One such musician was his sister, NYC-based rising star trumpeter Alexandra Ridout. She is a frequent sideperson with such top-drawer musicians as Ingrid Jensen, Dayna Stephens and Jochen Rueckert, and recently led her own group at NYC’s prestigious Jazz Gallery. She had the task of ‘playing’ cornetist Nat on this gig, one of a handful she contributed to at this year’s festival. Alex’s playing is shaped by the tradition of great trumpeters like Freddie Hubbard and Clifford Brown, but is resolutely her own; her punchy, soulful solo on Jimmy Heath’s ‘Big P’ and fluid abstractions over ‘What is This Thing Called Love’ made quite the impression on the sYp audience. 

Continuing the family theme was drummer Lester Ridout, currently an undergraduate at London’s Guildhall School, performing the role of Louis Hayes. Despite his young age, Lester drove the band with fire and imagination. His explosive interaction with both horn players was particularly striking, notably during brother Tom’s intense solo on the record’s first track, ‘Sack O’ Woe’, and later throughout the blazing ‘Our Delight’. 

Eschewing his usual tenor, Tom played alto sax for the whole gig (something he told me he hadn’t done for several years) to get closer to the Adderley sound. His playing has a Cannonball flavour- namely, the bright immediacy of his alto sound and his crisp, clear phrasing. His lengthy solos on ‘Exodus’ and ‘Big P’ showed a startling inventiveness and willingness to push himself and the rhythm section into new territory. Pianist Harry Ashworth– filling the shoes of English pianist Victor Feldman, one of Miles Davis’s pianists in the early 1960s – dropped out and re entered during Tom’s solos several times, allowing the saxophonist space to build his solos with bass and drums. 

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Ashworth had several standout moments of his own, especially his rich chordal solo on Frank Rosolino’s ‘Blue Daniel’ and some Phineas Newborn-esque octaves on ‘Our Delight’. His rhythmic hookup with bassist and current RAM student Guy Dempsey (Sam Jones)- who delivered an unwavering crotchet beat and grounded, melodic improvising throughout the whole evening- provided a consistently high level of energy for the soloists to feed off. 

Overall, this was a highly enjoyable evening of music performed by some of London’s most exciting young up-and-comers. They captured the danceable spirit which makes Cannonball and Nat so recognisable, all the while infusing it with more contemporary developments in jazz. Tom Ridout is running something special in this corner of the city, and it is well worth your time- regular Monday nights resume from next week (2 December). 

(*) Hamley Jenkins says of the drawing above: “Alex makes her trumpet sound like it’s made out of gold, absolutely beautiful!!”

The post The Ridouts play ‘The Cannonball Adderley Quintet at the Lighthouse’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

We were treated to a live version of the whole album, entitled ‘Penelope’, which Marrows self-released in January of this year. A decorated composer, winning the Eddie Harvey Jazz Arranger award and the Dankworth composition prize twice over, Marrows favours fairly through-composed, lush-textured writing with unusual combinations of instruments. For this gig, Gustavo Clayton-Marucci brought the low end with his silky bass clarinet, RAM graduate Olli Martin warmed the ensemble with his trombone, NYJO alumnus Anna Drysdale was on French horn, and Marrows’ cousin once-removed Dijan Mbanu played flute. These orchestral instruments hinted at the influence of Gil Evans, particularly on the hazy, nostalgic ‘The Garden’. Pianist Angus Bayley’s hushed, unhurried solo passages showed Marrows’ leanings towards a classical soundworld.

There are more conventional ‘jazz’ elements to Marrows’ music, however – alto saxophonist Chris Williams, known for his work with Led Bib and a member of the guitarist’s original quartet, took a number of rip-roaring solos, notably on ‘The Nights are Drawing In’. Rising star Tom Ridout brought his muscular tenor to both the title track and to a fiery exchange with trumpeter Mike Soper on ‘L’Heroïsme’. Ben Brown’s drums, a special addition not featured on the original album, helped add to the spontaneous, improvisatory feel of some of the tunes. He also lent infectious Latin and samba feels to ‘The Nights’ and ‘Speedwell’ respectively.

As the band name suggests, the guitarist’s project is a family affair. Some of the music was played to Penny in her final months in a private concert by Marrows, his partner, violist Teresa Macedo Ferreira, his cousin and electric bassist Jonas Mbanu, and flautist Dijan (then only in her GCSE year). The expansion of this initial ensemble to 12 musicians in a sold-out Vortex didn’t take away from this intimacy, but enhanced it – we all learned a little about Penny’s life, and her care and generosity towards her family. Billy even stopped the title track’s introduction after a false start, quipping: ‘one of the things about having a big family is that things don’t always go to plan!’.

The post Billy Marrows ‘A Grande Familia’ band at the Vortex first appeared on UK Jazz News.

UKJazz News: ‘A Grande Familia’, means means ‘a big family’ in Portuguese. There are some of your family in the band, is that right?

Billy Marrows: Yes – the bass player is my cousin Jonas (Mbanu) and he is one of my earliest musical influences. Even when I first started guitar aged 12 he would come round my house and play great music, like John McLaughlin. He’s seven years older than me and he has an amazing knowledge of jazz and jazz fusion- stuff like Steve Coleman. I remember he made me a big folder of CDs with albums by Steve Coleman, Allan Holdsworth, Weather Report and Wayne Krantz. His solo at the start of the title track is one of my favourite moments- the feel is so nice and he crafts such melodic phrases through difficult harmonies.

His niece Dijan Mbanu, who had just done her GCSEs at the time of recording, is also featured on flute, as is my girlfriend Teresa Macedo Ferreira on viola. The reason it’s such a family affair is because in April last year, about three weeks after my mum got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, my aunt’s children decided they were going to organise for their families to come and stay in my parents’ village in North Yorkshire. So we all played some music for my mum on Easter Sunday- I wrote one tune and we played a Hermeto Pascoal tune. That’s when I had the idea to record more music for my mum.

UKJN: Is Hermeto Pascoal a big influence on your composing?

BM: I wouldn’t say he’s my number one influence, but definitely quite a big one. I love Brazilian music but also his melodies are incredible. I like things that have quirky, catchy little melodies. I remember feeling that my melodies were sometimes a bit square- I once looked at some of the tunes I’d written for my quartet and I realised that a lot of them had melodies that started on beat one! So with this larger ensemble I was consciously trying to make things a bit asymmetrical without making it weird for the sake of it. A lot of the melodies I wrote for this album started with me singing or improvising, so coming from more of an intuitive emotional place rather than thinking about it too hard.

UKJN: The record feels totally coherent. Are there common musical ideas which run through it?

BM: I had a setlist in mind before recording the album, so some of the tunes are written to lead into each other. Certain tunes I almost thought of as ‘siblings’ because they have similar thematic material but have different feels. I was inspired by Darcy James Argue’s Brooklyn Babylon, which has a lot of themes which arc over the whole album. Six of the tunes were recorded in one session, and my mum was able to hear them. They were the three large ensemble pieces (‘Nights are Drawing In’, ‘A Grande Familia’ and ‘L’Heroïsme’), the trio with Gustavo and Angus (‘Lambs’), the duo piece with me and Teresa (‘February [Anjo]) and a solo guitar piece, ‘Shenandoah’.

UKJN: That solo piece is a really intimate moment.

BM: We did that in one take. It was right at the end of the session and we didn’t really have time, so I just had to play something, because I really wanted that song on the album. But for me it’s not really about every minute detail being perfect. I’ve enjoyed embracing the human aspect of it, particularly for this album because we did it all in one room, sat in a circle without headphones. I don’t like large ensemble records that sound too polished- there’s something I love about, say, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, with all those strong personalities together.

UKJN: One of the other guitar solo pieces, ‘Be Right Bold’, feels different in tone from some of the other tracks. A little bluesier and earthier.

BM: I purposely put that in a place where it’s a little different to the tracks around it. It comes after the duet, and it’s mastered a little louder than the rest of the album. I remember asking Alex Bonney (mix/master engineer) whether he thought it was too loud when we first listened back, but he said he thought it suited the effect of the tune. The sound works with the title, ‘Be Right Bold’, which is an expression that my grandad said to my mum to give her confidence when she was unsure about doing something. She used to say it to me too! So I really wanted to have a piece which was a bit more strident- it’s quite inspired by Wayne Krantz.

UKJN: You released the first single ‘A Grande Familia’ in time for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

BM: That’s right. I was doing everything quite fast to meet that deadline. But it can help with the creative process to not have too much time. There are things which looking back I think ‘how did we get all that done in time?’, bearing in mind how long things can often take when making an album.

UKJN: All the cover art- for the album and the singles- was created by your mum, is that right?

BM: My mum was a talented painter and drawer, but her work wasn’t exhibited much. It feels really nice albeit a bit sad that lots more people are seeing these artworks through the album and single covers. We actually decided on some of the pictures we were going to use when she was still alive.

UKJN: All the proceeds from the record are going to World Child Cancer. What made you choose that charity?

BM: When my mum was ill, she felt really grateful for all the services she had access to. The local doctor and nurses came round a lot to help her to manage her pain and the occupational therapist helped her get a downstairs shower installed for free. It got my mum thinking how many people around the world with cancer are less fortunate, so I thought about donating the money we made from selling the record to a cancer charity. I heard about World Child Cancer on the radio and their appeal was really moving- I learned that only 10% of children who get cancer in developing countries are cured, compared with 80% in developed countries. Their cause seemed so necessary and they work in several countries around the world, so I thought it would be great to contact them about the album.

In memory of Penny Marrows 1951-2023

Sam Norris is a London-based saxophonist, composer and writer

Tickets for the album launch at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho on 13 May / (Sold out / Returns Only)

The post Billy Marrows and A Grande Família – debut album ‘Penelope’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

UKJazz News: First off- the record sounds fantastic. What made you want to do a live recording rather than go into the studio with these bands? 

Alex Hitchcock: It was a few things- my first record, ‘Live at the London and Cambridge Jazz Festivals’ was a live recording which we did back in 2017. That was the first band I had and I’ve always wanted to do another one. It was a case of getting everybody together on three consecutive nights and wanting to get that spontaneity, the reactivity. Capturing the audience vibe in the room is really important. It’s an interesting way to make a record- I thought of new combinations of people that I hadn’t worked with in the same band before, but also included some established combinations like Lewis [Wright] and Kit [Downes]. I wanted to get a real mix. I thought if we played the music once on the day and then recorded it live then it would feel super fresh. 

UKJN: What are some of your favourite live albums and did any of them have a direct inspiration on you? 

AH: A lot of my favourite albums are live albums! I’m not sure any of them were directly inspiring, more just the concept of a live album. Like that Wes Montgomery album ‘Smoking at the Half Note’ where you can literally hear the club’s phone ringing and that’s a part of the fabric of the recording. Similarly, there’s a Joshua Redman one at the Village Vanguard [Spirit of the Moment] and you can hear the audience reacting to it and how that really shapes the music. I listen back to the recording from the Vortex and I can hear Rachael Cohen shouting, I can hear Myele Manzanza shouting, and I was asking Sonny Johns who mixed and recorded it to keep those bits in and not try to get rid of them. It feels quite ‘London’ in that sense- there are a lot of London musicians in the audience. 

UKJN: Why the Vortex? 

AH: It’s such a special room to play in, especially when it’s packed. It’s a combination of a very listening audience but also a very enthusiastic and often quite vocally supportive audience. It made sense as a venue to capture that live vibe. The option of recording up against the side wall meant we almost had the gig in the round- that helped to create a better atmosphere because the audience were so close to the band and as a musician you’re feeding off the energy of that. 

UKJN: Where does the name ‘Dream Band’ come from? Is it just because you’ve put together 3 bands of your favourite musicians, or is there another layer to it? The music often sounds quite dreamy, especially the band with Liselotte Östblom and Rob Luft. 

AH: That’s not a coincidence- it’s something that came out of recording the music for the first ‘Dream Band’ album [which came out in 2021]. I think listening back to some of that music after we’d mixed and mastered it, it did have that slight ethereal quality, particularly the way Midori Jaeger played on cello. It’s exactly the same on this album, particularly the band with Liselotte and Rob- I was really pleased with how that group came out in terms of the texture and the sound world. I tried to get that abstract, surreal sense to come across in the album art as well. I wanted to undercut any sentimentality in the idea of ‘dream band’ by having all these multiple possible dream bands- there are infinite combinations you could make of the musicians we are surrounded by. I’m not arguing that there’s one ultimate dream band! 

UKJN:What did you have in mind when you chose these combinations of musicians? 

AH: Some of it was about trying new combinations- for example I’d played with Mark Kavuma and Rob Luft separately, but I’d never heard them together before and I thought that would be really interesting. There are some combinations who know each other well, like Rio [Kai] and Jamie [Murray], Orlando [le Fleming] and James [Maddren], me and James Copus– we go back ages! It was also partly just when I was writing- I was allowing myself to think of people who I knew and whose playing I really loved, which dictated a lot of the music. I was composing all the material pretty strictly with specific musicians in mind. Because you’re asking quite a lot of people by getting them to perform music that they’ve only rehearsed once that day. You trust them, and you want to write things that you hope will stretch them and that they’ll feel excited by playing.  

UKJN: Do you have plans for more with any of these bands, or do you think you’d do another album with the ‘Dream Band’ concept? 

AH: I definitely want to do another record in the series and I think it would be a studio recording. I’ve got in mind that the next one will be with just one band, and it might be a US iteration because I’m going to be spending some time there over the next year. The concept is always different combinations of musicians that I haven’t had on these albums before, so I wouldn’t do it with a band I’d already recorded, it would be a new one. 

The post Alex Hitchcock – new album ‘Dream Band’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

The record opens with the striking opening chords of ‘Falling Up’, an exciting tune which ventures through an eclectic range of feels. The band flows through an open-ended free-up before lapsing into dark modal swing, eventually settling on a driving, repetitive rhythm. Altoist Szymon Ziółkowski and double bassist Mikołaj Sikora share an interesting paired improvisation during this third section, the latter’s bowed melodies complementing the saxophonist’s keening sound. 

‘Przebudzenia’, which translates as ‘Awakenings’, starts with a pensive solo intro from Leśniak, calling to mind Bill Evans. The melody- performed in unison by Ziółkowski and tenor saxophonist Robert Wypasek– is one of haunting beauty, occasionally punctuated by brush flourishes from drummer Piotr Przewoźniak. It is also Przewoźniak’s thunderous drums which drive the chaotic closing minutes of this tune, featuring soaring, intertwined melodies from both saxophonists. 

The aptly named ‘Ace of Bass’ sees bassist Mikołaj Sikora come into his own, his deep, woody tones setting up a brooding minor swing. This one has a more straight-ahead sensibility, the rhythm section digging in under Leśniak’s swaggering phrases. Ziółkowski and Wypasek take more of a back seat here, playing the melody only- the spotlight is firmly on piano, bass and drums, who craft a beguiling groove together. 

Thelonious Monk’s ‘Pannonica’ is the only non-original tune on the album and gets a modernistic treatment from Horntet. A mysterious extended sax duo kicks things off before being interrupted by a spiky rhythmic pattern- this forms the basis for an intricate interpretation of Monk’s melody. Wypasek then proceeds to take the group into outer space with a virtuosic solo.  

Horntet are a jazz quintet who are not afraid to explore contrasting musical ideas. This debut shows they are well on their way to crafting an individual sound which combines elements of the hard bop tradition with both anarchic free jazz and contemporary grooves. 

‘Horntet’ was made possible with the support of Poland’s Jazz Phonographic Debut programme, organised by the National Institute of Music and Dance. 

Band: Szymon Ziółkowski – alto and soprano saxophones / Piotr Przewoźniak- drums / Robert Wypasek- tenor and soprano saxophones / Bartłomiej Leśniak- piano  / Mikołaj Sikora – double bass 

The post Horntet – ‘Horntet’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Sam Norris asked them to reflect on their own roles and priorities as competition jurors, what they looking for in the contestants. They also consider more broadly how competitions work. Peter Bernstein noted that : “This is a snapshot of where the contestants are at the moment” As Romain Pilon commented, “You never know…everybody’s story is different.”

UKJazz News: Good morning both- thank you for sitting down with me. How was it being a judge in this year’s competition?  

Peter Bernstein: There was so much great musicianship on display. It’s tough to choose between the contestants as they are all totally different musicians with different strengths and weaknesses. A bit like comparing apples and oranges… what seems to be the ripest? I might prefer oranges, but this orange seems a little green, and this apple is ready to go, so I go for the apple.  

Romain Pilon: They all sounded really good, with different approaches to the guitar and it was a pleasure listening to all of them. There was one contestant in particular whose playing felt so easy, like he just woke up and picked up the guitar and played whatever he would play at home. It was really spontaneous and relaxed, it blew my mind actually. And there was another guy who was more intense when he played, I really appreciated his musicality and his choice of repertoire, which was very important in this competition context.  

UKJN: It felt really powerful, like what he was doing was authentic to him.  

PB: That’s what’s so fascinating- peoples’ personality really comes through in their playing.  

RP: It’s also accepting yourself and asking ‘who am I?’. Young musicians may love one guy’s playing so much that they think it’s the only way to approach the instrument… it takes years and also some courage to let your voice speak out and trust what you really hear and most of all who you really are. Where you’re coming from and embrace all your various influences.  It’s a long road and it’s hard not to care about what others might think- it’s almost like you have to create some kind of bubble around you to help you stay on your path.  

PB: Really, to play music is a journey to try to get to the place where you play what you play because you have to. As opposed to the self-conscious thing of ‘whose licks should I steal to make me in vogue?’ One of the guys was telling he’d been listening to a lot of Bobby Broom and I could tell, and that means that what he played was honest because it’s in his head right now.  

UKJN: Did you mark the contestants on the way they interacted with the house band (bassist Adam Kowalewski and drummer Grzegorz Palka) or on their playing alone?  

PB: Their ensemble playing definitely factored in. The contestants that listened to the rhythm section, left some space for conversation, automatically sounded more musical. Cats played for 20 minutes – who would I want to hear play for 10 more minutes? Or 20 more minutes? That’s not necessarily always the most technically accomplished player, but whoever’s making it a more enjoyable listening experience for me, which is totally subjective.  

UKJN: Competitions like this must give an interesting insight into the process of finding one’s own voice as an improviser.  

PB: This is a snapshot of where the contestants are at the moment. If they can step back from it and take their ego out of it, not asking the question ‘did I win or did I lose?’ then they may be able to see it as part of a bigger process. That’s true for the people that won too- they shouldn’t trip on that. They got the highest grade on the test, but that doesn’t mean that somebody who failed the test can’t turn around and make innovations in the field.  

RP: These things take lots of time. I remember playing with Lionel Loueke twenty some years ago and he didn’t sound anything like Lionel now. You could really hear [George] Benson and [Pat] Martino in his playing! This was when he was in his mid-twenties I believe, so it’s what you may consider late in a musician’s development! You never know, everybody’s story is different. 

PB: I heard a similar thing about Al Foster. He was playing like Art Taylor, he was a young guy on scene learning what you’re supposed to learn in order to work. But then he heard Tony [Williams] who’s a couple of years younger, and Jack DeJohnette came on the scene, and they were playing differently to the older guys, adding to the language. So Al said I’ll take some time off and develop my own thing, and if that doesn’t happen then I’ll just quit. But he was also around at a time when people had personalities and it was less about virtuosity and more about your own original sound. 

UKJN: Do you think individuality is becoming less valued as a whole in jazz?  

PB: I think because there’s more virtuosity and everybody plays their instrument super well, the level of mastery goes up. But it can also follow that there’s a certain sameness to how people can just obliterate their instrument. As opposed to in the swing era- even before bebop, which required a level of virtuosity- when the emphasis was on how to stand out in a big band. How do you play your one chorus and make a statement? 

RP: There was one contestant who stuck out as definitely developing his own sound. He didn’t sound too much like a guitar player to me- he sounds quite like a piano player, almost like Oscar Peterson. The timefeel was really on top of the beat and he was playing these bebop lines, but it didn’t really sound like a guitar player, which was interesting.  

UKJN: Great to hear originality is alive and well at the competition! Finally, how well did you know Jarek Smietana’s (*) music before being asked to judge the competition?  

PB: I’d heard of him as I met Jarek’s daughter Alicja through Larry Goldings, and Larry had met Jarek when he was on the road with [John] Scofield. That was a while ago though, because Jarek passed away 10 years ago, so I didn’t really learn about his music until after he passed. I’ve listened to his recordings as I was curious about how he played, and it was interesting to listen to the contestants play his tunes.   

RP: I did a concert last year in Warsaw with the guitarist (and past Smietana competition winner) Szymon Mika. We played one specific recording by Smietana, the one with [John] Abercrombie*. We played the whole album as a tribute to him, so that’s how I discovered his music. The concert was recorded on Polish national radio.   

UKJN: Thank you both for sitting down and talking with us, and for coming over to Krakow to judge the competition.  

(*) ’Speak Easy’, 1999, PAO Records

(*) The competition is held in honor of (Polish guitarist) Jarek Smietana, and contestants in the competition had to play a Smietana composition as part of their three-tune set).

Sam Norris was a guest of the Jarek Smietana Competition.

The post Interview with Guitarists/Competition Jurors Peter Bernstein and Romain Pilon first appeared on UK Jazz News.

This year’s winner is Ohad Niceberg, an Israeli jazz guitarist who splits his time between New York and Tel Aviv. He recently completed a year of study with Pakistani-American guitarist Rez Abbasi at Manhattan’s New School. Performing a varied programme, Ohad caught the jury’s attention with his fluid phrasing and harmonic sophistication. Highlights included his own composition, “Song for Wayne”, and a virtuosic solo rendition of “All or Nothing at All”.

Niceberg was also awarded the opportunity to perform at next year’s Summer Jazz Festival in Krakow, produced by the My Polish Heart Foundation.

The other prizewinners were:

2nd place prize: Mateus Saldanha (Portugal)
3rd place prize: Ben Turner (USA)
Special prize for best interpretation of a Jarek Smietana composition: Raphael Silverman (USA)

The other finalists were:

James Zito (USA)
Konrad Malinowski (USA)
Pawel Krawiec (Poland)

The post Ohad Niceberg wins 2023 Smietana International Jazz Guitar Comp. in Krakow first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Jean ‘Toots’ Thielemans (1922-2016) was a jazz musician and composer like no other. Born in the Marolles district of Brussels, ‘Toots’ became known primarily for his original improvisational approach on the harmonica, an instrument with very few exponents in the jazz canon. He brought his unmistakable sound to recordings by the likes of Charlie Parker, Bill Evans and Jaco Pastorius, as well as to dozens of his own albums.  

Toots was also a formidable guitarist, notably as part of the legendary British pianist George Shearing’s quintet from 1953-9, and even an occasional whistler (see his rendition of Wayne Shorter’s Footprints from 1990). He penned compositions ranging from the immortal lilting waltz  Bluesette, to the Latin ballad Lady Fingers, to the score for the 1974 Swedish animated film Dunderklumpen!  This musical versatility, coupled with his quirky, warm personality, enabled Toots to become a household name in Belgium; he cultivated an enormous fan base during his lifetime and was made a Baron by King Albert II in 2001.  

His remarkable achievements are currently being celebrated in Brussels by Toots 100, an ongoing programme of concerts and exhibitions marking the musician’s centenary year. As part of this I was fortunate to attend two sold-out concerts held on the weekend of the centenay itself, which paid tribute to his music, and also to visit an extensive exhibition about his life and work at the Royal Library of Belgium. These events made up only a fraction of the programme for the celebrations, but they certainly left me feeling- in the words of the Toots 100 exhibition website- that I had ‘learned more about the man behind the legend’.

The first gig was in the grand BOZAR concert hall. Roel Vanhoeck, BOZAR’s music programmer, told me beforehand that it was the kind of gig they ‘only let him put on once a year’. When he explained the vast scope of the concert it was easy to see why; the first half was to feature the 20-piece Brussels Jazz Orchestra (BJO), and the second was to be performed by the Dutch Metropole Orkest, which is around four times larger. The concert would also showcase renowned special guests, including noted pianist Kenny Werner, Belgian guitarist and Toots collaborator and good friend, London-born Philip Catherine, Toots-influenced harmonica player Gregoire Maret and South African vocalist Tutu Puoane. It was to be a ‘challenging night for the audio engineers’, Vanhoeck smiled.

The BJO performed a series of well-crafted arrangements of Toots classics in the first half. Among the highlights was a lush rendition of Gershwin’s The Man I Love, gutsily interpreted by vocalist Tutu Puoane. BJO pianist Nathalie Loriers’s arrangement put the colours of the band’s woodwind section (namely bass clarinet and flute) on full display, and featured a suitably winding, serpentine flugelhorn solo. The shuffle swinger Dance for Victor was another high point. Guests Philip Catherine and Gregoire Maret were able to stretch out during a bluesy duo introduction here, Catherine in his typically restrained, lyrical style and Maret with a frenetic virtuosity.  

This was followed by Jaco Pastorius’ 3 Views Of A Secret, a soulful jazz waltz popularised by Toots during the early 1980s. The BJO’s version featured another energetic Maret solo, this time backed by Pierre Drevet’s richly orchestrated arrangement and some explosive comping from the rhythm section. The final tune of the set was a tender ballad dedicated to Huguette, Toots’ widow, who was in the audience. Toots often said the most important things in his life were music and his wife, and the expressive peaks and troughs of this arrangement reflected his passion for both.

The Metropole Orkest, under the baton of Vince Mendoza, graced the stage for the second half. ‘Toots’ music is about bringing people together’ said Mendoza in his introductory remarks; the audience’s cheers on recognising the most well-known numbers were testament to this. The orchestra used the second half to work through more of Toots’ most recognisable anthems in their signature pops-orchestra style. These included The Dolphin, a relaxed Latin number featuring a fluid, well-integrated solo from pianist Kenny Werner, and Old Friend, a touching tribute by Toots to his father. Maret not only filled the shoes of his idol during this latter piece, but stamped his own musical personality on it.

Puoane’s powerful vocals were once again featured for a swinging version of Charlie Chaplin’s Smile. I was impressed by Dutch drummer Martijn Vink, whose playing lent the band an unerring sense of forward motion throughout the piece. Brazilian actor and vocalist Claudio Lins and his more famous father Ivan Lins then joined the stage for the last few numbers of the evening. Among the best were the classic Bluesette, played in an intimate duo between Werner and Ivan Lins, and a rousing encore of Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World. Ivan summed up the mood in the room perfectly after this one: ‘we love you, Toots’.

The second concert, branded as ‘Toots Revisited’, was at Jazz Station, a state-of-the-art jazz venue in the Saint-Josse-ten-Noode district of Brussels, and a focal point for the local scene. The band was a new septet led by Belgian pianist Eve Beuvens; their eclectic set explored Toots tunes as well as original compositions, ranging in style from bebop to funk to exploratory free jazz. The opener, Toots’ uptempo swinger Scotch on the Rocks, featured blazing, boppy solos from altoist Bruno Vansina and baritonist Vincent Brijs. Both saxophonists continued to impress with their virtuosity throughout the gig. Also of note was trumpeter and flugelhornist Thomas Mayade, whose fiery solos (particularly on Toots’ Latin Quarter) spurred the rhythm section on to greater levels of intensity with their comping. Leader Beuvens and drummer Pierre Hurty contributed thoughtful, engaging solos in the second half especially.

This opportunity to attend the centenary celebrations left me with a real sense of the man and his reasons for making music. His generosity of spirit is as  abundantly clear in his musical output as it is in the dozens of letters on display at the Toots 100 exhibition. Toots’ genius lay in his capacity to draw people in and, crucially, to bring them together, regardless of whether they consider themselves ‘jazz’ fans or not. The exhibition curators, concert programmers and other minds behind Toots 100 are doing a brilliant job of communicating Toots’ legacy.

Sam Norris attended the #Toots100 events as the guest of Brussels Tourism

The post #Toots100 (Toots Thielemans Centenary Celebrations in Brussels) first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Mars finds the altoist in a more intimate setting, supported by relatively less well-known guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi, originally from Washington state, and now based in Brooklyn. The duo work their way through a set of 12 of Berne’s imaginative yet concise compositions, none much longer than five minutes. The brevity of the tunes is no barrier to exploration, however, with tracks such as ‘Rose Bowl Charade’ seeing the pair improvise tantalisingly around the edges of Berne’s esoteric melody before converging upon it at completely unexpected moments. ‘Microtuna’ is another highlight; the pair build in intensity throughout its frenetic melody, Belisle-Chi’s acoustic guitar imitating Berne a fraction after the altoist plays his phrase. Belisle-Chi continues this complex polyphony during an incendiary improvised passage from Berne, characterised by his typically expressive upper register and colourful intonation. 

The opening of ‘Rabbit Girl’ is almost tonal but this is quickly obscured by some left-of-centre note choices from Berne, who opens the floodgates into more chromatic territory. Belisle-Chi deserves an honourable mention here, as he does throughout, for his consistently creative counterpoint to Berne’s highly idiomatic improvising. He is the perfect foil to the altoist rhythmically and harmonically, as comfortable descending into the improvisational rabbit-hole as he is gradually developing one of Berne’s complex motifs over the course of a song – see the short-but-sweet ‘Giant Squids’. Another gem is ‘Dark Shadows’, an almost contemporary classical-sounding piece prefaced by a solo passage from Berne, his alto taking on an airy timbre reminiscent of the late Lee Konitz. 

This album is challenging to sum up in words as it needs repeated listens to fully grasp the intensely personal musical language Berne and Belisle-Chi have developed as a duo. They move seamlessly between written material and improvised passages, referencing and manipulating motifs to create constantly shifting moods. Mars’s producer David Torn describes the record as ‘boomeranging-thru-perfectly-formless-to-perfect-form’- it achieves an ideal balance between these two extremes, visiting and lavishing every shade in between. 

The post Tim Berne and Gregg Belisle-Chi  – ‘Mars’  first appeared on UK Jazz News.