Tim Kliphuis Trio, Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, 21/05/2023.

Tim Kliphuis – violin, Nigel Clark – acoustic guitar, Roy Percy – double bass

Today’s performance was an afternoon event, presented by Theatr Brycheiniog in association with Brecon Jazz Club.

It was felt that the intimate nature of the trio’s music, which includes classical elements in addition to jazz, would be more suited to the theatre environment than to the essentially jazz club setting of BJC’s regular venue, The Muse.

Of course nobody expected the Theatr to be full but on a gloriously sunny late spring afternoon an audience of around eighty settled down in the stalls to enjoy the music and to give the Kliphuis Trio a great reception for their playing.

My last sighting of the trio was back in 2015 when they performed at Bedstone & Hopton Castle Village Hall in Shropshire, a concert promoted by the Arts Alive organisation  who do excellent work with their promotion of top quality arts events in the two counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/tim-kliphuis-trio-at-bedstone-hopton-castle-village-hall-shropshire-18-10-2

Kliphuis is a classically trained violinist with a love of improvisation who has established a strong following for a brand of music that broadly falls into the ‘gypsy jazz’ category but which also encompasses other styles of music, including classical, folk and even pop and rock.

Born and based in The Netherlands Kliphuis is a hard working musician who tours extensively in the UK, often on rural touring schemes such as Arts Alive. He plays regularly in Scotland and Wales and in rural areas of England that rarely get to see musicians of this calibre.

Today’s show was subtitled “In Memory of Django”  but as with the Arts Alive event, which was billed as  “Celebrating Stephane Grappelli”,  the music ranged way beyond the initial influence of Reinhardt, Grappelli and the Quintette du Hot Club de France.

As in Shropshire Kliphuis appeared with his regular working trio of Nigel Clark (acoustic guitar) and Roy Percy (double bass). With Kliphuis based in Amsterdam, Clark in Dublin and Percy in Edinburgh this is a truly international trio and one that has been together for an astonishing seventeen years. The three musicians first played together when all three were working in Glasgow at the same time, their first meeting in a Glasgow café being down to “pure serendipity”, according to Kliphuis.

The three musicians have certainly developed an impressive rapport over the years, with Kliphuis describing his colleagues as “my best friends in music”. Even during the pandemic they continued to collaborate remotely from three separate countries.

The Kliphuis Trio embrace a quiet virtuosity, their playing highly skilled but resolutely unflashy and delivered without amplification and with only minimum miking. This was as close to ‘genuinely acoustic’ as a musical performance in a theatre setting is likely to get these days.

In keeping with the Reinhardt theme the trio opened with a broadly Hot Club style arrangement of Fats Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose”, initially in an unusual slowed down arrangement introduced by violin and guitar, later joined by the sound of bowed bass.
Kliphuis took the first solo on violin, impressing with his fluency and purity of tone. Following this intriguing first section the music now accelerated in more obviously recognisable ‘Hot Club’ fashion with solos from Clark on guitar, playing with a pick, and a second, more rapid fire excursion from Kliphuis, who playfully inserted a quote from Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” into his solo. Percy was also featured on double bass, sometimes making effective use of slapping techniques.

Percy’s bass then introduced “J’Attendrai”, another song from the Reinhardt / Grappelli repertoire and again featuring solos from all three musicians. Throughout today’s performance it was interesting to note that Kliphuis also deployed his violin as a rhythmic device, particularly when Clark was soloing. Most commonly this was by plucking the strings in pizzicato fashion, but occasionally it would involve the percussive striking of the strings with the bow.

As this was ostensibly a Reinhardt themed show it was only fitting that “Nuages”, arguably the great man’s most famous composition should figure. This was played by with trio with great sensitivity, and particularly by Kliphuis himself as he shared the solos with Clark. Percy’s use of the bow at the close added extra gravitas to the performance.

“Swing 39”, actually written by Reinhardt and Grappelli in 1938 in anticipation of the New Year, increased the energy levels once more and included a series of playful instrumental exchanges between Kliphuis and Clark in addition to to their individual solos.

As a classically trained musician Kliphuis has also recorded items of the classical repertoire with a variety of different orchestras from different parts of the world (The Netherlands, South Africa, Estonia). Today’s performance saw the performance of an arrangement of “Allegro” from J.S. Bach’s third Brandenburg Concerto, a piece also once performed by the jazz violin duo of Grappelli and the American musician Eddie South. The Kliphuis Trio tackled the familiar melody in a Hot Club style with solos coming from all three musicians. This piece proved to be a favourite with many audience members, and one could understand why.

The classical element continued into the next piece, a performance of the “Water” movement from Kliphuis’ own “The Five Elements Suite”, a work addressing the subject of climate change that has variously been performed for the Dutch and Swedish Royal families and for the United Nations. Album sales have benefited the work of the Water Aid charity.
“Water” itself traces the journey of a river from source to sea and its rippling arpeggios featuring violin, guitar and bowed bass provided suitably aquatic musical imagery. This opening audio depiction of a young stream was followed by a musical broadening out, expressed in solos from Clark and Kliphuis with Percy moving between pizzicato and arco techniques as appropriate.

The first set concluded with a return to the Hot Club repertoire for Grappelli’s “Piccadilly Stomp”, an appropriately upbeat tune featuring Kliphuis’ rapid bowing accompanied by vigorously strummed guitar and slapped bass. Clark also featured as a soloist, with the leader providing pizzicato counterpoint, and the performance also included a bass feature for the excellent Percy.

Another part of London featured at the start of the second set as the trio launched into “Limehouse Blues”, another perennial Hot Club favourite. This incorporated solos from Kliphuis and Clark plus a further feature from Percy, again making distinctive use of the slapped bass technique.

A passage of unaccompanied guitar then introduced “I Surrender, Dear”, another tune from the Hot Club repertoire and here something of a feature for Clark, an understated but highly skilled guitarist capable of moving seamlessly between the functions of rhythm and lead.

Kliphuis speaks immaculate English and his between tune announcements were highly informative. Despite coming from a flat country (his description) he is a keen fell runner and prior to the trio’s previous date at Theatr Clwyd in Mold, North Wales he had successfully tackled the celebrated Welsh mountain Cader Idris. His Welsh pronunciation was spot on too, or so I was reliably informed. Kliphuis’ outdoor activities have helped to make him a passionate environmentalist and it was this commitment that led him to dedicate today’s performance of the “Earth” movement from “The Five Elements Suite” to Cader Idris. Again the music made effective use of arpeggiated motifs and also introduced folk inspired melodies as Kliphuis and Clark shared the solos.

It has become popular for Reinhardt inspired musicians to include the John Lewis composition “Django” in their repertoires. Lewis was the pianist and principal composer for the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) and struck up a friendship with Reinhardt when the guitarist was touring in North America in the late1940s. Released in 1954 Lewis’ composition is a homage to his friend, who had died in 1953. Today’s performance was introduced by the duo of Kliphuis and Clark, subsequently joined by Percy. Individual solos followed from both Clark and Kliphuis.

Perhaps the most remarkable performance of the entire show was the trio’s version of “Winter” from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”. This was introduced by a passage of dramatic staccato rhythms delivered by violin, guitar and bowed bass, with Kliphuis breaking loose to deliver some virtuoso Vivaldi style bowing. Further passages in this style alternated with more reflective episodes but arguably the most distinctive element of this performance was Percy’s stunning unaccompanied bass feature, which included the now familiar slap bass technique plus the use of the body of the instrument as a form of percussion. Further solos followed from Clark and Kliphuis, with the leader’s violin soaring above the breakneck rhythms laid down by his colleagues.

This remarkable display of individual and collective virtuosity elicited a rapturous response from the audience and an encore was inevitable, the trio remaining on stage to play the French chanson “Où sont tous mes amants” , with solos coming from Clark and Kliphuis.

This was an excellent afternoon of music that was enjoyed by many and Kliphuis did good business at the merch stand after the show, always the sign of a good gig. As in Shropshire it was good to see the trio exploring beyond the Hot Club canon and the variety offered by the inclusion of the two classical pieces plus the two Kliphuis originals was most welcome. The standard of the playing from all three musicians was exceptional throughout.

The gregarious Kliphuis chatted happily to audience members after the show, myself included so my thanks to Tim for that.  Also present was Cardiff based violinist Xenia Porteous of Hot Club Gallois, who had been tutored by Tim in the past and with whom she remains great friends. Thanks to Xenia for speaking with me also. Xenia was at the concert with her mother, her husband and her two young children, both of whom behaved immaculately throughout, so an extra special well done to them.

Finally thanks to Lynne Gornall and Roger Cannon of Brecon Jazz for arranging our press tickets and for joining us for a coffee after the show. All in all a rather splendid afternoon out.

 

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