The Mañana Collective with Javier Zalba, Brecon Jazz Club Bar, Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, 15/09/2015.

Fresh from their triumphant series of concerts celebrating the art of the jazz guitar at the 2015 Brecon Jazz Festival local promoters Brecon Jazz Club came up trumps again with this international collaboration held in the bar area at Theatr Brycheniog, the Club’s regular HQ.

The Mañana Collective is led by the Cuban flautist Jose Zalba-Smith (born 1984) who came to London in 2003 to study at the Guildhall School Of Music and subsequently settled in the UK where he is an in demand orchestral flautist as well as an accomplished Latin jazz musician.

Zalba-Smith is also an acclaimed educator and runs a successful Cuban Music Workshop which he has presented at various music schools and colleges around the UK. It was during one of these presentations at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff that he met the musicians that form the Mañana Collective. Pianist James Clark, bassist Peter Kormor and drummer Rod Oughton are now graduates of the RWCMD Jazz Course but they have retained their links with Zalba-Smith and have continued to perform with him on a fairly regular basis. A version of the band featuring Clark and Kormor released an eponymous album in 2014, a recording that also features the talents of Zalba-Smith’s father, the multi reeds player Javier Zalba.

Still resident in Cuba Zalba Senior has worked with such famous Cuban groups as Buena Vista Social Club Orquestra, Irakere and the Roberto Fonseca Band. He has previously appeared on the Jazzmann web pages in a review of pianist and composer Fonseca’s 2009 album “Akokan” (Enja Records). Zalba is still part of Fonseca’s touring band and had come to the UK from France where he had recently appeared with Fonseca at the Marciac Jazz Festival. 

The Cuban visitors and their Cardiff based colleagues were greeted by a large and supportive audience and once again the gig represented something of a triumph for Brecon Jazz Club and was a particularly rewarding event for the three young musicians from just down the A470.

The performance began with Zalba-Smith fronting the home grown trio on the traditional tune “Samba Da Astronauta”, a piece sourced from the “Mañana Collective” album. The piece was introduced by Clark at his Korg electric piano before expanding to include solos from Zalba-Smith on flute, Clark and Kormor. 

If the opening piece had represented a lively start then the next raised the energy levels even further. I’m not going to try and guess the Spanish title which Zalba-Smith told us translated as “slightly crazy”. There was certainly a demented energy about the fast, hard driving Latin rhythms and the almost impossibly swift flute trills. Zalba-Smith shook shakers as Clark deployed a classic ‘Rhodes’ sound on his key board solo. Meanwhile Oughton had the unenviable task of attempting to replicate the complex rhythms of a squad of conganistas on his drum kit, a challenge he rose to admirably all evening and particularly so on his feature here. The piece ended with a reprise from Zalba-Smith and some sharply executed tricky union passages. Breath taking stuff.

It was time for Javier Zalba to take over from his son as he played flute on “Guaguanco”, soloing above Oughton’s conga style rhythms before picking up a clave as Clark took over at the piano. The piece concluded with a further feature from the versatile Oughton, a drummer I’ve previously heard in contexts ranging from driving the RWCMD Big Band to sympathetically supporting guitarist James Chadwick in a pared down trio format.

Zalba also played flute on “Zaida”, a piece sourced from his latest album “Bariton Cha” and deploying the danzon rhythm of Cuba’s national dance on a piece that was similar in structure to that of a rondo. Technicalities aside it was a charming piece with Zalba taking the first solo on flute before Clark provided a sudden injection of pace and also undertook the second solo. 

Roberto Fonseca plays on the “Bariton Cha” album and also wrote the tune “Habanera” that appears on that record. Here Zalba moved to soprano sax thereby bringing about a welcome change of timbre after hearing so much flute. His gently probing solo was followed by Clark’s thoughtful and lyrical statement at the piano before a final restatement of the theme on soprano.

The first set closed with Zalba picking up the baritone sax for an exciting arrangement of Charlie Parker’s bebop standard “Donna Lee” performed in the style of a merengue, the rhythm of the Dominican Republic, but with the same cycle and structure as Parker’s original. Introduced by Oughton at the drums the performance included barnstorming solos from Zalba on baritone and Clark at the piano as the first half ended on an exciting and invigorating note.

The second set was to be even better with father and son often teaming up to great effect as on the opening “Guanacha”, an energetic piece by Zalba Sr.  Here Javier played alto sax and Jose flute with the pair trading solos as the Cardiff boys provided vigorous support with Clark weighing in with a solo of his own. A terrific start.

Naturally enough Javier played baritone sax on the title track of “Bariton Cha”, the piece centred around Kormor’s recurring bass pattern. Solos came from Javier on baritone and Clark at the piano with Jose joining the group late on to add a dash of flute to the proceedings.

The impressive Kormor was also at the heart of the next piece which saw Javier moving between flute and the deeper pitched G flute and soloing on both either side of an expansive excursion from Clark at the piano.

The two Cubans left the stage as Clark stepped up to the vocal mic to introduce “Steel Band Clash”, a piece he’d performed in 2014 as part of his final recital at RWCMD.  As well playing the piano Clark has also studied the steel pans and learnt this tune from his Trinidadian teacher - all part of the Caribbean / South American theme of the evening I guess. The young trio had great fun with this with Kormor’s solid bass grooves and Oughton’s colourful drum patterns giving the music a genuine West Indian feel as Clark soloed joyously at the piano followed by Kormor at the bass. The trio’s spirited performance was wholly in the spirit of the evening.

Two splendidly energetic performances rounded off the second set, the first from Brazil, the second from Cuba. The Brazilian tune featured the combination of Javier on soprano sax and Jose on flute with the younger man leading off the solos. Clark followed him on piano but it was Javier’s subsequent outing on soprano that arguably merited the award for “solo of the night”.

The Cuban piece featured both father and son on flutes and vying good naturedly for supremacy as they traded solos above the infectious Cuban rhythms generated by their young colleagues. Javier wielded a clave to accompany Oughton’s drum feature as the evening threatened to end in suitably high octane fashion.

However event organiser Lynne Gornall had little difficulty in coaxing the core quartet back for an encore of “The Peanut Vendor”, originally “El Manisero”, the Cuban tune made famous in the US by Dizzy Gillespie. This was a good natured romp with solos by Jose on flute and Clark at piano and a gradual “showbiz” style withdrawal that left a grinning Kormor alone at the bass. Great stuff.

This was a hugely enjoyable and successful gig for everybody, band members, promoters and audience alike as a little Latin sunshine permeated a chilly Autumn evening in Wales.

The Brecon Jazz Club programme is nothing if not diverse and the next club night on October 20th 2015 will offer the trad sounds of Dixieland Café, a quintet led by trombonist Tudor Thomas. Please visit http://www.breconjazzclub.org for further details. 

Meanwhile the Manana Collective have two other dates scheduled on this short Welsh tour;
From http://www.josezalba.com
   

18th
September 2015
7:30pm
Jose Zalba Smith & father Javier Zalba—2015 TOUR—with The Mañana Collective Acapela Studio, Cardiff
Tickets: £5-£10
Jose Zalba-Smith Flute
Javier Zalba Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone
James Clark Piano
Pete Komor Double Bass
Rod Oughton Drums
For a fantastic night of the best of Traditional Cuban music mixed with crazy Latin Jazz fusion. Javier Zalba (former member of the Buena Vista Social Club Orchestra, Irakere, Cubanismo, Afro Cuban All Stars) joins his son flautist Jose Zalba-Smith and The Mañana Collective for an unforgettable night in the beautiful setting of the Acapela Chapel.

19th
September 2015
7:30pm
Jose Zalba Smith & father Javier Zalba—2015 TOUR—with The Mañana Collective Gwyn HallCeltic Leisure Centre, Dyfed Road, Neath, SA11 3AW, Wales
Tickets: £8-£10
Rod Oughton Drums
Pete Komor Double Bass
James Clark Piano
Javier Zalba Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone
Jose Zalba-Smith Flute
Zands Duggan Hand Percussion
Father and Son join forces with The Mañana Collective for an explosive night of latin rhythms. Come and join us!


COMMENTS;

From Roger Warburton via Facebook;

Having read your write up I think you would have loved the gig at Acapela (18.09.15) just as much. All I can say is people, that if they come to a venue near you, go and hear them.