When the Pete Allen Jazz Band was called on to make their Swanage debut this year, they were given a prestige slot in this long-established Festival’s programme. Theirs was to be the climactic event of the Festival’s final night, Sunday, 14 July, to be precise, their efforts designed to leave the traditionally-minded festival goers in a state of mild euphoria and all-round contentment. But as luck would have it, their concert kicked off at just about the same time that England kicked off too, but in the 2024 Euros final in faraway Berlin. Result? Well, we all know what happened to England that night but more to the point, the Allen gang had to contend with an audience far fewer in number than expected. But did this put them off? Not a bit!

Much in the manner of Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars, they gave that meagre audience as good a show as if they had been in Wembley itself, playing to thousands. Pete himself fronted with his usual cheery aplomb, vocalised and played that hot-style clarinet for which he has been known for the past half-century. And the rest of the band? They gave it their all, each man determined to shine, collectively, of course, for their chosen pathway is what we usually call traditional jazz but often sounds more like mainstream to me, but as soloists too.

And that is just what awaits the lucky listeners and diners who have picked their Dean Street spot for a very special one-off appearance by the Pete Allen Jazz Band on Wednesday, 27 November, with showtime set for 8.00pm. They’ll experience whole-hearted ensemble playing, and confident, out-going solo work, a driving rhythm section, some sparky vocals, and a sense of everything being right in the world. Even if it isn’t!

It’s as well to remind ourselves of the Pete Allen story. Here’s a man who has led this band for over 45 years – their 45^th Anniversary album is on Upbeat Records – and kept them on the road, taking in American tours, appearances on popular BBC Radio programmes and TV specials, plus a host of residencies, and shows no sign of letting up. These days the idea of a fully professional jazz band approaching their half century, largely unchanged and happily enduring, might seem anachronistic, but not so, for Pete has stayed true to his belief that traditional jazz is a vibrant force for good. This is, of course, what kept bandleaders like Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, and Chris Barber going for so long, their audiences loving to hear familiar numbers from the classic New Orleans repertoire but also getting a kick out of newer things as well. And that’s Pete’s mantra too.

Pete himself started out as a player in his home town of Newbury where he first worked in a band led by his father Bernie Allen who played banjo and guitar. Surprisingly perhaps, when you consider young Pete’s alternative career was as a local Police Constable. After three years on the force, Pete moved to the West Country and joined the then highly popular Rod Mason traditional jazz band as its clarinettist. Thus began a professional commitment to jazz performance that hasn’t wavered right up to the present day. After three years with the Mason band with which, Pete says, he served ‘his apprenticeship in the world of entertainment’, as forged on overseas tours, plus guest shots on TV and radio, as well as festival appearance and no less than three albums, Pete Allen took the momentous decision on 1 October 1978 – mark the date – to launch his own band in collaboration with his father Bernie Allen.

This set in train a heady period of success for them here and abroad, especially in the States where the band’s tours brought them considerable glory including an appearance at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee then the greatest Dixieland festival of its kind. As a tribute to his prowess, Pete was made an Honorary Citizen of New Orleans for his ‘services to British jazz and tourism’.

That was then and this is now. The Pete Allen Jazz Band still plays clubs, festivals and residencies, less far-ranging perhaps, but all part of Pete’s ongoing desire to present this marvellous music to audiences old and new. His playing remains one of the adornments of British traditional jazz, his clarinet sound always distinctive, slightly husky and undeniably hot. He’ll play baritone sax too when the moment is right and even, the banjo!

That said, this is no one-man band, for the regular personnel includes a whole raft of experienced, highly rated players, with fellow bandleader Roger Marks on trombone, the hard-swinging trumpeter Chris Hodgkins (who re-joined the band recently after a period of stellar service supporting British jazz as Director of Jazz Services) and reedman Trevor Whiting, a distinguished clarinettist in his own right and a fine booting, saxophonist too – look out for his head-to-head numbers with Pete – this splendid line-up of soloists now augmented by the guitarist Max Brittain, late of Eton College music staff and a considerable soloist. Add in the sterling rhythm section, all seasoned Allen-ites, headed by keyboard star James Clemas, with bassist Dave Hanratty and drummer Jim Newton in lusty support and you have a pretty alluring package. No wonder Pizza Express wanted them back. Expect fireworks, non-stop jazz jubilation, and a lively mix of old standbys and unexpected crowd-pleasers. As they say in all the best restaurant reviews – enjoy!

The post Pete Allen Jazz Band at Pizza Express, 27 Nov. first appeared on UK Jazz News.

All sorts of jazz events or festive gatherings seem to come and go these days. Nothing stays the same, they say, but the good news is that Swanage’s Jazz Festival not only endures but continues to dazzle and delight. So, what’s the Swanage secret? Is it the town itself that’s the attraction, with its placid seafront and genial family atmosphere? Well, yes, of course, but uppermost for the jazz enthusiast in my view is its durability. Whatever the highs and lows, the vicissitudes of council support or not, the involvement of the Arts Council or not, and the vagaries of the weather, Swanage prevails.

Fred Lindop was its original mastermind and long-term artistic director and ran the whole show (with the help of friends and family) making it ‘the supreme showcase for (almost) all of British jazz’. By 2017, he knew that it was time to withdraw, leaving it to others to carry on. Initially, none came forward until Nigel Price, Britain’s premier jazz guitarist, stepped into the breach, declaring that Swanage was too good to founder. As ever, he brought his characteristic energy and drive to it but for all his success, the financial and organisational problems he encountered were enough to make this busy artist’s first year also his last.

Enter Paul Kelly as the new Chair and Director. He’s well-known locally for his promotional prowess, and something of a festival specialist, his first Swanage the 2019 event, smaller-in-scale inevitably, only for Covid to derail his plans for the next two seasons. Post-lockdown and back in the saddle by 2022, Kelly and his committee chums got going in earnest, re-branding the festival as ‘Jazz By The Sea’ with an appropriately sunny new logo and stage backdrop, this a reminder that Darius Brubeck once described Swanage as ‘this mini-Newport’ alluding to that famous film ‘Jazz On A Summer’s Day’ and its depiction of the Newport Jazz Festival’s balmy, sea-side location over in the States. Ditto, Swanage!

Since then, the SJF has gained momentum year on year, with enhanced performance venues, the refurbished Mowlem Theatre on the sea-front its main adornment. New design marquees (restored this year to their rightful place up on Sandpit Fields overlooking the ocean) are installed and ready to host a compelling array of bands and stars.

So, what are the musical highlights awaiting the visitor this year, the 33^rd in this absorbing and popular series? Well, the SJF strap-line says it all: 230 Musicians 50 Bands 1 Stroller Ticket. Add in plenty of sunshine and the Festival’s easy-going atmosphere, the company of friends and the ability to stroll from venue to venue, while you pause to admire the view, and you have some idea of Swanage’s unique quality. All this spread across three music-packed days.

US alto star Greg Abate for so long a Swanage favourite is back, playing this time with the very potent Sound of Blue Note Band and opening up at Sandpit Field Marquee 1 on Friday the 12th; Art Themen and his equally tantalising Organ Quintet occupying a similar slot in the Mowlem. So, choices, choices. Consider Kelly’s named Headliners: The Wonder of Stevie with Derek Nash, Ian Shaw & Tony Kofi, Jivin’ Miss Daisy (also Friday), Emma Rawicz’s Jazz Orchestra, Gary Crosby’s Sextet – Mingus Moves, Martin Litton’s Red-Hot Peppers (Saturday), Liane Carroll Trio, Zoe Rahman’s Colours of Sound, The Pete Allen Jazz Band (Sunday) and you’ll sense something of Swanage’s unique approach. Stylistic variety, for sure: modern, mainstream or traditional – the tried-and-tested versus the edgily new – Kelly’s aim a ‘a well-balanced, diverse programme of quality music’. To his list of top performers, I’d add Nigel Price and Vasilis Xenopoulos, Alan Barnes & Dave Newton, forever joined at the hip, Henry Lowther’s Still Waters, Clark Tracey’s Quintet, and the Pete Allen Jazz Band as those I’ll want to see.

Add in the opening Festival Parade, the Free Festival Fringe, various traders set up on Sandpit Field, a Festival Merchandise stall, a Jazz DJ, and ‘Fingers and Toes’, a live inter-active performance designed to intrigue youngsters and you have quite a package. Oh yes, and something else entirely new, funded by the Arts Council: The Sound of Things To Come , that’s ten young bands selected because their approach ably blends jazz with other influences or because they just play the more usual jazz forms exceptionally well. They’ll have Marquee Two up on Sandpit Field to themselves.

This cornucopia of good things can all be accessed and the full programme examined on the festival’s website, and it’s there you can book your 3-Day Stroller Ticket or take it a day at a time. Don’t hesitate: it’s all too good to miss.

The post Swanage Jazz Festival, Dorset – 12-14 July 2024 first appeared on UK Jazz News.

‘Benny Goodman/Glenn Miller at Carnegie Hall 1939: The Battle of the Big Bands’ will be presented at Cadogan Hall on the evening of Thursday 13 June.

The Jazz Repertory Company (JRC) is almost certainly unique. If there are other concert promoters elsewhere who look to do what they do then none come to mind. UK audiences are thus the principal beneficiaries of JRC’s determination to re-animate significant music from the glorious past when jazz and swing were in the ascendant and to present it in the finest manner possible. In the course of some 30 or more themed concerts, JRC’s Richard Pite and Musical Director Pete Long aided by their brilliant musicians have regularly reminded us of the enduring value and continuing joys of this important music. Never moribund, always vitally alive.

The concert presentation scheduled for 13 June at Cadogan Hall harks back to 1939 and to a week-long series of concerts put on at Carnegie Hall, New York’s most prestigious concert location, by ASCAP [The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers] to celebrate their 25th Anniversary. The focus will be on the night when the big bands of the then King of Swing, Benny Goodman and ‘new kid on the block’, Glenn Miller, were locked in battle, their musical encounter recreated by the all-star Pete Long Orchestra (renamed the Goodmen on this occasion).

Add to this a vignette evoking the participation of Louis Armstrong at a separate event when he appeared at an evening for African American patrons with star trumpeter Enrico Tomasso performing Armstrong’s specialties. There will also be a separate tribute to the seminal From Spirituals to Swing concert organized by impresario John Hammond which took place too at Carnegie Hall in 1939. This will highlight the music of the Benny Goodman Sextet and the Kansas City Six, with special guest Anthony Kerr on vibes and Dave Chamberlain taking the role of Charlie Christian on electric guitar. While Europe was preparing for war, New Yorkers, it seems, were enjoying a feast of amazing music.

When I caught up with concert MD Pete Long, it was to ask him why he thought this set of events was worth this attention. “For me, 1939 marks the beginning of the second phase of the swing era“he explained. “With the coming of war, the bright optimistic sunny morning of the early era, perfectly represented by Benny Goodman’s reading of Fletcher Henderson’s repertoire, turned into the darker, more sophisticated wartime phase, perfectly underscored by Miller’s team of highly advanced arrangers. New sounds for a new time. It’s as if the baton was passed at this concert.”

Even so it could still be argued that this music is old hat so why preserve it? “Funnily enough, that’s a question rarely asked of our classical colleagues. Their repertoire goes way back further than ours! We play it because it’s great music, the same as they do. However, with orchestrated jazz there is a valid reason to play it live, as recordings generally, and often recordings of the era, miss many of the music’s subtle tonal nuances.”

Given its often challenging nature and Long’s concern to master the detail, how does he source the original material and what has to happen, I wondered? “Loads of it is available commercially these days. We live in quite enlightened times. The bits left over are transcribed by me and my colleagues in the orchestra.” When I ask Long what will be the concert highlights, he answers with characteristic modesty, “All the bits which feature me, of course. Seriously my favourite moment occurs when the music switches from Goodman to Miller. It’s the same musicians on the stage, but the entire harmonic concept of the sound changes from ’30s to ’40s.”

Long is the concert’s clarinet soloist too, “In the Benny half, I play Benny’s part directing the band and playing the clarinet solos. In the Glenn section, I conduct the band only. I also do all the chat,” he adds and smiles. For all Long’s deep involvement in this kind of historical exhumation, his musicians must face some solid challenges too? “We can’t really have anything more detailed than a quick read through on the afternoon. Therefore, each member of the band has to be an Olympic standard reader, and be able to play a convincing jazz solo in the style of the period. And”, he adds, “get a good job done on the budget!”

Trumpeter Tomasso is a noted Armstrong disciple and indeed cites his early contact with the great maestro as crucial to his whole approach to performance. “Rico Tomasso brings the arrangements to the rehearsal, directs the band and does his Armstrong magic. What Is This Thing Called Swing is particularly taxing for the band,” Long tells me.

My final question reverts back to the JRC’s stated desire to present classic jazz and swing in a concert setting. How does reviving these contrasting events from 1939 fit in to the JRC approach to programming, I wondered? “The Jazz Repertory Company’s approach is to provide recreations of significant events in jazz history as well as is possible in the most entertaining manner we can devise,” Long answers. “I’d say that this concert, teetering as it does between the two early phases of the swing era, fulfils that brief to a T. In The Mood and Sing, Sing, Sing on one programme? The defence rests,“ he affirms.

Quite so. 

The Goodman-Miller Tribute Orchestra
Directed by Pete Long clarinet
Chris Dean vocals and trombone
Enrico Tomasso as Louis Armstrong
David Chamberlain as Charlie Christian
Anthony Kerr as Lionel Hampton
Richard Pite drums

The post Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller at Carnegie Hall 1939 – The Battle of the Big Bands first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Which brings me to Imber Court in East Molesey, Surrey. Once the Metropolitan Police sports centre, it’s now a social club, its main room the home for the past several years of the monthly jazz gigs promoted by Carole Merritt. Yes, one of those volunteers not seeking profit but impelled to put this amazing music (and its practitioners) in front of an audience.

This time round, it was an impromptu collective of Mark Nightingale (trombone), James Davison (trumpet & flugelhorn), pianist Dave Newton, bassist Andy Cleyndert and drummer Sebastiaan de Krom. If Nightingale was counted the senior man when it came to announcements, that seemed about right. Perhaps it was his presence that had attracted a near-full house crowd. If so, they had made the correct decision for this was one of those jazz occasions where the whole was very much more than the sum of the parts.

The two brass-men had worked in tandem before, it turned out, so no problems there. And no hesitations about repertoire either. Straight into that Ducal staple, ‘In A Mellotone‘, taking turn and turnabout with the tune, Davison on flugel, Terry-like with those chortling figures, Nightingale imperious at first ahead of some tricky harmonic inventions, de Krom on brushes, the drive spot on. ‘Tangerine’, with Davison switching to the trumpet, revealed Nightingale as a warm-toned melodist, Davison picking up the ball and running with it, de Krom’s beat never better directed. ‘Skylark went well, too, that sublime theme given its mellow due, over a stop-time rhythmic pattern, the playing measured, Davison’s closing cadenza a mini-triumph. I’d guess that the late US trombonist Frank Rosolino was always a Nightingale hero, so his ‘Blue Daniel’ deserved and received a rousing run-through, Nightingale explosive, de Krom using mallets on his dampened snare. ‘Billie’s Bounce’ is always urgent, its boppish outline demanding a deep, top cymbal beat, Cleyndert surging powerfully, the swing locked in, Davison’s trumpet shapely, the outcomes dominated by Newton’s creativity, rolling tremolos and all.

Second half joys commenced with ‘Squeeze Me’, perky, with muted effects paramount, Newton again impressive. At Ms Merritt’s request – she’s a one-woman cheerleader for Newton’s piano playing – the horn-men ceded the stage to Newton for the pianist to first imply, and then confirm that the trio number was to be ‘Our Love Is Here To Stay’, the pianist at his inventive yet mysterious best, Cleyndert and de Krom ever-alert to his ebb and flow. More good things followed: ‘St Thomas’ in calypso style spotlighting de Krom in a solo which reproduced its melodic shape exactly, a technique that old-time drummers used to deploy. Good to hear it revived here. This modern-day percussionist may use a pared-down kit but he listens all the time, adjusting volume and altering his accompaniment to suit, brushes to sticks and back again, thunder followed by sunshine, the focus unwavering. Just another gig? Maybe, but a star turn too, with each man excelling.

Next event from Jazz at Imber Court will be on 19 May with Vasilis Xenopoulos/Nigel Price

The post Mark Nightingale/James Davison Quintet at Imber Court first appeared on UK Jazz News.

The stage set, the WOW members settled in amid the other all-stars, with Tim Whitehead setting the scene, licked their lips, and set to. Bowled over by the full-on power of the ensemble and intrigued by the finesse of the writing, this audience then applauded every solo, approved each musical passage, and judged the concert a triumph. And rightly so. With the now 96-year-old Kinsey seated front and centre in the audience and clearly relishing the occasion, the only thing missing was Kinsey the performer, his drumming days now sadly done, due to health considerations, it would seem. So, let’s take the occasion for what it was, a prime tribute by WOW to one of its heroes and strongest supporters. In short, an all-round good thing!

The suitably jaunty ‘Dances For The Boardroom’ was the opener, and turned out to have been a Kinsey commission for a company do. Well, on this reading it must have been quite a swinging affair, with Whitehead, Henry Lowther and Chris Biscoe finding hot corners to play in, as each section surged forward, this underlining a key facet of Kinsey’s writing. He likes to keep the sections busy: as one took runs with the theme, the others are given work to do, supporting or counter-punching.

He clearly loves to hear the trombones in full cry, allotting them complex sequences to play, often muted, their sound with bucket mutes on slower songs redolent of the Hefti-effect for the Basie band. No problem for this group of bone-men. ‘That Special Feeling’ hit a more mellow groove, Andy Panayi’s soprano lead over cushioned saxes revealing Tony’s flair for memorable saxophonic writing too. ‘Just For Neil’ remembered a fallen friend in the best kind of way, its strong, brass-heavy melodic figures, featuring more of that nice, polished Hefti-muted trombone blowing, tenorist Pete Hurt suitably upbeat in solo. That Tony could also write songs to cherish should have come as no surprise, his ‘Walking In The Rain,’ with its lilting melodic line, deserving and receiving a relaxed vocal reading by the sweet-sounding Nette Robinson. ‘Jumping Jive’ felt good too, zestful, and lively, the rhythm team of Jeremy Brown and Gary Willcox generating swing, as they did so capably throughout, Tony Woods’ vivid alto solo, Steve Fishwick’s spirited trumpet, and Mark Nightingale’s trenchant trombone the highlights.

The concert’s second half concentrated on Kinsey’s subtly programmatic, seven-part ‘Embroidery Suite,’ first composed and recorded back in 2006, and embodying his reflections on his long-term residence in nearby Sunbury and its Thames-side location. ‘’The Whole Picture’ came first, Panayi’s flute the dominant feature, the theme quite expansive. ‘River Life’ gave space to Kate Williams and deployed plenty of fire-power from the brass, the entire piece animated and rhythmically fast-flowing. The conversational ‘Life at the Inn’ had more soprano from Panayi and a detailed, spiky-toned solo from the Pennsylvania-born Andre Canniere. The upbeat ‘Dance of the Architects’ (who knew?) gave Nightingale, Martin Gladdish and Nick Mills a chance to romp collectively, while ‘Messing About In Boats’ was pure pleasure, jovial in outline with Biscoe steering the ship calmly and well. ‘Spirits of the Cenotaph’ was more solemn, Kate Williams and Jeremy Brown taking the salute, and Lowther adding his own pristine commentary. The final ‘Monksbridge’ had a nice groove, Williams opening, Pete Hurt on tenor, Whitehead on clarinet, Mills and Sid Gauld up on their toes.

With that, the job was done, and we’d all had quite a night. So, a fillip for WOW and for their musicians, and a spectacular way to pay homage to the great Tony Kinsey, an under-sung star of British modern jazz.

The Tony Kinsey Big Band

Trumpets: Henry Lowther, Sid Gauld (lead), Steve Fishwick, Andre Canniere
Trombones: Nick Mills, Mark Nightingale (lead), Martin Gladdish (tb), Sarah Williams (bass-tb)
Saxes: Tim Whitehead (ts, cl), Pete Hurt (ts, fl), Andy Panayi (as, lead, sop, fl), Tony Woods (as), Chris Biscoe (bari)
Rhythm: Kate Williams (kbd), Jeremy Brown (b), Gary Willcox (d)
Vocals: Nette Robinson

The post Tony Kinsey Big Band at the Hampton Hub Club first appeared on UK Jazz News.

The transient nature of society these days means that the new will always trump the old, or so it seems. Change is endemic. To put it another way, the idea of a fully professional jazz band enduring for forty-five years is now quite simply, beyond our ken. Think back to such traditional jazz overlords as the late Acker Bilk, Chris Barber, and Kenny Ball as they fronted their bands for decade upon decade. Can we imagine ever seeing their like again? Surely not.

Which brings us neatly to the traditional clarinettist (and occasional saxophonist) Pete Allen who is currently celebrating his 45th year as a professional bandleader. Defiantly bucking a trend, you could say.

The Pete Allen Jazz Band has a brand new 45^th Anniversary album out on Upbeat (URCD337) and is showcasing its release at a special one-off, celebratory engagement at London’s Pizza Express in Dean Street on 4 December. Judging by the performances on the album, the Pizza audience is in for an entertaining mix of New Orleans-style flag-wavers and standard songs plus less obviously, modern jazz pieces all given a resounding Allen-style Dixieland-Mainstream makeover.

Pete’s jazz story began in his home town of Newbury where he first worked in a band led by his father Bernie Allen who played banjo and guitar, while pursuing his day job as a local Police Constable. After three years on the force, Pete moved to the West Country in 1976 and exchanged his police beat for another kind of beat altogether, when he joined the well-established Rod Mason traditional jazz band as its clarinettist. It was with this band that he says he ‘served his apprenticeship in the world of entertainment’ as Rod and company toured here and abroad, playing the club and festival circuit, and appearing on TV and radio. It was also the beginning of Pete’s recording career as he made three LPs with the Mason band. Incidentally, it was while with Mason that he first met trombonist Roger Marks, now a stalwart member of the present-day Allen band.

Encouraged by his success with Mason’s outfit and mindful of what he’d learned on the road and beyond, Pete and his father Bernie made their decisive stab at jazz fame on 1 October 1978 by joining ‘the professional ranks of jazz’ and launching their own band under Pete’s name. The rest, as they say, is history. There followed a period of hectic success for the new Allen band from the late 1970s through the 1980s and 1990s, including tours of America – the band played at the celebrated Sacramento Jazz Jubilee in California in 1983,1984 and 1986, this the greatest Dixieland Festival of its kind, with audiences peaking at 85,000, Pete also afforded the honour of leading a special group badged as the Worldwide All-Stars. On a later US tour, in 1992, while appearing in St Louis and New Orleans in 1992, Pete was made an Honorary Citizen of New Orleans for ‘his services to British jazz and tourism’.

Add to all this an array of appearances on popular BBC Radio programmes like the Terry Wogan Breakfast Show as well as many TV specials, including BBC Pebble Mill at One and others for European TV stations. There were also residencies and a host of recordings, starting in 1978 and continuing to this day. Over 100 albums in all.

That was then, this is now. Pete’s band still plays clubs and residencies, and still looks to entertain wherever it goes. Pete himself is one of our finest traditional clarinettists, his slightly husky sound suggesting an awareness of Edmond Hall, for so long the clarinet mainstay of the Louis Armstrong All-Stars. He’ll also offer some booting interludes on baritone saxophone and, dare I say it, produce the occasional burst on the banjo, plus plenty of vocals. His band members are all accomplished traditionalists who revel in the classic New Orleans ensemble style, while happy to cast their collective beady eye on such unlikely fare as Johnny Griffin’s lively ‘The Jamfs Are Coming’ as featured on the album. We’ve already alluded to trombonist Roger Marks, himself a successful bandleader too, with an ample discography of his own. A welcome returnee to the band is trumpeter Chris Hodgkins, who told me that he rejoined the band last year after a 40-year gap. He’s too modest to tell you that for much of the intervening time he’s been devoted to other good works for jazz, most notably his long-term role – 29 years, no less – as Director of Jazz Services, the Arts Council-funded support group for jazz development. He, too has other bandleading responsibilities, including his splendid Salute to Humphrey Lyttelton group. It’s Chris’s fiery trumpet attack that rounds out a strong front-line, buoyed up by the swinging rhythm section of James Clemas, piano, Dave Hanratty, bass, and drummer Jim Newton.

With a jazz pedigree of this calibre – 45 years in the making – it should be quite a night!

The post Pete Allen’s Band – ‘Celebrating 45 Years of band leading’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

In these cash-strapped times, what better way to cast aside the tribulations of the day than to bask in the sounds of a 30-piece orchestra, with three fine vocalists out front, as they revisit the sights and sounds of Hollywood’s Capitol Studios in the 1950s.

Are we describing some kind of dream sequence here? A fantasy, perhaps? Not so, for this is exactly what is promised at London’s stylish Cadogan Hall on Sunday, 10 September, with show-time at 18.30.

That expansive stage, already the capital’s prime location for vintage jazz and swing presentations, will be populated this time by the full Down for the Count Orchestra. Think a big band but with an added string section, conducted by the Orchestra’s Band Manager and great instigator, pianist/arranger Mike Paul-Smith, and with a trio of vocal stars, that’s Lydia Bell, Katie Birtill, and Marvin Muoneké. Yes, a 30-piece orchestra all set to give a discerning audience ‘a sonic ride back to the sounds of the 1950s’. Music in the grand manner, you could say.

In effect, the full Down for the Count orchestral experience is fine-tuned to recreate the sounds, instrumental and vocal, of that long-gone era when great songs, some from Broadway shows, were the lingua franca of our aural experience. We’re talking here of recalling singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole, their vocals cushioned by the peerless arrangements of Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, and all marked by orchestral musicianship of the highest calibre.

When we spoke recently, Mike Paul-Smith told me first about the orchestra’s distinctive name. Was it to suggest an affinity for the Basie band’s repertoire, I wondered? “When hunting for the band name, we came across the Basie tune ‘Down for the Count’ and were just drawn to it,” he laughed. “We love Count Basie tunes and although we’re not a Basie tribute act, we always try and include some Basie numbers in our swing sets – especially when playing for dancers, who love that repertoire.”

Having started in his teens by putting small bands together for parties and weddings, Paul-Smith kept things going with a particular group of ten musical friends both before and after university, this assembly morphing eventually into the Down for the Count All-Stars mini big band, which continues and will be on the road on a national tour of its own later this year. Mike says he “always loved the ‘big band with strings’ repertoire, particularly Nelson Riddle’s work with Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald in the 1950s. Over the years I learnt more about the work other arrangers such as Gordon Jenkins – probably my favourite – Billy May, Don Costa etc.”

“I always wanted to play that music and for years had the ambition of adding strings to our All-Stars line-up. We made that dream a reality in 2019 with a show in Notting Hill. We loved it and grew the orchestra so that now it really is a big band with strings: usually featuring 10 horns, 12 strings, rhythm section (including percussion), vocals and just for this Cadogan Hall show, harp. Our aim is to breathe new life in the best of this vintage music.”

“The show consists of some recreations of that Riddle/Jenkins repertoire (using charts from the original recording sessions) or my own transcriptions of jazz standards, written for big bands with strings in similar style. Adding strings to the big band sound creates a wonderful richness to the overall sound. And not many people do it! We love performing together and we don’t know of any other regular touring bands with strings, so we want to take it as far as possible. We currently do two UK tours a year and want to build on that and we’re looking to taking the orchestra on international tours to Europe or Asia. Our dream would be to have a show at the BBC Proms!”

For the insider’s view of this ambitious band and its repertoire, it was illuminating to talk with Alex Western-King, an outstanding jazz soloist in his own right but on parade here as the band’s lead saxophonist. “I play hundreds of gigs with the band every year,” he told me. “It helps that I love the music we play, mostly from the Great American Songbook and lovely early standards. You’re playing great music with great people and trying to do it justice. It’s something I enjoy very much.”

And it’s that balance between their sheer delight in the successful execution of this challenging music, and the team-work involved in achieving something distinctive that applies to the Orchestra’s entire musical output. Just the very qualities that made vocal star Michael Bublé enthuse – “Awesome,” he said – and compelled one commenator to note that the Down for the Count Orchestra ‘might be a potential rival to the John Wilson Orchestra.’ No contest, surely?

The Down for the Count Orchestra will be back at Cadogan Hall on 28 December with their popular Swing Into Christmas concert at the end of a national tour.

The post Down for the Count Orchestra – ‘Songs from The Golden Age of Swing’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Naturally much of the press attention she has received emphasizes her early start in jazz but seeing her at full tilt with the great mainstream tenorist Rob Fowler alongside and a rhythm section comprising pianist Dave Newton, bassist Dave Green and the ever-aware Clark Tracey on drums was to recognise a player who is already a creative force for good.

She has named Phil Woods as a prime influence on alto, this evident in the Parker-ian strut of her solo on the opening ‘Bernie’s Tune,’ in an arrangement originally penned by Woods. Fowler engaged with this without demur, building his phrases in Hawk-cum-Webster fashion, tonal warmth and melodic shape uppermost. The ensemble blend improved on ‘Dearly Beloved,’ with Green at his classiest, and Newton threatening to levitate as he dug into these time-honoured changes. ‘On Green Dolphin Street’ went well too, energetic all the way, with Tracey enhancing the collective groove.

Rest assured, the Newton-Green-Tracey trio was in no mood to tread water – they were here to dispense swing and they did. Never more so than on Curtis Fuller’s ‘The Opener’ which ironically was the set’s closer and for which Clarke picked up her tenor to give us a taste of the Lockjaw-Griffin tough tenors template, the bravura shout inherent in the arrangement an augury of good things to come. Here, Clarke’s solo unfurled in gritty, hard bop fashion, powered by the trio’s razor-sharp sense of time.

Another rewarding choice was Sweets Edison’s ‘Did You Call Her Today’ (a ‘Mellotone’ contrafact) in the second set, Newton more economical, the double-tenor voicing yielding a pleasing air of blowsy swing. Benny Golson’s lovely piece, ‘Whisper Not’ followed, the outcomes just perfect, Newton sparse at first, Clarke soloing with Green alone. She then set herself a challenge, tackling Hoagy Carmichael’s venerable ‘Stardust’ as her solo tenor feature, and excelled, having sorted out the notation of the verse with Newton via her mobile phone, building well, the phrases carefully assembled. Was she perhaps inspired by Fowler’s earlier, quite sublime reading of another great test-piece, Johnny Green’s ‘Body and Soul’, where he opened acapella before moving elegantly through the changes, varying the intensity and never even hinting at the Hawkins classic?

What with a rouser like Tubby Hayes’ ‘After Tea’ from the Couriers repertoire, given a Latin feel, the tenor pair again in the ascendant, Green double-stopping ably in his solo, there was more than enough here to underline the emerging prowess of Clarke and the agreeably potent combination of youth and experience represented on this bandstand. Fearless, well-organised and never prolix, Ms Clarke is undoubtedly well on her way – and this crowd loved her.

Imber Court’s ongoing jazz programme, curated by long-term organiser Carole Merritt, continues with Five-Way Split (24 September), Art Themen (29 October) and Quintet-à-Tête (11 November). Info: 01932 845174.

Alex Clarke (as, ts, arr), Rob Fowler (ts), Dave Newton (kbd), Dave Green (b), Clark Tracey (d)

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Herne Bay was once defined as ‘Kent’s Classic Seaside Town’ and rightly so, boasting as it does a long pebble beach, elegant seafront gardens and a splendid promenade. Plus, plentiful health-giving coastal air. Add in the pleasures and delights of jazz and swing, and you have the perfect setting for a festival that blends front-rank artistry and a collective desire to party. Speaking to Boston-born Artistic Director Kai Hoffman, well-known as a jazz chanteuse and recording artist herself and the founder of the festival, I asked her how it all came about. “When I moved to Herne Bay in 2016 and looked for the music I loved, I could find no jazz and swing so I set out to do something about it.” Inspired by that great film ‘Jazz on A Summer’s Day’ with its bucolic combination of great outdoor music and sun-lit ocean vistas, Hoffman, with characteristic American-style can-do energy, sought to create its Kent coast equivalent. And succeeded.

Happily, the concept took root, Herne Bay Festival Charity came on board, as did Kent County Council, with support from local businesses and community groups, including Beach Creative Arts Centre, the Herne Bay Pier Trust, Baytastic, the Rotary Club, Vivien of Holloway and Ronnie Scott’s. The Festival up and running, with enthusiastic helpers on hand, audiences came in number and have returned, clearly relishing the mixture of styles and the sea-air setting, their numbers building year-on-year.

And now comes this year’s event, the sixth in the series, the Festival firmly established among the resort’s array of visitor attractions, its top-line support coming now from Arts Council England. Hurray for Hoffman: her hard graft recognised. With HBJSF 2023 set to out-do its predecessors with the range and variety of the talent on offer, some acts nationally known – think Clare Teal, Jim Mullen, and Dennis Rollins – others more regionally based, there’s a sense of something very special happening in this attractively traditional seaside town. What’s more, 95% of the events will be FREE TO ATTEND! That leaves just two ticketed concerts, these priced at a mere £5.00 per person.

As Kai Hoffman intended, she has been as good as her word in making the Festival inclusive for all. This year’s Saturday programme covers everything from singing workshops for children to a seaside family swing show led by vocalist Kerri Layton via the Kent Youth Jazz Orchestra and Steve Nathan’s Big Band. Then it’s Richard Rozze’s Singing and Rhythm Workshop for aspiring jazz songsters and a Sketch Jam for Artists with vocalist Sarah-Jane Hassell prompting creatives to draw or paint a live jazz trio, or a wander down to The Pier Ceylon Restaurant for a set with local reeds player Lawrence Fletcher’s trio.

And that’s not mention the live shows due later that first day, one set fronted by top trombonist Geoff Mason and another by The Shireen Francis Small Island Trio, a Caribbean/reggae influenced jazz group and finally, Vintage at the Vibe, with Kai’s Kats dancing and jiving away the night away until late. Vintage dress optional!

Kai’s own hour-long set at 2.00pm on Sunday kicks off the Pier Stage shows on the Festival’s second day.  A lively swing and blues singer, she’ll hold forth in typical swashbuckling style with her band, as often featured at Ronnie Scott’s in nearby London. For those who want to begin their day earlier, perhaps with a seaside walk and then lunch – The Pier Ceylon restaurant and cafe on Station Road is hosting a jazz lunch duo from 12pm as well.

Having heard her live I can vouch for Kai’s energy and musical joie-de-vivre. Unstoppable! Thereafter it’s roller-coaster time on the Herne Bay Pier Stage with headliners Jim Mullen and his Organ Trio, that’s guitarist Jim, with keyboard ace Mike Gorman and drummer Matt Home at 4.10pm, followed by the dynamic Dennis Rollins Velocity Trio at 5.20pm and then the ever-popular vocalist and broadcaster Clare Teal at 6.30pm with a cracking band including star pianist Jason Rebello, Simon Little, bass, and drummer Ed Richardson. Then it’s Lokkhi Terra whose musical remit runs from Bangladesh to Cuba and at 9.00pm, still on the Pier Stage, the Festival’s final burst features The Coalminers and their glorious New Orleans-style bluesy gumbo, seasoned by the music of Professor Longhair and Allen Toussaint. Phew!

And where does all this take place? Well, we’ve mentioned the half-shell Herne Bay Pier Stage for the Festival’s headline acts, but look out too for other events in what is a packed schedule in Wimereux Square, aka the main town square, The Pier Ceylon, and Beach Creative. Hoffman says ‘our all-ages events will appeal to everyone from jazz aficionados to fans of great live music.” Exactly, and then adds, “We are extremely excited that our festival is putting Herne Bay on the map as a centre for musical excellence.” Amen to that.

UPDATE: It is announced that the Sunday pier programme at the Herne Bay Jazz and Swing Festival will also be live-streamed on the Festival’s YouTube channel (LINK). This new initiative, to make the festival available to people who cannot attend in person, has been supported by Arts Council England.

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The Claire Martin and Callum Au combination, so effective on record, is sure to be spell-binding in person. Two years in the making, it is sub-titled ‘An orchestral concert of jazz standards and American songbook classics’ for good reason, involving as it does a roster of timeless standards all given added freshness in Au’s distinctive settings.

Composer, arranger, and orchestrator Au is to handle the additional role of conductor this time; it was Mark Nightingale who took the baton for the album, now he’s changing places with Au in the trombone section. The concert will also include added song choices for Martin and new instrumental feature pieces written by Au for special guest tenor-saxophonist Nadim Teimoori (“My favourite tenor saxophonist in the world”, Au says), violinist John Mills (the leader of the John Wilson Orchestra), consummate trumpeter Louis Dowdeswell, with one more for Au himself on, appositely, ‘How Long Has This Been Going On?’ (Full orchestra listing below, correct at time of publication).

Au’s co-partner in this enterprise is the much-garlanded Claire Martin OBE, by any definition Britain’s leading jazz singer. As All About Jazz put it, ‘She is one of the crown jewels of the jazz world,’ and so say all of us. To see her perform in an orchestral or big band setting is a heady delight and one which will be given full rein here.

Martin brings to each performance the measure of her three decades of experience, this encompassing no less than eight British Jazz Awards and the coveted Gold Badge of BASCA (The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors). Plus, an array of some 23 albums, one of which with guitarist Jim Mullen was also released on the Stunt label. Another association that was much commended by her listeners was that with composer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, their mutual regard represented on Songs and Stories by Martin’s reading of his song ‘I Never Went Away’, cushioned by Au’s sensitive orchestration. 

Martin played a very active role in selecting the songs on the album, including those by Carmichael, Kern, Porter, Arlen et al, and others added for the concert, working with Au at the piano to narrow down the repertoire to ensure “a nice mix of light and shade and a balance of different moods and feeling,” as he told writer Ron Simpson.

Callum Au was born in 1990 and is of Scottish-Chinese heritage, and spent his formative years in Blackpool. It was his Year Four primary school teacher who handed Au, the tallest boy in the class, the trombone, when she was distributing brass instruments to the youngsters. This lucky chance has, of course, led to a substantial career as an instrumentalist and arranger, much aided by “wonderful teacher” Terry Reaney, formerly a key trumpet soloist with the Syd Lawrence Orchestra who had lately retired from the road. Mr Reaney ran a Monday evening ‘blow’ band opening up his young charges including Au and various semi-pros to the magic of Miles Davis and the great names of jazz. After Oxford University, where he read classics, Au moved to London in 2011 and joined NYJO as a trombonist. He praises Bill Ashton for getting him to start arranging for the band. This way, Au says, he gained, “a huge insight into what works and what doesn’t,” and counts this as a crucial period in his development as an arranger.  

It was through his membership of NYJO that he met multi-instrumentalist Pete Long, a mutually valuable association, with Long, who is the musical director of the Ronnie Scott Jazz Orchestra, also linking with Au in the album and concert ensembles. In turn, Au has held the jazz trombone chair in the Scott orchestra since 2012 and joins Long on his many jazz repertoire recreations. Happy still to take soundtrack sessions as and when and to liaise with trumpeter James Davison in their nifty Jazz-a-Tete quintet, Au nevertheless now sees himself primarily as an arranger, ever-busy, having already built up a formidable reputation in this demanding arena. “I’ve done recent arrangements for artists including Michael Bublé, Jamie Cullum, Metropole Orkesta and Joe Stilgoe,” he says, dropping a few names. He’s looking forward to a week in Germany with the SWR big band in March/April playing his music and that of pianist Daniel Kaeshammer and to tackling compositional commissions for a pair of brass ensembles as well as another for the Tippett String Quartet, led by John Mills.

For now, though, it’s Songs and Stories and this ground-breaking concert that is top of his agenda.  

The Callum Au Orchestra

Karen Jones, Katie Bennington, Nick Moss, Simon Marsh, Jessamy Holder, Martin Williams, Peter Long – woodwinds

Louis Dowdeswell, Tom Walsh, James Davison, Freddie Gavita – trumpets.

Andy Wood, Mark Nightingale, Matt Lewis, Barry Clements – trombones.

Andy Littlemore, Corrine Bailey, Matt Gunner, Philippa Slack – horns.

Owen Slade – tuba. Hugh Webb – harp.

Rob Barron – piano. Tommy Emerton – guitar. Matt Skelton – drums. James Turner – percussion.

John Mills (leader), Jeremy Isaac, Marianne Haynes, Anna Brigham, Ciaran McCabe, Natalia Bonner, Emma Parker, Patrick Savage, Lizzie Ball, Kate Robinson, Everton Nelson, Agata Darashkaite, Magda Loth Hill, Susie Chen – violins.

Lydia Lowndes Northcott, Kate Musker, Anna Cooper, Kay Stephen, Eli Bogdanova – violas.

Bozidar Vukotic, James Barralet, Kirsten Jenson, Chris Terepin – celli.

Laurence Ungless – basses.

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