Bryan Corbett Quartet, Brecon Jazz Club, The Muse Arts Centre, Brecon, 10/10/2023.

Bryan Corbett – trumpet, flugelhorn, Huw Warren – piano, Paula Gardiner – double bass, Liz Exell – drums

Brecon Jazz Club’s October event featured Birmingham based trumpeter Bryan Corbett fronting a South Wales based rhythm section that had variously been billed as the ‘Liz Exell Trio’ or the Best of Wales Trio’.

Corbett has become a great favourite with Brecon jazz audiences in recent years. In 2020, together with members of his regular Birmingham based quartet, he played a short livestream set as part of that year’s ‘Virtual’ Brecon Jazz Festival. It was a performance that was regarded by many as one of the highlights of the VBJF programme and Corbett was subsequently invited to perform ‘in the flesh’ at the 2022 Brecon Jazz Festival. Organisers Lynne Gornall and Roger Cannon teamed Corbett with a quartet of South Wales’ finest, featuring pianist Dave Jones, bassist Paula Gardiner and drummer Liz Exell. The trumpeter had never met his colleagues before the gig but the grouping proved to be yet another inspired choice from Lynne & Roger and the quartet quickly established an impressive rapport. Once again the performance proved to be a Festival highlight and is reviewed as part of my Festival coverage here;

The success of the 2022 Festival appearance led to Corbett being invited back to Brecon to perform at a regular Club Night. This saw him renewing his acquaintance with Gardiner and Exell and saw the brilliant Huw Warren coming in to fill the piano chair. It was the first time that Corbett and Warren had met, but once again the listener would never have known. An impressive rapport was quickly established and both musicians were responsible for some dazzling soloing. Corbett was obviously highly impressed by Warren, a musician with an international reputation, and there was clearly a great deal of mutual respect between the pair.

I’ve been following Corbett’s career for a long time. He was born in Bromyard in my native county of Herefordshire and in his early days as a musician in the late 1990s and early 2000s he used to play regularly at the tiny Blue Note Café Bar in my home town of Leominster, often in a duo with pianist Levi French.

After moving to Birmingham he quickly established himself on the wider Midlands jazz scene and has also released several albums under his own name. In addition he has also found work as a respected session and touring musician.

Corbett is also no stranger to Brecon. As a young musician he used to come to Brecon Jazz Festival to busk and later became a popular figure on the Fringe programme, frequently playing in the courtyard at The George Hotel, now a Wetherspoons.

I have seen Corbett perform live on many occasions over the years, the most recent being at the Corn Exchange Jazz Club in Ross-on Wye in May 2023 when he appeared with his regular Birmingham quartet featuring pianist Al Gurr, bassist Tom Hill and drummer Mitch Perrins. This was an enjoyable set that featured some excellent playing, particularly from the leader, and which also included a pleasing amount of original writing from Corbett.

I did have some reservations about the Ross show however, primarily regarding the ‘acoustic piano’ sound generated by Gurr’s electric keyboard. It was totally unconvincing and I really didn’t care for it all. Fortunately there were no such issues tonight with Warren playing The Muse’s resident acoustic upright, an instrument that has recently helped to facilitate excellent performances from pianists Rachel Starritt and Eddie Gripper, among others. Warren has played the Muse upright before, and although it may not have a full sized keyboard he seemed thoroughly at home with it.

The performance commenced with a Corbett original, “Simply Blue”, the title track of Corbett’s second album, dating back to 2000. Written in honour of the Leominster Blue Note and based on the Oliver Nelson composition “Stolen Moments” this is one of Corbett’s most beguiling tunes and was ushered in by piano, double bass and brushed drums. Corbett then stated the theme, a familiar one to me, on trumpet before embellishing it. The leader then handed over to Warren for an expansive piano solo, skilfully augmented by interactive bass and drums. Corbett then returned to solo more forcefully and expansively, before handing over to Gardiner at the bass. An impressive start.

“Wheel Within A Wheel”, originally written by alto saxophonist for Art Blakey and The jazz Messengers is a particular favourite for Corbett. The trumpeter first saw Watson perform it at a jazz club in Kansas City, Watson’s home town and the city where Corbett’s brother now lives. A fixture of Corbett’s sets it’s one of Watson’s most popular compositions, the strong melodic theme here acting as the jumping off point for exceptional solos from both Warren and Corbett, with the leader’s dynamic trumpet playing ranging from a whisper to a scream and including some dramatic high register playing. The always impressive Exell was also featured at the drums, prior to a solo trumpet cadenza from Corbett just before to the close.

An aside;  I fondly remember Watson’s two visits to Brecon Jazz Festival in successive years in the 1990s when he performed two superb shows in the company of a British trio led by pianist Robin Aspland, the first outdoors on the Stroller Programme, the second a concert in the more formal environs of Theatr Brycheiniog.

Some of the material that had featured at the Ross show was performed again tonight. This included the ballad “Alone, Alone and Alone” written by the Japanese trumpeter and composer Terumasa Hino for “Down With It!”,  his American counterpart Blue Mitchell’s 1965 quintet album for Blue Note Records. This was introduced by the atmospheric sounds of Corbett’s trumpet whispers and Exell’s gentle mallet rumbles. The addition of piano and bass led to Corbett’s theme statement and subsequent variations, with Exell deploying a combination of brushes and mallets. Gardiner featured with a melodic bass solo while Warren was at his most lyrical at the piano. Corbett’s solo was embellished by Exell’s deft cymbal work and his gentle cadenza at the close was augmented by Gardiner’s use of the bow. Corbett described Hino’s piece as “a beautiful piece of music”. Nobody disagreed with him.

The first set concluded with Corbett’s own “Cathedral Run”, a Latin-esque piece that saw him switching to flugel horn. Corbett explained that as a composer he was looking to write thematic “sketches” that constituted a vehicle for his fellow musicians to improvise around. It’s an approach that he brings to his latest project, the Instrumental Groove Unit, a quartet featuring Wayne Matthews on bass, Luke Harris on drums and Paul Deats specialising on Fender Rhodes.
The lively “Cathedral Run” demonstrated that the flugel isn’t just for ballads as Corbett delivered a fluent, quote filled solo. This was followed by a feverishly imaginative piano solo from Warren, the percussiveness of his playing eliciting a suitable response from Exell as Gardiner anchored things from the bass. Exell was then to feature more obviously before the close.

This had been an excellent first set that drew a highly positive reaction from an appreciative Brecon audience.

The second half commenced with another of the pieces that had been performed at Ross. This was Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”, originally written for classical guitar but immortalised for jazz listeners by Miles Davis’ famous recording of the piece on his 1960 album “Sketches of Spain”. However Corbett’s version was actually inspired by “Concierto”, a 1975 recording by guitarist Jim Hall’s sextet, featuring trumpeter Chet Baker and saxophonist Paul Desmond.
Introduced here by piano, bowed bass and brushed drums the performance saw Corbett playing trumpet on the familiar intro before switching to flugel for his solo. Exell displayed a similar versatility, variously deploying brushes, mallets and sticks as the composition progressed. Her playing was particularly responsive as she complemented Warren’s piano solo. At the close Corbett returned to the trumpet and Gardiner to arco bass for a reprise of Rodrigo’s familiar theme.

At this juncture Corbett proceeded to tell us something about the instruments that he was playing, responding to questions that had been asked by audience members during the interval. Nobody could have failed to notice that both his trumpet and his flugel had matt finishes and very distinctive square bells. From the very beginning of his career Corbett’s instruments have been hand crafted for him by Andy Taylor of Taylor Trumpets, a Norwich based company. It is intended that each instrument should be a ‘work of art’ that both sounds and looks good. Apparently the square bells actually make little difference to the sound, but nevertheless represent a bold and distinctive visual and artistic statement.

A swinging version of the late trumpeter / composer Roy Hargrove’s “Top Of My Head” followed, another tune that been played at Ross. This featured fluent solos from Corbett on trumpet and Warren on piano and saw Exell ‘trading fours’ with each.

Corbett has visited Poland to play with saxophonist Ryszard Krawczuk’s funk band. In Corbett’s hands Krawczuk’s composition “Free After Three” has been transformed into a jazz waltz with its attractive melody tonight providing the framework for quietly eloquent solos from Corbett on flugel and Warren on piano, the latter’s dialogue with Gardiner leading to a melodic bass feature. With Exell deploying brushes throughout this was essentially this set’s ballad.

At Exell’s request the performance concluded with a segue of Wayne Shorter tunes as “Witch Hunt” transformed into “Speak No Evil” with Corbett returning to the trumpet and sharing the solos with Gardiner and Warren. Both pieces appear on Shorter’s classic 1964 Blue Note album “Speak No Evil”, which sees saxophonist Shorter sharing the front line with Corbett’s trumpet hero Freddie Hubbard. Corbett’s previous projects have included his Ready For Freddie Quartet, a group paying homage to Hubbard. I saw this line up, featuring Corbett, Al Gurr, Tom Hill and drummer Nick Millward at The Hive in Shrewsbury in 2019 and the music of this project is documented on the 2019 double CD “The Hub”.

A second rapturous reception from the Brecon crowd saw the quartet remaining on stage to encore with “The Double Up”, a blues written by the late trumpeter / composer Lee Morgan that appears on Morgan’s 1966 Blue Note album “Charisma”. This was to feature solos from Corbett on trumpet, Warren on piano and Gardiner on bass, plus a series of instrumental exchanges between Corbett and Exell. An excellent way to round off a triumphant return to Brecon by Bryan Corbett.

Although there was less original material performed tonight I’d say that this gig shaded the Ross show thanks to presence of an acoustic piano and the inspired playing of Warren, Gardiner and Exell, who in turn inspired Corbett to give of his best. Although not a particularly prolific writer himself Corbett has an eye for a good tune and this was apparent in tonight’s selection, an eclectic mix of the well known and the less familiar, with the added bonus of a couple of Corbett originals.

It is to be hoped that Corbett will get the opportunity to work with these Wales based musicians again, but in the meantime his new Instrumental Groove Unit project should be well worth keeping an eye on.

My thanks to all the musicians for speaking with me and particularly to Bryan for gifting me a copy of “The Hub”, an excellent recording that is playing as I write.
The fact that both Corbett and Warren sold an impressive amount of CDs was testament to the success of tonight’s gig.