributed to several of tonight’s arrangements, but she was equally appreciative of Mac and Thrupp, having been hugely impressed by both of them.

Although understandably a little ragged at times this was a performance that was very much in the BMJC with… tradition,  as typified by its varied and adventurous programming and skilled and vivacious singing and playing.

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