Jim Rattigan Quartet with The Tear String Quartet, Clun Valley Jazz, SpArC Theatre, Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire, 29/01/2022.

Jim Rattigan – French horn, Alcyona Mick – piano, Dave Whitford – double bass, James Maddren – drums

Julian Tear, Alison Gordon – violins, Nick Barr – viola, Nick Cooper – cello

The first CV Jazz Session was this keenly anticipated event featuring the music of Jim Rattigan, one of the few French horn players to embrace his chosen instrument in a jazz context.

Rattigan has enjoyed a successful career as a classical musician, playing with such ensembles as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Academy of St. Martin’s in the Fields. It was during his time with the latter that he first met violinist Julian Tear, leader of the Tear String Quartet. In addition to their work with SMITF Rattigan and Tear, plus cellist Nick Cooper,  have also worked together on numerous film soundtracks, including  the James Bond, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings film series.

Rattigan has also worked as a session musician and has performed with some of the biggest names in rock and pop, among them  Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Barry Manilow, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, Joss Stone, Rick Astley, George Michael, Pulp, Damon Albarn, Adele, Paloma Faith and Tony Bennett. He has also worked with folk singer June Tabor, blues singer Michael O’Callaghan and genre defying violinist Nigel Kennedy.

Since being introduced to the music of Oscar Peterson during his student days at Cambridge College of Arts & Technology Rattigan has always harboured a love of jazz and has fostered an independent career in the jazz world.

In his role as the UK’s best known jazz French horn player he has appeared on the Jazzmann web pages on numerous occasions, most notably as the leader of his own twelve piece jazz ensemble Pavillon.

Named for the French word for the bell of the French horn Pavillon features some of the UK’s leading jazz musicians and the band can be heard on the album “Strong Tea”, originally recorded in 2011 but re-launched in 2016. Review here;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/jim-rattigan-pavillon-strong-tea/

The re-launch of “Strong Tea” also prompted a number of live appearances and I was fortunate enough to enjoy an excellent performance by the Pavillon band at a lunchtime session at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho as part of the 2017 EFG London Jazz Festival. My review of the performance can be read as part of my Festival coverage here;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/efg-london-jazz-festival-sunday-november-12th-

In 2019 a second Pavillon album appeared, the excellent “The Freedom of Movement”, which featured a number of the pieces that had been performed at the ‘Pizza’. My review of that recording can be read here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/jim-rattigans-pavillon-the-freedom-of-movement

In his capacity as a jazz musician Rattigan has also issued a number of other albums under his own name including “Unfamiliar Guise” (2000), “Jazz French Horn” (2004), and “Shuzzed” (2010), the latter  recorded by a quartet featuring guitarist Phil Robson, bassist Phil Donkin and drummer Gene Calderazzo.

In 2014 I reviewed his excellent trio set “Triplicity” which teamed him with the classical violinist Thomas Gould and the acclaimed jazz pianist Liam Noble. This was a chamber jazz recording that combined moments of pure beauty with an admirable improvisational rigour. The full review can be read here;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/jim-rattigan-thomas-gould-liam-noble-triplicity/

I first became aware of Rattigan’s playing through his involvement with a number of large ensembles conducted by the celebrated jazz composer Mike Gibbs. It was his work with Gibbs that first inspired Rattigan to form Pavillon.

Rattigan has also worked with other jazz composers, among them Hans Koller, Mark Lockheart, Carla Bley,  McCoy Tyner,  Django Bates, Kenny Wheeler, Brad Mehldau Guy Barker, Simon Purcell, Percy Pursglove, Julian Arguelles and the late, great Charlie Haden. And as he proved with Percy Pursglove’s “Far Reaching Dreams of Mortal Souls” ensemble Rattigan is also a skilled accordionist.

Indeed the accordion was actually his first instrument. Rattigan was brought up in Luton’s Irish community and was once the All Britain Champion on the instrument, playing in a duo with his sister, Ann. As an accordionist he played both folk and classical music, Mr. Rattigan is nothing if not versatile.

It’s that versatility, plus a love of multiple musical genres, that informs this current project. In 2020 Rattigan released the album “When”, a deliberate attempt to bring the jazz and classical strands of his musical life together as Rattigan explains in the album liner notes;
“Having had a career in classical music and now playing jazz, I thought that I would write some music that would combine the two worlds. This is not crossover music but a juxtaposition – the two styles are working side by side. I worked with Julian Tear in the Academy of St. Martin’s chamber orchestra and asked him to record the music with his quartet. The quartet becomes a quintet when I call on the double bass to play ‘arco’  (with the bow) and the French horn is a bridge between, or to, the two genres”.

Rattigan has always been a composer, writing at the piano and later transposing his ideas onto manuscript. His early jazz albums featured standards but later recordings such as the two Pavillon albums and “When” have put the focus on Rattigan’s own compositions. “When” features Rattigan’s writing exclusively as he explained in 2020;
“I wrote most of the tunes for ‘When’ about 4 or 5 years ago. They seemed a little sad and reflective at the time so I put them in a folder and forgot about them. Somehow, they seem apt now… “

Rattigan took the tunes to Tear who helped him to arrange them for performance by an octet featuring four jazz musicians plus the members of Tear’s own string quartet.

The recording features six of tonight’s performers, Rattigan and Maddren plus the members of the Tear String Quartet. The album also features pianist Nikki Iles and bassist Michael Janisch, these two replaced this evening by pianist Alcyona Mick and Rattigan’s old associate Dave Whitford, who played bass on the “Jazz French Horn” album. It marked a rapid return to Clun Valley Jazz for Whitford who had been part of the October 2021 CV Jazz Session featuring Satori, the trio led by saxophonist Josephine Davies.

My review of the “When” album, from which much of the above biographical detail has been sourced can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/jim-rattigan-when

Tonight’s date was part of a short Arts Council supported tour that took in a number of dates in the Midlands with other venues including Wolverhampton, Coventry and Birmingham. The Bishop’s Castle date was very well supported with over seventy people seated cabaret style in the auditorium at the town’s comfortable SpArC Theatre. Demand for tickets allied to Covid concerns had prompted a move from Clun Valley Jazz’s regular venue the Town Hall. The size of the band may also have been a factor, an eight piece ensemble plus a sell out audience at the Town Hall would have been very cramped. As it was the SpArC proved to be an excellent venue, large and airy with superb acoustics. I’d like to think that CV Jazz might be able to use it again.

Tonight’s performance featured Rattigan’s compositions exclusively, mainly sourced from the “When” album, but also including pieces from earlier recordings.

The octet commenced with “Now and Then”, which also opens the “When” album. An introductory passage for just French horn and string quartet set the scene, before the jazz trio joined the proceedings, with Mick taking the first solo of the evening, accompanied by double bass and brushed drums. Rattigan’s French horn solo also signified the return of the strings as part of a fully integrated ensemble.

Next came the jazz waltz “Fool”, also taken from the “When” album. As Rattigan subsequently explained the title refers to the “painted on smile” of a clown, and despite being written some seven years ago the feel of the piece seemed to fit the generally melancholic mood of the “When” project. With this in mind Rattigan took the piece to Tear and the pair worked together on the arrangement. Tear has clearly been Rattigan’s ‘right hand man’ on this project and he and Rattigan are credited as co-producers of the album.
Tonight’s performance was counted in by Maddren, whose deft brushwork underscored the mellifluous string melodies plus the lyrical jazz solos of Rattigan and Mick. Rattigan’s fluency as a soloist on the notoriously difficult French horn is astonishing, combining the agility of a trumpet or flugel horn with the deeper sonority of the trombone. It’s a captivating sound, and still a very unusual one in a jazz context.

Remaining with the album repertoire “It’s Not Quite The Same” was introduced by the lush sounds of the unaccompanied string quartet. The jazz contingent subsequently took over with Mick delivering another lyrical solo at the venue’s acoustic upright piano, again accompanied by double bass and brushed drums. She was followed by Rattigan, whose sound has also been compared to that of valve trombonists, such as Bob Brookmeyer.

Rattigan dipped into his back catalogue for the title track of the “Shuzzed” album, which was a feature for the jazz quartet only. We were informed that this piece was based on the chords of Charlie Parker’s composition “Confirmation” and that “Shuzzed” was a word for “humble”. The performance featured the remarkable sounds of Rattigan playing complex bebop inspired melody lines on the French horn, and also included fluent solos from Mick and Whitford, plus a neatly constructed drum feature from the excellent Maddren.

“Patrick’s Song”, a delightful dedication to Rattigan’s then young son, appears on both the “Triplicity” and “When” albums. Tonight’s performance featured a well integrated octet performance, with Maddren deploying a combination of brushes and mallets at the kit. Room was found for flowingly lyrical solos from both Mick and Rattigan. Finally it’s worth noting that young Patrick was actually born on St. Patrick’s Day. He could hardly have been called anything else, could he?

Also sourced from the “When” recording “River of Dreams” was a softly lyrical, subtly blues tinged duet for French horn and piano, featuring just Rattigan and Mick. The same format, with Iles in the piano chair, is deployed on the recording. Apparently Rattigan was dissatisfied with the ensemble version of this tune, but was persuaded by Tear to re-record it as a duet.

The first half concluded with “When” itself, again introduced by the strings alone, before being subtly superseded by the trio of Mick, Whitford and Maddren. This passage saw Whitford’s melodic pizzicato double bass take the lead, accompanied by Mick’s gentle piano chording and the soft patter of Maddren’s hand drumming. Whitford’s dexterity at the bass was followed by Mick’s piano lyricism and the delicate melancholy of the leader’s French horn. An excellent end to a fascinating and often beautiful set.

Set two commenced with a passage of solo French horn with Rattigan achieving some remarkable soft / loud dynamics. He later explained that this was a “Horn Call”, referencing the French horn’s origins in the more simple hunting horn.
This “Horn Call” segued into the album track “The Commute”, the most forceful piece on the album. Taut,  jagged, vigorously bowed string motifs, with Cooper’s cello particularly prominent,  combined with bass and drums to replicate the urgency of modern urban life, and specifically the rush hour. Mick soloed purposefully above the rumble of Maddren’s mallets and the sweep of the strings, followed by the leader on subtly probing French horn. This was perhaps the most fully integrated performance of the night, with string quartet and jazz group working seamlessly together to create a unified whole.

“Sweet Tamarind” appears on both the “Triplicity” and “The Freedom of Movement” albums, and has now been arranged for this current ensemble. The introduction featured the bowed sounds of the string quartet plus Whitford’s pizzicato double bass.
Originally written as a Bill Evans inspired jazz waltz it then became a rousing big band piece when performed by Pavillon, but tonight regained something of its old identity, its cadences gentle and almost courtly. Even following the addition of piano, horn and brushed drums the strings and double bass continued to dominate, the piece later gaining something of that big band momentum when Maddren picked up his sticks to propel the solos of Rattigan and Mick.

Returning to the “When” album “Saudade”, the title derived from the Portuguese word for “longing”, maintained the largely pensive mood. This was introduced by the sound of horn and strings, with Cooper’s cello again coming to the fore alongside the leader. Maddren’s creative brushwork gave the music an authentically exotic tinge with solos coming from Whitford on double bass, Mick at the piano and Rattigan on French horn.

From the same recording “Solace” was introduced by the trio of Mick, Whitford and Maddren, rapidly joined by the lush melodies of horn and strings. A ‘ballad’ in jazz terms the piece featured the limpid pianism of Mick and even incorporated a brief solo from cellist Nick Cooper. Whitford’s melodic double bass solo was very much in keeping with the mood of this lovely piece, while Maddren’s delicate brush work was subtly supportive throughout.

“Mung Beans”, a tune from the “Shuzzed” album, was described by Rattigan as “an upbeat B flat blues”. Performed by the jazz quartet only this was always going to be one of the most energetic pieces in the programme and again provided Rattigan with the opportunity to demonstrate his dizzying ability to play super fast bebop lines on a nominally ‘classical’ instrument. As Mick sat out and Rattigan soloed in bravura fashion accompanied by just Whitford and Maddren it was tempting to think of him as “the Sonny Rollins of the French horn’. Mick also relished the opportunity to cut loose, peppering her barnstorming piano solo with splashes of wilful dissonance, cross hand techniques and a dash of humour, laughing at her own musical jokes. Maddren’s subsequent drum feature was lengthy, but technically dazzling and thoroughly compelling throughout.

Returning to the “When” repertoire the album’s final track, “Wistful Thinking” closed the second set here. Ushered in by unaccompanied brushed drums the mood of the piece was reflective of its title, with rich string textures fronted by Tear’s violin and luminous, lyrical piano courtesy of Mick. Following the pianist’s solo the strings helped to provide a link into Rattigan’s own mellifluous horn solo.

John Davies of Clun Valley Jazz had promised us something special and this was exactly what we got from this exceptional ensemble. The audience reaction was overwhelmingly positive and there was a genuine warmth about the evening as a whole. Rattigan was clearly delighted to be performing in public once more and his joy was shared by an audience that was relishing the opportunity of returning to the live music scene.

The inevitable encore was “Last Waltz”, a tune from the “Triplicity” album. This was a brief but uplifting ensemble performance, gently underpinned by the sound of Maddren’s brushed drums.

The audience reaction to this performance, both on the night and afterwards has been overwhelmingly positive. The Shropshire crowd clearly loved this blend of jazz and classical elements, as did I. I felt that it worked even better ‘in the flesh’ than it did on record. There’s still something of a gap between the classical and jazz components but in the live music environment this became less pronounced and the long running rapport between Rattigan and Tear was evident throughout. The best moments came when the octet was truly integrated, particularly “The Commute” and “Patrick’s Song”.

Overall this evening’s concert was a spectacular success as an EVENT with the musicians and the audience feeding off each other and enjoying the occasion in equal measure. John Davies has done a marvellous job of bringing top quality contemporary jazz to the small rural town of Bishop’s Castle and the fact that every gig is sold out just makes it even more impressive. I normally attend these events as a paying customer, as I did tonight, so normally don’t write about them. I’m doing so in this instance as a favour to Jim and his publicist Emma Perry, who has always been very helpful to me, so I was more than happy to oblige.

My thanks to Jim Rattigan, Julian Tear and James Maddren for speaking with me during the interval and after the show and to Phil Rose of Birmingham Jazz and the West Midlands Promoters Network for letting me share his table.

I’m now looking forward, as a ‘punter’, to the remaining dates in the CV Jazz Session series, which are as follows;

Saturday April 2nd - Ivo Neame Quartet

Saturday May 21st - Shirley Smart Quartet

Saturday June 11th - Matt Carmichael Quintet

Saturday August 27th - Julian Siegel Quartet

Saturday October 15th - Daniel Karlsson Trio

Saturday October 22nd - Matt Ridley Quintet
 
Venue - Bishops Castle Town Hall

Email - clunvalleyjazz@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/ClunValleyJazz/

 

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