The title track of Luft’s most recent album “Dahab Days” (Edition Records), second up here, worked beautifully with the addition of string quartet. It is a sumptuous, exploratory melody, shared between sax and guitar, but the addition of strings, embellishing the theme, lent it an appropriately Egyptian café flavour, with a seamless blending of languor and urgency.

“Daylight saving time” from the same album featured just the jazz quartet and started with rapid solo guitar flurries, leading into unison and interplay between guitar and tenor (Joe Wright) before settling into a happy and highly infectious, carnival like dance groove. What was most striking throughout, was not just the virtuosity of both leader and musicians but the sheer range and depth of mood and emotion they were able to conjure up. Original compositions sat alongside diverse covers ranging from Derek Bailey to Tomasz Stanko to The Aphex Twin.

The second half opened with the Aphex Twin composition “Flim”. Guitar arpeggios led into the beautiful melody on tenor, with emergent strings, sometimes pizzicato, slow, spacy guitar chords, hand played drums, rapid guitar tapping, and exuberant sax solo – there was meticulous attention to dynamics and variety here and throughout. Luft makes judicious use of what he likes to refer to as “talent boosters” – not that he needs them – an array of pedals to modify guitar sound – sustain, delay and swell amongst many.

“Expect the Unexpected” was a commission for the 25^th anniversary of the first LJF in 2017, featuring new string arrangements for the Amika Quartet. Rob Luft really led the musicians from the front here in what was a kind of musical choreography, the mood shifting from meditative and mellow to joyful and bubbly, with inventive drummer Corrie Dick on cowbells, brushes and more. “Endless Summer” similarly showcased the beautifully balanced soundscapes generated by the two quartets together, with swelling strings and skittery drums underlying a searching and keening sax solo.

Encore “Snow Country” from Rob Luft’s 2^nd album brought the show to an exuberant close and also served to underline the sheer quality and balance of the overall sound throughout, every voice clearly present, along with the evident joy of playing that radiated outwards from beginning to end.

Postscript – Jazz Improvisation workshop with Rob Luft and Joe Wright, Cambridge Junction

In the afternoon of the concert, as if he didn’t have enough to think about already, Rob Luft also led a two and a half hour workshop on improvisation, with the assistance of saxophonist Joe Wright. This was very illuminating – not least as one was able to witness many precepts being put into practice in the evening’s performance. There were in the region of 20 participants, probably half of whom were guitarists (I was one) but also brass, woodwind, piano and drums.

The teaching was practical, inclusive and good natured to a fault. Everything was demonstrated and modelled, everyone got a chance to play solos, with brief feedback. Two specific pieces were chosen and sheet music handed out, for detailed analysis and soloing. There were considerable differences in terms of prior knowledge, understanding of theory, experience and ability level, but all participants were encouraged and all will have been motivated and energised by the experience. One of the two drummers, for example, was delighted to be told, paradoxically, that his solo was the most melodic, of all the instruments present! Note to self – “Always know where you are in the form, when soloing”. Just one of many pieces of sound and eminently useable advice to take away.

The post Rob Luft Quartet with the Amika String Quartet first appeared on UK Jazz News.

The show started and ended with solo acoustic guitar, lending a pleasing circularity to the whole, with a succession of surprises and excursions in between. The stage layout hinted at this, with an array of guitars, pedals, electronics and sundry mysterious items under drapes. Every so often the guitar tech would sneak out of the wings with a different or differently tuned guitar (I was surprised, on arrival at the venue, to see a sizeable lorry parked outside the auditoriun. Why would you need such a big lorry for a solo guitar tour, I wondered. Now I know why).

At several points during the evening Metheny spoke at some length about how a particular piece or album or musical collaboration came about and what was learnt as a result – for example his association with vibraphonist Gary Burton around the time of the Passengers album (1977). These autobiographical digressions were quite a revelation –often humorous, always revealing, and making for a nicely balanced whole.

One such digression concerned his long association with renowned Canadian luthier Linda Manzer, who built his nylon strung baritone guitar, very much in evidence tonight, and which offers sonic possibilities Metheny has become increasingly fascinated by. He explained their history together as well as his own modifications. The fact that this has required learning new finger positions for most of his repertoire appears to have daunted him not at all.

The larger part of tonight’s programme, roughly 60%, were Metheny originals from five decades, the remainder judiciously chosen jazz and bossa standards, soundtracks, American and British popular songs. The most resonant and powerful to my mind were the sumptuous, and unadulterated classical and baritone guitar renditions of melodic originals such as “James”, “Sueno con Mexico” and “Last train home” along with Morricone’s “Cinema Paradiso”, Bacharach’s “Alfie” and Lennon/McCartney’s “And I love her” and “Here, there and Everywhere”. The sonic horror show of “Zero Tolerance for Silence Part 10” seemed like an aberration (more than a few people chose this moment to go to the bar) but it did make one appreciate everything else.

Approaching the final stages of the show the drama in terms of both sound and vision reached new heights. First came the arrival of the remarkable 42 string Pikasso guitar, with its otherworldly sound possibilities in different registers, also built by Linda Manzer, in collaboration with PM. According to the guitar technician, this can take 20 minutes just to tune. The ultimate coup de théâtre was the literal unveiling of the mighty and glittering Orchestrion at the back of the stage. This is a huge, programmable musical spaceship consisting of 150 mechanical instruments of different kinds, in perpetual motion. In Metheny’s own words, “it proves once and for all just how weird I actually am”. Back down to earth, the unadulterated acoustic guitar encore of Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman” has to be one of the highlights of the evening. Sublime.

The post Pat Metheny first appeared on UK Jazz News.

John Arnett writes: Taking place over four days in one of the cinemas of the very congenial Ambleside institution that is Zeffirellis, this four day festival was the seventh, annually, in what has proved to be a highly successful and distinctive series. There were ten performances altogether, afternoon and evening, Thursday to Sunday (*) , featuring a kaleidoscope of jazz luminaries in diverse combinations and settings. The fact that most have performed here in previous years is a testament to the unique creative and collaborative spirit of the event, with its assorted fringe events. (Frank Harrison playing tasteful lounge piano to diners and interval punters for example, when not on stage himself). What follows is a selection of avowedly personal highlights.

Opening a jazz festival with a very accomplished solo classical guitarist was a characteristically bold and genre defying gesture on the part of Derek Hook, Zeffirellis owner and the driving force behind the creation of the festival. In introducing Hungarian guitarist and ECM recording artist Zsofia Boros, on what was her third visit, he recalled his initial dream of providing a space for “creative spontaneity and quietness, for music of this calibre”. Zsofia provided all of these in abundance, on both the classical guitar and the ronroco – a small, eight stringed Bolivian folk instrument (even though, as she explained, it had been damaged when she collected it at the airport yesterday – no one would have guessed). A highlight was a piece specially written for the artist by composer Mathias Duplessy, “Perle de Rosee”, which was immediately engaging, indeed thrilling. Often in this performance Zsofia’s face was a picture of transcendant peacefulness. The set. all performed entirely from memory, and featuring an international array of composers, was full of drama and intensity, leading up to a very spirited and percussive finale.

The second set on the opening evening featured another less conventional sound palette in the form of virtuosic Dutch chromatic harmonica player Hermine Deurloo, in a trio with Gwilym Simcock (piano) who wrote several of the pieces here, and Mike Walker (guitar), the two Impossible Gentlemen. The absence of bass and drums created a soundscape perhaps more akin to chamber music, but none the worse for that, and one that was in fact full of space, variety and delight. It also meant that Mike Walker’s guitar was given more prominence and more varied roles – a real bonus actually. Closing piece, which translated as “Lost Socks”, was a terrific finale featuring a solo guitar intro with harmonics and slides, leading into a bossa groove, engaging and fluid, with the harmonica picking up the beautiful melody.

The afternoon of the second day featured a duo performance, different again, by Frank Harrison (piano) and Brigitte Beraha (vocals) with an engaging mix of standards and original pieces. Of the former, “I’m old fashioned” was poignant and beautifully delivered. Jobim tune “O Grand Amor” was introduced by Frank Harrison, with the observation that he found it difficult to do a gig without a Jobim tune. Brigitte Beraha sang it in the original Portuguese. It was a consummate and moving rendition showing great mutual understanding, as was encore “I fall in love too easily”. Accolade for the most unusual title of the festival has to go to beautiful original “The Man who Cycled from India for love”. It tells the true story of an Indian street painter who falls in love with a beautiful Swedish woman and, having failed to capture her on canvas, cycles all the way to Sweden to find her – successfully. They now have two children. Inspiring entertainment indeed.

Drummer Asaf Sirkis was the connecting thread between the two halves of Friday evening’s programme – first with a quartet featuring Frank Harrison (piano) Steve Watts (bass) and Mark Lockheart (saxes), and secondly with the Lighthouse Trio. It was a surprise to me to learn that the latter are now in their twentieth year together – Tim Garland alluded to this. Their performance tonight was multi sensory, thought provoking and scintillating from start to finish, played in front of a shifting backdrop of striking images created by Turkish painter and printmaker Esra Kizir Gokcen  on themes of displacement and migration, sometimes with aerial landscapes and stick figures. Titles like “Winds of hope”, “Trails” and “Moment of Departure” echoed the theme to powerful effect. (SEE FEATURE)

The first of these was a lively, sinuous, uptempo piece featuring a drum and soprano sax duet, virtuosic and highly demanding without ever seeming so, largely on account of Asaf Sirkis’ perpetual blissed out grin. “Trails” began with plucked piano strings and tabla-like percussion over maps of N. Africa and images of inundation and climate change, but with a message of hope. Trumpeter Yazz Ahmed joined the trio on “No Horizon”, creating an interesting pairing with Garland’s bass clarinet. Simcock composition “Hi Jinx” was a musical evocation of the crazy energy of his three year old, with its razor sharp stops, lightning shifts and syncopation, as well as a mind bending piano and drum feature.

The sheer range of sound and feeling this trio are able create is both mind altering and immersive. “Sub Vita” for example sets itself the task of creating an entire undersea world, highly atmospheric and haunting, with shifting melody, Middle Eastern percussion and treated flugelhorn. “Bonjego Falls” featured glockenspiel and soprano sax over soft piano chords to create a beautiful, tranquil soundscape. Final piece “Break in the weather” was a tour de force even by their own standards, and a fitting climax to an unforgettable set.

The variety and diversity of the programming is a real strength of this festival, and clearly a lot of thought has gone into it. Closing the show on the Saturday night were the Nikki Iles Quintet with singer Immy Churchill, her and Pete Churchill’s daughter, whose star, on this showing, is very much in the ascendant. Introducing the band Nikki made the point that “we all love songs” and with this selection and this voice and presence, who wouldn’t? There is a centredness and conviction to Immy’s singing, supported by a band that is completely adept at bringing out the emotion inherent in a diverse range of songs. James Maddren’s drums really shone in this setting, subtle and nuanced in the service of the song, Nikki Iles’ piano likewise.

“Night ride home” early on in the set, was introduced as “My favourite Joni Mitchell song” and if you weren’t sure before, you would be now. Hermine Deurloo added some sumptuous harmonica to James Taylor’s “On the 4^th of July”. English traditional song “False Bride, in a version by Olivia Chaney, was a heartbreaker, remarkable in its emotional power. There were standards too – “You don’t know what love is”; Bernstein’s “Lucky to be me”; “The Night we called it a Day”. The set finished with a version of Pat Metheny’s “Last Train Home”, to Immy’s own words, and with a soulful, searching Mike Walker guitar solo. Altogether, it felt like a special occasion, and a fitting end to a great evening.

Report on the final concert by Esra Kizir Gokcen

It is surely a sign of the huge respect in which Nikki Iles is held that so many top musicians should be crammed onto the Zeffirellis stage, and should show such intense concentration and obvious enjoyment on the last, celebratory night of the Ambleside Days festival.

The 12 piece ensemble (scored down from a normal big band) sounded as if it had just finished touring, rather than performing these intense, uplifting charts for the first time. Despite the immense discipline needed to achieve such an ensemble sound, soloists really did shine as individuals. Special praise for guitar hero Mike Walker, super-cool drumming from James Maddren, legendary effortlessness from Gwilym Simcock, Tim Garland’s high speed juggling of several instruments of dramatically different sizes, and Graeme Blevins’s superb last minute appearance! With guest harmonica player Hermine Deurloo playfully soloing above the city-scape style score in the piece “Big Sky” , there was a real sense of innocence, beautifully contrasted with the power of the group.

It was unique and fascinating to hear and see Nikki conduct the band whilst playing the accordion, yet another richness to her sound-world.

More or less everybody who experiences this festival at Ambleside is affected by the warm community feel; the concert was the musical embodiment of this, with the many audience members feeling truly privileged to be a part of it.

(*) John Arnett was fully intending to stay for the final day, but was thwarted by a positive Covid test.

The post Ambleside Days 2024 first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Several distinctive features combine to make this album the pleasure that it is. Key to these is the fact that it has its own characteristic soundscape, foregrounding the fluid and dynamic interplay between the leading voices of trumpet, the singing of Aubrey Johnson (she sings on all the compositions, with words and without) and the guitar of Masami Kuroki. The album is co-produced by pianist on all tracks, Josh Nelson.

Track 2 “Akatombo” is a popular Japanese song that Iida learnt from his mother, sung here in the original by Johnson, with the addition of thrilling and soaring vocal improvisations and interplay with Iida’s trumpet, a real highlight. Title track “Evergreen” follows, the sinuous melody delivered in unison by voice and trumpet, leading into a pleasingly bubbly guitar solo courtesy of Masami Kuroki and answering, searching trumpet solo. It closes with beautiful exploratory exchanges, fizzing and crackling, between piano and the drums of Xavier Lecouturier. Following track “Shiki No Uta” (Song of the Seasons) is a re-reading of a Japanese pop tune, again sung in the original language by Johnson, brief but rhythmic and haunting, and featuring a nice change of timbre in the muted trumpet solo over Fender Rhodes piano splashes.

The diversity of mood and style, not to mention thoughtful programming of tracks, is a real strength of this album, as evidenced by the two covers in its middle part, “Bellarosa” by Sonny Rollins and Elmo Hope and “Love Theme from Spartacus” by Alex North and Terry Callier. The first is a swinging, syncopated romp with fluent, brisk trumpet, guitar and piano solos, altogether uplifting and pleasing on the ear. The second, in marked contrast of mood, is a beautifully delivered ballad, melancholy and spacious, featuring just piano and trumpet. Both are notable for their economy and depth of feeling.

The final three tracks are all Iida originals, with “Song for Luke” being a particularly affecting elegy for a childhood friend, the melody shared between voice and trumpet, sometimes in unison. It also features a poignant, unshowy double bass solo by Jonathan Richards leading into a beautiful flowing solo rejoinder by Iida on trumpet. Closing piece “Holding on to Autumn” starts off in similar vein, but really takes off with some energetic and spirited ensemble playing as it develops. All in all, there is a great deal to enjoy here.

Evergreen is released on 19 January.

The post Jun Iida – ‘Evergreen’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

It was a framework and concept that worked very effectively, looking both forward and back as well as showcasing to mounting effect a dynamic young band. Even before the seven musicians arrived on it, the fairly small NAC stage (quite some contrast to their previous night’s landmark gig at the Royal Albert Hall) was visually striking, dominated by the harp, stage right, and an array of percussion instruments including gong and suspended metal triangles made, we were told, “by this hippy dude in Bristol”.

The six titles and indeed the pastoral mood of this first half were reflective of the landscapes and nature of North Wales and Northumberland where the new album was largely composed, beginning with “Trace of Nature”. The choice of instruments created a beautiful, rich soundscape shown to great effect on second piece “Calder Shapes”, with its apparently simple four note melody, over a complex rhythmic backdrop. Percussion was courtesy not only of drummer Alan Taylor but also of conga player and hand held percussionist Sam Bell, and sometimes Halsall himself, creating music that was somehow both driving and relaxed.

Closing tune of the first half “Pattern” ensured that the set ended on a high note with a new level of drama and intensity largely on account of Alan Taylor’s unusual and brilliantly constructed drum solo. (Incidentally, it was only towards the end of this set that I realised there was an additional percussionist on stage, Sam Bell. Up until that point he had been audible but not visible. Dry ice – who needs it? Aside from the dangers of breathing it in, surely it is better to be able to properly see the interactions of the musicians, as well as hear them.)

The second set wasted no time in taking this energy and excitement to new levels, as well as featuring much more prominently the harp of Alice Roberts. Opener “The Temple Within”, for example, was notable for its interesting tonality, melody and atmosphere. It featured a nicely judged flute solo by Matt Cliff as well as a lovely eastern-inflected solo flight by harpist Alice Roberts. “Salute to the Sun” which followed, again featured the harp, with some unexpected bluesy notes, and a very satisfying sound palette overall, slow and spacious over a simple bass figure by Gavin Barras, who has been with Halsall since his first album. A high point here was Halsall’s own trumpet solo, fiery, melodic and full of invention against the spacious and sympathetic backdrop of the whole ensemble.

“Eleventh Hour” started with the gong and soon settled into a mighty groove powered by bubbling double bass underlying a sitar-like drone and leading into another spirited trumpet solo. From this point the momentum never let up, right up to the encore “Finding my Way”, a powerful and appropriately searching piece featuring a fluid, atmospheric electric piano solo by Jasper Green and drawing things to a fitting close.

The post Matthew Halsall at Norwich Arts Centre first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Facing eachother at opposite sides of the stage were Nick Smart on grand piano and keyboard, and drummer/tabla player Jesse Barrett, with Jordan Smart, brother of Nick, in the centre, on a variety of saxophones, sometimes playing one handed so as to conduct and keep time with the other one. Often you would hear a bass part only to realise it was actually coming from the left hand of the pianist, or indeed the bass drum. At times throughout, drummer Jesse Barrett would play the tabla with one hand and drums/assorted percussion with the other (and feet). The sheer variety of sound, texture and volume that this trio are able to generate was just one remarkable feature of a hugely enjoyable and memorable show.

Another distinctive aspect of the band’s sound world is the way in which drama and excitement are created through the repetition and variation of interweaving melodic and rhythmic lines. There are no solos as such and not much in the way of chordal harmony in the conventional sense – as explained on the band’s website, it is an approach that “favours the creation of a powerful group dynamic, over individual solos”. This was very much in evidence on new album tracks “Kernel , “Nightingale” and the particularly beautiful “Deep within Mountains” early on in the set.

“Riser” amply demonstrated the band’s ability to set up a propulsive, spacious groove and then follow it through a whole series of variations from sparse and restrained to controlled chaos and volcano-like crescendo. Endings were highly dramatic and razor sharp throughout, eliciting roars of approval from the audience. The main set finished with “The Spinner”, the opening track on the new album, with its rapid, shifting solo piano figure underpinning, in total contrast, the slow, yearning and intertwining soprano sax theme, The band seemed more than happy to oblige with an encore – described as “an old one – Boreal Forest”, clearly a favourite with band and audience. They had no sooner finished playing than all three were manning the merchandise stall, and doing a very brisk and thoroughly deserved trade.

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Of the eleven tracks here, eight are Towner compositions with two showtunes and a traditional melody interspersed, making for a pleasing balance and variety of mood. Interestingly, seven of the eleven were played at his November 2021 Pizza Express show (review link below). The overall sound is spacious and resonant, the playing assured and captivating throughout. At times it is hard to believe that there is only one guitarist playing – for example on the 1991 Oregon tune “Guitarra Picante” and the atmospheric closing piece “Empty Stage”.

“Ubi Sunt” (where are they? ) with its apparently simple, bitter sweet melody, has the feeling of a meditation on the transitory nature of life, especially in the exploratory middle section over a repeated knell-like bass note. “Guitarra Picante” has an irresistible forward motion, adding complexity and embellishment as it progresses, deftly fusing chordal rhythm, bass lines and brilliant exploratory flights in the higher register before returning to the melody.

“Danny Boy” is a real pleasure, managing to add something special to a familiar tune, for example the beautiful harmonic on the highest note of the melody, and generally the consummate chord/melody movement. You want to listen to it over and again. “Fat Foot” is intriguing in a different way – an apparently simple, highly rhythmic earworm of a riff, mid register, full of syncopation and space, perfectly judged at a little over three minutes.

The Hoagy Carmichael tune “Little Old Lady” is a pleasingly jolly addition to the whole, and once again a marvellous, swinging synthesis of chords, bassline and melody, bubbly, infectious and adroitly delivered. The final piece “Empty stage”, with its spirited dialogue of answering lines between treble and bass, has a haunting, valedictory feeling to it as perhaps befits the title, but not, we trust, to be taken too literally. Bravo.

Release Date is 17 March 2023.

The post Ralph Towner – ‘At First Light’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Opening number of the hour-long set was “Eluid”, taken from the band’s most recent (2021) album “Arashi No Ato”. A swinging and melodic fast bop tune, it immediately set a joyous, high energy tone with nicely contrasting solos from guitarist Artie Zaitz (dubbed, cryptically, “The Regulator”), followed by leader Mark Kavuma on trumpet and Mussinghi Brian Edwards on tenor sax.

Kavuma, it was good to observe, was a very mobile source of encouragement and motivation to his six fellow band members throughout the show. At one point he headed off into the crowd mid-tune to find the soundman, because one of the drummer’s cymbals had fallen over, returning to the stage without missing a beat.

Second piece, “Wayward’s Return” was a composition by tenorist Edwards and featured a captivating solo, full of melodic invention and thrilling twists and turns, by pianist Deschanel Gordon, winner of the 2020 BBC Young Musician award. It was also clear by now that the drumming of Jason Brown was a vital propellant to the whole sound – never too dominant, but always exciting, firing and crackling away with palpable energy and feeling for the music.

On the band’s second album “The Banger Factory”, the melody of Kavuma composition “Big Willie” is played on the vibes by David Mrakpor, and that instrument, alongside guitar, piano and sometimes Hammond organ, does lend a beautiful and distinctive tonal quality to the overall sound on the record which I found myself missing at times, in his absence. Even so, the tune was given a spirited uptempo workout here, including the very entertaining and virtuosic percussion and double bass spot towards the end.

The title track of the most recent album “Arashi No Ato”, which means “after the storm” in Japanese, was well placed towards the end of the set. The title is a reference to Haruki Murakami’s statement in “Kafka on the Shore”, resonant for these times, and featured on the sleeve notes – “when you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in”. It begins with a slow, atmospheric piano solo and develops into a haunting ballad, with the trumpet taking the melody, over delicate guitar phrasing. There followed a calm, unhurried, flowing tenor solo by Edwards, with Kavuma then picking up the mood in his own solo, with deft changes of tempo. Alto saxophonist Theo Erskine contributed a searching, soaring solo of his own, leading into a duet with piano and finally an unaccompanied double bass solo by Jack Garside – nothing showy, but full of feeling and sonority. The piece felt like a real high point in a set that was certainly not short of them.

Other reviews from the Summer at Snape Series: Joe Stilgoe / Rosie Frater -Taylor

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This collaboration with NYJO has its roots in Pascoal’s 2019 London Jazz Festival appearance at the Barbican where he issued an invitation to young people to create their own interpretations of his music. The offer was taken up by the NYJO and three years later here it was – NYJO stage right, with Pascoal’s band stage left and the man himself centre stage at the electric piano. Conducting the orchestra, and introducing them individually just before the interval, was former long-time Pascoal band member and pianist Jovino Santos Neto, himself instrumental in bringing this collaboration to fruition. (He also contributed a particularly beautiful melodica solo on the penultimate tune.) As he explained at the end of the show, all of the pieces, some 12 in all, were composed and arranged by Pascoal. Some showcased the smaller band, some the orchestra, in alternating fashion, occasionally both together, a formula that created sustained interest and drama throughout.

Whilst there was an abundance of spontaneity and playfulness in the music and the spectacle, this was very clearly built upon rigorous discipline and musicianship. The show started with the NYJO, without instruments, in an improvised crowd scene of exuberant laughter and chatter, gradually shifting into the scored and conducted big band introduction building to spirited, fiery alto sax and trumpet solos. At this point, Pascoal made his way onstage to add piano and underwater vocals to an already combustible mix. The rest of his band soon followed, moving deftly into the second piece. What was noticeable here was that even when not playing, Pascoal was constantly shaping and directing the music, for example bringing bass player Itiberê Zwarg in to solo, then singing through a cow horn and at the end, raising and lowering the volume of the whole orchestra by raising and lowering his hat!

The versatility and virtuosity of Pascoal’s five band members was intrinsic to the success of the whole evening’s music. Zwarg on electric bass contributed at least two thrilling, searching solos, his face a study of elation. Jota P’s (saxes and flute) mastery of and feeling for this often highly complex music was consummate, perhaps especially on the soprano. Percussionists and drummers Fabio Pascoal (Hermeto’s son) and Ajurinã Zwarg seemed to share an intuitive understanding of the rhythmic foundations of the music, playing brilliantly together. One great moment was when all five came to the front to play delicate folk-like melodies on whistle, kazoo and various wooden blocks. (There was an echo of this at the end when all members of NYJO put down their instruments to play coconut shells).

In many ways this was an evening of contrasts: small group and large orchestra; the experience and maturity of the former and the youth of the latter; Brazilian and British; the composed and the improvised; the spoken and the instrumental; the earliest instruments and the most modern. Presiding over all of this was the magus figure of Hermeto Pascoal himself. It is hard to believe that he will soon be 86. The fact that he says he wrote some 1,500 tunes during the lockdown betokens no creative slowing down. He did take a seat at the side of the stage at times this evening, but seemingly so that he could keep a better eye on the musicians. His vocal call and response interlude with the audience towards the end drew a rapturous and enthusiastic response. At the end of the show the members of the NYJO left the stage still playing their instruments to congregate in the foyer and carry on playing. Along with the two members of the brass section, at the back, who never stopped dancing the whole way through the show, these are images that will live on in the mind.

NYJO’s Jazz Exchange also played a set the following day at the Bandstand. They played five compositions, all by members of the group: Vera – Emma Rawicz / Spirit Crawl – Fergus Quill / Keple Road – Josh Mellard / Don’t Warren – Mischa Jardine / Sun Dream – Fergus Quill

The post Hermeto Pascoal and NYJO in Norwich first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Ira Sullivan, who died in 2020 age 89, was, unusually, equally adept on saxophone, flute and trumpet and had a reputation as a compelling soloist in the bebop idiom. In the 1950’s he worked mainly in Chicago, before moving to Florida, and over the course of a long career played with a dazzling array of jazz pioneers of the calibre of Lester Young, Charlie Parker and Art Blakey. He was also mentor to a younger generation of nascent stars such as Jaco Pastorius and Pat Metheny. His entry in Richard Cook’s Jazz Encyclopedia makes the telling point that “Sullivan is almost a textbook example of a musician whose lack of support from record companies … has marginalised a fine player”. All the more reason to applaud this tribute album, which displays throughout a highly infectious energy, exuberance and musicality across a diverse range of moods and forms.

Guitar enthusiasts (I’m one) will find a great deal to enjoy here. Because there are three guitarists featured, part of the pleasure is trying to work out who is playing what, since there is no attribution or explanation in the sleeve notes – just distinct and distinctive voices. Frank Zappa disliked the sound of the conventional jazz guitar, describing it as “far too polite”. Not here. Track two, Ira Sullivan’s beautiful ballad “Monday’s Dance”, is perhaps the closest to this end of the spectrum, but is in no way bland or unassuming, rather a beautifully judged melodic exploration, full of character. Opening track “I get a kick out of you”, in complete contrast, gives the tune a boisterous quick tempo working over, with some spiky, slightly dissonant guitar interplay and with the opening theme leading straight into a manic drum solo, all great fun.

It is hard to pick out highlights – the album is full of them. Track 3 “Circumstantial” is a swinging guitar-led melody, with a beautiful resonant tone and deft changes of tempo. It also introduces the saxophone, soprano in this case, of Yaina Horta, bringing in a pleasing new voice. Ira Sullivan’s composition “Multimedia”, which follows, establishes a Santana-like uptempo Latin feel, with layers of percussion. This seamlessly switches into an altogether different tempo and tonality and back again throughout the tune, so that the title begins to make sense. Ira Sullivan devoted much of his time to teaching, and was one of the foremost jazz educators in the USA. Apparently the inspiration for the tune was his experience of walking down the corridors of his jazz school and registering the diversity of sounds coming out of the different rehearsal rooms.

Track 5 “Icarus”, the great Ralph Towner composition, is another real high point, with its haunting. shifting melody supported by subtle soprano sax and propulsive, metronomic rim shots on the drums. It has a restraint about it as well as tension and release that just add to the overall effect. Ira Sullivan’s tune “Ninevah” which comes next, again signals a complete change of mood, locality and tonality, with its sombre Eastern inflected electric guitar and drum introduction. This is a real guitar showcase and tour de force, courtesy (I presume) of Brev Sullivan, clearly adept and fluent in many different styles, with soprano sax coming in latterly to great melodic effect. The music is complex, but full of atmosphere and feeling.

Of the remaining tracks, a personal favourite is the Tadd Dameron composition “Our Delight”, a swinging and joyful bop rendition introducing an altogether different mood to its predecessor “Ninevah”, and with nicely contrasted guitar solos leading into a looping, bubbly bass guitar spot. These contrasts show very clearly that a lot of thought has gone into the overall conception of this highly rewarding album.

The post Blue Road Records Band Ira – ‘The Tribute Album’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.