Sarah Barnwell Jazz Trio, Brecon Jazz Club Bar, Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, Powys, 21/06/2016.

Confused? You will be. This concert was originally advertised as being by the ‘Sarah Smith Jazz Trio’ but the group’s violinist and leader has recently undergone a change of name. As she explained to me after the gig, “I’ve got unmarried, and decided to go back to my maiden name”. Following further discussion we agreed that I’d be the first person to write a review using her new/old name, so the Sarah Barnwell Trio it is then.

In a further change to the advertised line up Barnwell and double bassist Erika Lyons were joined by guitarist Will Barnes, a late replacement for the advertised Andy MacKenzie. With no disrespect meant to MacKenzie, a musician I have yet to hear, the presence of Barnes represented something of a bonus. This versatile guitarist first came to my attention back in 2010 with his Inspector Gadjo band which put an interesting and innovative bebop twist on the repertoire of Django Reinhardt. More recently he’s been a member of the highly successful Gypsy Fire quartet. Barnes is no stranger to Brecon Jazz Club audiences having appeared at BJC’s celebration of the jazz guitar at the 2015 Brecon Festival when he performed as part of an all star line up at the Guildhall alongside fellow guitarist Deirdre Cartwright and her group.

Originally from Shrewsbury but now resident in Mid Wales Barnwell first played fiddle in her mother’s touring country/rock band before moving on to study classical violin as well as collaborating with folk and bluegrass musicians. Ironically it was her classical violin teacher who helped turn her on to jazz, suggesting that the sixteen year old Sarah attend a Stephane Grappelli concert in Wolverhampton. It was this performance, featuring a then very young Martin Taylor on guitar, that ignited Barnwell’s passion for gypsy jazz and this style of music has now become her main focus. In the intervening years she has become a very popular performer on the music scene in Wales and the Marches and has worked with many of the region’s leading jazz musicians, among them rising star guitarist Remi Harris. Interestingly both Harris and Barnes came to gypsy jazz after first starting out as rock/metal guitarists.

Despite Barnwell’s involvement in an early edition of Inspector Gadjo tonight’s trio was essentially a new group, with only one rehearsal behind it. In a sense they chose to play it safe by mainly sticking to a repertoire of gypsy jazz staples, the majority of them written by the great Django Reinhardt. However their adventurous and vivacious approach to these tunes was a constant joy and quickly dispelled any reservations that one might have harboured about the trio just ‘going through the motions’. Encouraged by a large and appreciative BJC crowd Barnwell and her colleagues sparkled, playing these much loved tunes with a winning joie de vivre, relishing in musical risk taking and exhibiting a daunting level of technical skill. Above all they were having fun, and that communicated itself to their audience.

They commenced with Barnwell’s innovative arrangement of “Puttin’ On The Ritz”, with its pizzicato violin introduction, almost exaggeratedly gypsy feel and tantalising stop/start dynamics.  Barnwell and Barnes shared the solos, with the latter immediately giving notice of his immense technical facility. He’s a terrific ‘Hot Club’ style acoustic guitar soloist.

Although tonight’s concert had been subtitled “improvising around the jazz standards’ it was essentially a ‘Hot Club’ style performance that might have borne the strap-line ‘A tribute to Stephane Grappelli”. Indeed it was “Daphne”, written by Reinhardt specifically for Grappelli, that was up next, with solos from both Barnwell and Barnes plus a series of exuberant, good natured, quote laden exchanges between the pair.

Reinhardt’s classic “Nuages”, meaning ‘clouds’, a 1940s hit, offered a brief change of pace and mood with Barnwell and Barnes proving to be equally skilled when playing in slower tempos.

It was interesting to see Lyons playing in the gypsy jazz format after many years of enjoying her performances in more mainstream contexts. A former professional on the London jazz scene this versatile player seemed quite at home with her new colleagues and featured more prominently on a sprightly “Bossa Dorado” as she enjoyed a bass solo and entered into lively dialogue with Barnes’  guitar. The piece was also notable for a solo from Barnwell and a further set of thrilling exchanges between violin and guitar. A lively “Minor Swing” then featured solos from all three musicians as Lyons increasingly came into her own. 

A melancholic but beautiful arrangement of the slow tune “Django’s Castle” featured Barnwell’s violin playing at its most poignant and emotive. Meanwhile Barnes’ guitar feature combined a quiet intensity with a typically high level of technical expertise with his use of string bending techniques especially notable.

“Them There Eyes” represented Barnwell’s second specific homage to Grappelli being played in his style at a rapidly swinging tempo as she traded virtuoso solos with Barnes, the latter in the Django Reinhardt role. This was thrillingly frenetic stuff and Barnwell decided to slow things down again with a “laid back and Latiny” arrangement of “Honeysuckle Rose” incorporating solos for all three musicians.

The first set concluded with a rollicking version of “Limehouse Blues”, the tune with which Barnwell once won a “Gypsy Idol” competition! Beginning at an already breezy tempo the music became even more fast and furious with Barnwell’s violin solo, this followed by a series of fiery, flamboyant exchanges between Barnwell and Barnes. This was a high energy conclusion to an excellent first set that left both band and audience in need of a well deserved breather. 

The trio picked up where they’d left off beginning the second half with a good natured romp through “Coquette” with the guitar and violin exchanges packed with quotes including “Charleston” and a very unseasonal “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer”!

Barnwell informed us that “Swing 48” was written by Django Reinhardt in the year that her own father was born. She and the trio then proceeded to tear through the tune at a quite blistering pace with bravado solos for both violin and guitar. “That was more like swing 6048!” exclaimed a breathless Barnwell at its conclusion.

Barnwell learned the tune “Tico Tico” from the great American guitarist Frank Vignola, a regular visitor to the UK and Wales in particular. Although unmistakably Latin in origin the trio played it in gypsy jazz style with Barnwell deploying both arco and pizzicato techniques as she shared the soloing with Barnes.

The pace quickened once more with a vivacious version of “Lady Be Good” that included yet another set of scintillating violin and guitar exchanges with Barnwell shaping to fan Barnes with a sheaf of sheet music as this ‘hotter than Hot Club’ gallop came to a close.

Barnwell is currently in the process of recording her second album, a recording that will feature guest appearances by a numbers of well known musicians, among them the aforementioned Frank Vignola. Among the pieces already in the can is an arrangement of the jazz standard “There Will Never Be Another You” with Vignola as the guitar soloist. Barnes stepped admirably into the breach here on a mid tempo arrangement that began with an engaging violin/guitar duet before moving on to incorporate solos from Barnes and Lyons.

The only original composition of the evening was Barnwell’s lovely “Clara’s Tune” which drew upon the folk aspect of her musical heritage. This beautiful, slow tune had something of the feel of a lament or an Irish air with Lyons making highly atmospheric effective use of the bow as she doubled up with Smith on the melody lines. Barnes accompanied the ‘string duo’ on finger picked acoustic guitar. During the course of the evening he varied his technique as the tune demanded, wielding a plectrum to provide a harder edged sound to the more energetic numbers.

A shorter second set concluded with a slinkily seductive version of Reinhardt’s “Dark Eyes” with solos from both Barnes and Barnwell before the trio accelerated the tune with Barnes and Barnwell then each delivering a very different type of solo as the three musicians sprinted for the finish line. The sound of Barnwell’s earrings rattling against the wood of her violin provided an extra percussive effect and seemed to be quite deliberate, symptomatic of the good humour with which this show had been presented.

The choice of encore was put to the public vote with “Sweet Georgia Brown” winning out over a reprise of “Puttin’ On The Ritz”. This ever popular favourite provided the opportunity for all three members of this highly talented to strut their stuff one more time to the delight of a very happy and appreciative audience.

Despite the familiarity of much of the material this was a thoroughly enjoyable evening of music making by a new band that was clearly relishing the task of getting to know each other musically through the shared language of the Django Reinhardt / Gypsy Jazz canon. Barnwell’s relaxed, charming, good humoured presenting style put the audience at their ease and helped the performance to go with even more of a swing. Looking glamorous in what she readily admitted was a second hand dress she even got the audience to turn round and look away from the bandstand in order to appreciate a glorious sunset, glimpsed through the Theatre Bar window as Helios dipped below the hills surrounding the town of Brecon. It was a tribute to her and her colleagues that the beauty of the music matched that of the setting at a memorable night at Brecon Jazz Club.

Whichever name she chooses to go by it’s clear that Sarah Barnwell will continue to be an extremely popular performer in this part of the world and that her forthcoming album is going to be well worth waiting for.       

 

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