Bryan Corbett Quartet, The Corn Exchange, Kings Head Hotel, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, 11/05/2023.

Bryan Corbett – trumpet, flugelhorn, Al Gurr – keyboard, Tom Hill – double bass, Mitch Perrins – drums

The latest jazz event at The Corn Exchange saw a welcome return to Herefordshire for Bromyard born trumpeter and composer Bryan Corbett, a musician based for many years in the Birmingham area.

I’ve been listening to Corbett’s playing for a long time. As a young musician in the late 1990s and early 2000s he regularly played gigs in my home town of Leominster at the much missed Blue Note Café Bar, a small and intimate venue named after the famous record label. Many of these performances were in a duo setting in conjunction with pianist Levi French.

As a great admirer of Corbett’s playing I have continued to follow his career ever since as has established himself as a leading figure on the Midlands jazz scene and beyond, releasing a number of albums in the process.

Although never a particularly prolific composer Corbett has recorded fairly frequently, beginning in 1999 with “Funk in the Deep Freeze”. In 2000 “Simply Blue”, the title track a Corbett original honouring the Leominster Blue Note, was the first of a number of live albums in either a quartet or quintet format,  others in the series including the double sets “Message of Iridescence” (2015) and the 1959 themed “The Hi-Fly Quintet” (2019). 

“Corbenova” (2003), “Off The Cuff” (2005) and “Pressure Valve” (2006)  found the trumpeter experimenting with electronics and ‘nu-jazz’. By way of contrast he has also recorded two intimate acoustic duo sets with pianists Levi French and Chris Dodd. Corbett has also been a busy presence on the session scene, frequently performing as part of the touring bands of rock and pop acts, among them US3, McFly and Tony Christie.  He also runs The Remote Horns, a kind of ‘virtual horn section for hire’.

The Hi-Fly Quintet recording honoured some of the great albums released in 1959, a real landmark year for jazz that gave us Miles Davis’ “Kind Of Blue”, Dave Brubeck’s “Time Out”, Charles Mingus’ “Ah Um” Ornette Coleman’s “The Shape of Jazz to Come”  and Horace Silver’s “Blowin’ The Blues Away” among others. The success of this project has led to Corbett presenting other similar themed ‘tributes’ such as Ready For Freddie, his homage to his all time trumpet hero Freddie Hubbard (1938-2008). This also yielded an album, subtitled “The Hub”, a recording that represents Corbett’s latest album release.

Corbett has also been touring with The Blue Note Session Band, which offers an evening of music associated with the label written by composers such as Hubbard, Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Grant Green, Wayne Shorter and others. Typically the group goes out as a quintet or sextet but promoters also have the option to add a vocal, electronic or even rap / hip hop option.

The band that Corbett brought to Ross was a version of his regular quartet and featured pianist Al Gurr and bassist Tom Hill, both of whom have also featured in the Ready For Freddie project, plus drummer Mitch Perrins. The programme featured an intriguing mix of Corbett’s original compositions and material sourced from the wider jazz canon, much of it rarely heard.

Tonight’s performance began with the familiar stains of 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”. The piece was ushered in here by Gurr, adopting an acoustic piano sound on his electric keyboard. Corbett’s pure toned trumpet was added, subtly supported by Hill’s bass and Perrins’ hand drumming and cymbal shimmers. This atmospheric opening section placed the emphasis on the beauty and fluency of Corbett’s playing as he explored the contours of Rodrigo’s famous melody.  The piece then mutated into a more modal section that formed the basis for more expansive trumpet and piano soloing, with Hill also featuring on bass. There was then a reprise of the opening section, which saw Hill briefly picking up the bow. Corbett subsequently told me that his version of the piece was actually inspired by “Concierto” a 1975 recording by guitarist Jim Hall’s sextet, featuring trumpeter Chet Baker and saxophonist Paul Desmond. I had to profess my ignorance and admit to never having heard that particular recording.

The composition “Wheel Within A Wheel”, written by the American alto saxophonist Bobby Watson, a one time Jazz Messenger, has always been a favourite of Corbett’s.  The trumpeter’s brother lives in Kansas City, Watson’s home town and Corbett was lucky enough to have seen the saxophonist play a show there. For myself 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. In 2022 Corbett himself performed “Wheel Within A Wheel” at that year’s Brecon Jazz Festival.
Watson’s tune is something of a modern jazz classic and tonight’s version featured a percussive ‘acoustic’ piano solo from Gurr and a dazzling trumpet solo from Corbett that had everything, fluency, technical expertise and great power when required. Drummer Perrins also featured strongly, as did bassist Hill.

Another song that had featured at Corbett’s 2022 Brecon Festival appearance was his own composition “Crystal Waters”, a ballad very loosely based on the chords of Chick Corea’s “Crystal Silence”. This featured Corbett playing his new flugel horn, a distinctive model with a square bell made for him by the Taylor Trumpet company. It was a beautiful instrument that elicited similarly beautiful playing from Corbett, his lyricism matched by Gurr at the piano and Hill on melodic double bass. Following his powerful performance on the Watson piece Perrins now displayed great delicacy behind the kit, playing with brushes throughout.

Corbett continued on flugel for the final number of the first set, another original composition titled “Pushing Your Buttons”. The lockdown period had given the opportunity for Corbett to write, and this piece was a product of that period. With Gurr switching to an electric piano or ‘Rhodes’ sound this marked something a return to the ‘nu jazz’ sounds with which Corbett experimented in the 2000s. Superficially laid back but with Perrins laying down a subtly funky back-beat this was an appealing piece that featured solos from Corbett on flugel and Gurr on electric piano, plus a series of engaging exchanges between the pair. A good end to an enjoyable and sometimes intriguing first set.

The second half kicked off with Perrins at the drums ushering in the Freddie Hubbard composition “The Intrepid Fox”, a tune from Hubbard’s classic 1970 album “Red Clay”. The piece was something of a showcase for Perrins, who was to feature again more extensively in the wake of solos from Corbett on trumpet and Gurr on electric piano.

Another rarely covered tune followed, 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 performed by Corbett on trumpet, who displayed a remarkable delicacy and lyricism on the instrument. Gurr featured on ‘acoustic’ piano and Hill on melodic double bass. Perrins again demonstrated the sensitive side of his playing with some sympathetic brush work. The leader was again featured at the close with a haunting solo trumpet cadenza.

Corbett moved to flugel horn for the remainder of the set and also featured his own writing once more with “Psycho Spirit”. This was introduced by Hill at the bass and featured Gurr deploying an electric piano sound as he shared the solos with Corbett and Hill. A Hubbard like melody was combined with subtly funky grooves to create an appealing composition that my mate Jim, a relative newcomer to jazz, described as his favourite piece of the evening.

The quartet rounded things off in upbeat fashion with the late trumpeter and composer Roy Hargrove’s composition “Top Of My Head”, with solos from Corbett on flugel, Gurr on ‘acoustic’ piano, plus a drum feature from Perrins, who traded ideas with the leader.

This was an excellent way to round off an evening of high quality jazz. Corbett’s own playing was imperious, with a beautiful tone on both trumpet and flugel and a high degree of fluency. He was well supported by a highly competent quartet, although I didn’t particularly care for the acoustic piano sound that emanated from Gurr’s keyboard and thought he sounded better when deploying a ‘Rhodes’ sound. I also has a bit of an issue with the lighting as Corbett, playing in front of the stage and on the same level as the audience, was in shadow for much of the time, although this may have been intentional and in keeping with the moody Chet / Miles image that he likes to project.

These however are relatively minor quibbles in the context of some excellent music. I was particularly pleased to hear so much of Corbett’s original writing and his choice of outside material was consistently interesting, rarely heard pieces that were all obviously very personal to him. On the evidence of tonight’s performance a new album of Corbett original material would be something to be welcomed.

My thanks to Bryan for speaking with me afterwards and to promoter Dave Logan for providing me with press tickets for this event.

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