BMJ Collective with Tom Berge, Black Mountain Jazz, Melville Centre, Abergavenny, 07/07/2024

Jack Mac (Jack McDougall) – tenor & soprano  saxophones, Nick Kacal – double bass, Tom Berge – piano, Andy Tween – drums

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 and Michael Blanchfield and guitarist Chris Cobbson.  More recently founder member Alex Goodyear 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 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 TOM BERGE

The collective’s latest guest was the West Country based pianist and composer Tom Berge.

This was Berge’s second appearance at Black Mountain Jazz following a performance in 2019 when he was part of a quartet led by the Welsh trombonist and composer Gareth Roberts. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/gareth-roberts-quartet-black-mountain-jazz-melville-centre-abergavenny-28-0

Berge has also featured on the Jazzmann web pages as a member of bands led by trumpeter Stuart Henderson saxophonist Joe Northwood and violinist / vocalist Azhaar Saffar.

Berge studied jazz at Leeds College of Music, graduating with First Class Honours and receiving the Conservatoire Prize. He has also studied with the acclaimed British pianist Dave Newton and with the Israeli / American pianist Tamir Hendelman.

Berge is now an acclaimed educator himself and offers online lessons at his website;
https://www.tombergejazzpianolessons.co.uk/

As a jazz performer Berge leads his own trio featuring bassist Chris Jones and drummer Mark Whitlam, with whom he as recorded the digital album “Push It!”.

Other recordings include “The Music of Oscar and Clark”, a homage to pianist Oscar Peterson and trumpeter Clark Terry recorded by the trio Berge, Henderson and bassist Paul Jefferies with guest guitarist Denny Ilett.

He has also recorded (playing organ) with Nurdle, a trio led by Cardiff based saxophonist Joe Northwood that also features Bristol based drummer Paolo Adamo. This group appears on the Jazzmann web pages as part of the 2020 ‘Virtual’ Brecon Jazz Festival.

Berge is also a prolific sideman and has worked with vocalists Zoe Francis and the late Tina May, guitarists Jim Mullen and Mike Walker, saxophonists Karen Sharpe, Alan Barnes, Simon Spillett, Allison Neale, Ian Dixon and Vasilis Xenopoulos, trumpeters Enrico Tomasso and Quentin Collins, trombonist Dennis Rollins and bassists Alec Dankworth and Andy Cleyndert.

Berge has worked frequently with bassist Nick Kacal and also with Alex Goodyear, ensuring that he was an ideal choice for a BMJ Collective With session. Tonight’s event also included a second guest with Bristol based drummer Andy Tween coming in for the unavailable Ryan Thrupp.

Berge selected the material and handled the announcements, promising us an evening of “swinging and Latin music”.  With this in mind the quartet kicked off with a tune described by Berge as “optimistic”. This was an arrangement of the Herbie Hancock composition “Driftin’”, a track from Hancock’s debut album “Takin’ Off”, first released way back in 1962 and in the hands of tonight’s quartet still sounding as fresh as a daisy. A lively performance introduced the individual instrumental voices of the band with solos from Mac on tenor sax, Berge at the piano and Kacal on double bass, these followed by a series of drum breaks from Tween

The promised Latin element came with “Cubano Bop”, a Berge original written in this vein and introduced by the composer at the piano. Subsequent solos came from Berge, followed by Mac on soprano sax and Kacal at the bass, the last of these underpinned by the leader’s sparse piano chording and Tween’s succinct drum commentary. Tonight’s leader then reasserted himself with a second piano solo.

The jazz standard “I’m Taking A Chance On Love” was introduced by an extended passage of unaccompanied piano, with the later addition of tenor sax, bass and drums establishing a gently swinging tempo, with Tween deploying brushes. An expansive piano solo was followed by Mac’s raunchy tenor sax excursion as the music gathered momentum and Tween switched to sticks. Kacal’s double bass solo was followed by a series of trades between piano, tenor and drums, with Tween now reverting to brushes. Berge’s restatement of the theme, with associated embellishments, was followed by a playful ending that teased the highest notes possible out of the Melville Centre’s upright acoustic piano.

“It’s nice to play on a real piano” remarked Berge as he introduced the next item, an original jazz ballad titled “Remember When”. Lockdown had presented a fertile time for Berge in terms of compositions and this was a piece that dated from this period, as perhaps suggested by its title. This item was performed in the piano trio format with Mac sitting out, but still observing intently. An extended unaccompanied piano intro expressed the kind of wistful melancholy that was typical of the lockdown period. The gentle lyricism continued following the addition of double bass and brushed drums, the trio playing with an admirable collective restraint and with Kacal briefly deploying the bow at the close.

The first set concluded with “Night Mist Blues”, a tune previously recorded by the pianists Ahmad Jamal and Monty Alexander. A genuine blues this was again introduced by Berge at the piano, with Mac returning on tenor sax to state the theme and take the first solo, his tone suitably earthy and bluesy. As the music again gathered momentum, with Tween again graduating from brushes to sticks, he was followed by Berge at the piano.

An excellent first half was very well received by a sizeable crowd at the Melville Centre. Given the rival attractions of Wimbledon and the Euros promoter Mike Skilton announced himself very well pleased with the turnout for this early evening show.

The second set served up some more excellent music and kicked off with “Fungii Mama”, a calypso flavoured tune by the late American trumpeter Blue Mitchell that fitted neatly enough into the ‘Latin’ category. An exuberant performance of this lively and infectious piece incorporated solos from Mac on soprano sax and Berge at the piano, followed by a playful feature from Tween at the drum kit.

Berge’s unaccompanied piano introduction set the mood for a relaxed arrangement of Duke Ellington’s “In a Mellow Tone”, which included solos from Mac on tenor and Kacal on double bass, followed by a brushed drum feature from the consistently inventive Tween.

This set’s trio item was a delightful performance of the jazz waltz “Emily”, a tune composed by Johnny Mandel.  Bookended by unaccompanied piano passages this was essentially a feature for Berge, who played brilliantly all evening and is a phenomenally gifted technician. Kacal and Tween, the latter again wielding brushes, provided economic and sympathetic support.

Mac returned on tenor for “Let’s Bounce”, a Berge original described by its composer as “a funky one”. A gospel flavoured solo piano introduction was followed by Mac’s theme statement and subsequent piano and tenor sax solos on a funky, gospelly piece that sometimes reminded me of the music of Horace Silver. The audience was encouraged to clap along during Kacal’s bass solo and responded enthusiastically.
Mac’s sax outro then led into “Meet The Flintstones” as the fun continued, with Berge’s exuberant piano solo stuffed full of a whole series of other quotes. Mac then embarked on a marathon tenor sax solo, this followed by a dynamic drum solo from Tween as the musical high jinks continued.

The second set concluded with Juan Tizol’s ever adaptable “Caravan”, surely the most versatile of all jazz standards with its myriad interpretations. Tonight’s version was ushered in by Tween at the drums and featured Mac on soprano saxophone. Mac’s solo was followed by Berge’s, the pianist introducing some of those promised Latin-esque flourishes, and also squeezing in a crowd pleasing quote from “Sweet Georgia Brown”.

The inevitable encore was Berge’s arrangement of “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, introduced by a passage of unaccompanied piano that established an appropriate gospel feel to the music. Mac’s soprano solo was almost clarinet like at times, before delving more deeply into the realms of Coltrane-esque spiritual jazz. Berge followed at the piano, a final reminder of his prodigious talents as a jazz soloist.

The audience loved this latest instalment in the BMJ Collective With series, a series of events that continues to deliver – and then some. Mac and Kacal continued to impress as usual, and especially for those members of the audience who were witnessing one of these events for the first time.

Tween proved to be a very able deputy for Ryan Thrupp. Tween is a highly experienced drummer who has worked across a variety of musical genres, at one time being the regular drummer for folk / rock musician Seth Lakeman.

Berge himself was superb, a gifted technician and an inspired soloist who clearly relished the opportunity of expressing himself on a genuine acoustic piano. He also impressed with the quality of his compositions and arrangements and expressed the wish that he would like to record some of his original pieces at some point. Let’s hope that he succeeds in that quest, I’d very much like to hear an album from him.

Meanwhile the next BMJ Collective With event will be on Sunday 11th August 2024. It will be interesting to see who they choose as their next guest, Tom Berge will be a tough act to follow.

 

 

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