UKJazz News: Your family were singers; you started on violin and the trumpet – what led you to take up the guitar?

JJ Sansaverino: We all loved music so much when I was growing up. I heard the Beatles, Sinatra, a little bit of opera, and lots of Motown. I started playing those instruments because they were in the public school programme, and I enjoyed it. I found an old guitar in a closet and it had a couple of strings, and I started messing around on it. That was 47 years ago! I started taking some lessons and ended up getting into the Berklee School of Music in Boston. That’s when everything changed for me because I became a more educated player. We loved jazz- we would hear Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Ahmad Jamal.

It’s interesting when you’re playing the theme of a song on your instrument- if it’s something like a Miles Davis or Santana or George Benson song, the notes are relatively cut and dried. With the guitar, you can listen to it and learn it. When it comes to learning songs by singers it’s a lot more interpretive. It’s harder, but it gives your voice more soul and expression, like it’s a guitar voice.

UKJN: What is it about Carlos Santana and George Benson that you love?

JJS: Santana’s playing is some of the best, because he plays rock, but he also has that Latin, soul and R&B sound. I love traditional jazz but I don’t like to perform it on stage as much- it just doesn’t have the passion of soul and R&B. So that’s why I gravitated towards smooth jazz, because it gives you the freedom to play any kind of music instrumentally. I was always into world music- Latin, reggae, coupled with the rock guitar sound. When you listen to jazz, and the band is really swinging hard, and the trumpet player is holding this note, it’s so powerful. With the jazz guitar, when you hit the note it fades. When you have a rock sound, you can bend that and you can get the same expression.

If you go to a traditional jazz show, they usually start out with something relatively uptempo to get going and they might switch to a ballad and a Latin-oriented piece. So they’re taking you on a journey but it’s still within certain guidelines: the street is only so wide and the umbrella is only so large. With smooth jazz, not only does the mood change with the tempo, you can electrify with a little more rock sound; you can drop some reggae in there. You can capture all these different genres under that smooth jazz sound.

UKJN: I wondered if there was some Jeff Beck in your playing?

JJS: Oh boy! I loved Jeff Beck- he was so interesting. I think he was one of the most underrated guitar geniuses out there.

UKJN: You’ve talked about your musicians having “conversations” with each other onstage, swapping improvised phrases?

JJS: Music is a true language: somebody is writing all that music down, we’re reading it and we’re speaking it. We’re having a conversation and it’s fun. [sings improvised phrases] We’re not switching topics; the themes should have a cohesiveness to them. The debate may increase, or we might push each other’s buttons and say things that maybe are controversial.

UKJN: You have some strong melodies in your writing.

JJS: I really wanna have stronger, bigger melodies. A lot of the time people just brush over the melody content in their verses so as not to make it too complex. The melody has to be strong in order to make the message and story fun and interesting. If it’s a fun kind of a groove, nice tempo, that’s great but the meat and potatoes has to be the melody.

UKJN: So many different styles come together in your grooves.

JJS: Well, you know in New York right outside the window you’ll hear a guy blasting salsa music; you’ll hear a guy playing Guns N’ Roses, or reggae- it can all inspire you. A lot of what I write comes from what I’m hearing day-to-day. I write a lot of my music without instruments- I write a lot of it in my head first. Usually when I have the song 70-80% composed in my head, I go to my studio and start to lay it down and piece it together- the solidness of what was already in my head stays there.

UKJN: Do you arrange all the tracks yourself, including the horns?

JJS: Getting that education at music college was a really intense time. In those days, there were no computers to print things out for you. If I was writing an arrangement for a 25-piece big band, which I was doing a lot of- 4 trumpets, 5 saxophones, 4 trombones and rhythm section with a small orchestra- it would take days and days. I write music constantly; I wanna get that music out there, and I like to do the arrangements and the production myself. I love to really put my signature sound on the finished product. The only thing that I don’t do is the final mix-I send that off and let them clean it up and make it go.

UKJN: Have you played at Nell’s before?

JJS: This will be my very first time performing in London as solo JJ Sansaverino. I performed with Maxi Priest numerous times in London at the O2 and the Jazz Café. London is a city which holds music in high regard. I’m really excited to bring a beautiful show with all this energy and musicality so that my friends across the pond can get to experience it.

I truly love what I do, and fuels me. As a little kid, I always prayed to God, “Please, this what I wanna do!” All my family members were saying, that’s a great idea but it’s very difficult to make it in the music business. I realised that I had talent, and all I needed to do was be humble, work hard and nurture that talent.

It’s fantastic to let the music do the talking, but I also like to have some chats with the audience. I want everybody to get to know me a little bit. I always like people to know that the only thing we have that is still free in this world is love. I think we need to share that love and make people happy. I love getting on stage and seeing people smile. It makes me feel good that I did something today that’s going to make the world a better place.

JJ Sansaverino, guitar; Orefo Orakwue, bass; Andrew Small, drums; Anita Carmichael, sax; Andrew Noble, keys.

The post JJ Sansaverino (NYC guitarist – Nell’s, West Kensington, London, 16 Sep.) first appeared on UK Jazz News.

UKJazz News: How did you get into jazz?

Tobie Medland: I learned classically as a kid. Then I got into hip hop, psy-trance (trance) and dance music, and then I started DJing it. Through hip hop I got really into jazz, and I picked up jazz piano. A friend reminded me I could play the violin and introduced me to Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. Jazz and hip hop are quite interlinked – it feels logical in a weird way.

UKJN: You started on piano and moved to violin?

TM: I went through the grades. I have a good friend who is a great guitarist- he plays a lot of Django Reinhardt and we started jamming together. But the piano didn’t quite match the style, so I tried some of the violin stuff. It was quite fun and the rest is history.

UKJN: You set up the Gypsy Jazz Festival in London?

TM: It just kind of happened- the first edition was meant to happen in 2020. I was like, there’s no gypsy jazz festival here, so I just did it. It was quite organic really- it wasn’t like a business decision. It was cancelled, and I brought it back in 2022, so now there have been two editions. They both went really well and sold out across the board.

UKJN: Future Fable is your own record label?

TM: It’s good fun. I was always into producing, so I guess the label is slightly more varied than the Festival is.

UKJN: Your new album came out of your experience of lockdown?

TM: I went on a lot of bike rides out towards Biggin Hill looking at the birds flying around. They had no idea there was a massive pandemic going on – it was quite liberating to watch them. It helped me deal with two close family bereavements. I love Messiaen and Vaughan Williams- a lot of classical composers have written about birds.

UKJN:  How much of The Aviary Part 1 is written and how much improvised? Some of it recalled Debussy.

TM: In a way, more Ravel- the French Impressionists as well as Bartok are my favourites, so I guess when I’m writing in a classical style it sounds like them because I listen to them the most. Some of Debussy’s symphonic poems, like La Mer.

 The strings, the clarinet part and the melodies were written. The clarinet solo was improvised over chord changes. The piano part was partly written, and had chords that Sam Leak improvised on. In the last of the tracks, (The Aviary Parts 2 & 3) the first part was almost entirely free improv with a few little hints- I did a graphic score, just to give the shape. The second part was completely written. Marcus Penrose was the bassist. I literally wrote on the score something along the lines of, “Walk about angrily.” In the second half at least, all the string parts are written. Shostakovich was probably the main inspiration for that one.

UKJN: You really bring dissonant classical music and gypsy jazz together in the last one.

TM: That was the aim- it’s not really something that’s been done a lot, and I thought it would be quite an interesting approach. For the rhythm guitar, similarly to the bass, I just wrote: “chug away!” That style is called “la pompe”, so I just said, “la pompe atonally!”

UKJN: “Murmuration” is about starlings?

TM: Absolutely – inspired by starlings, but more imaginary birds. I was thinking of the concept of birds and fantastic weird things as well. I was trying to depict something.

UKJN: There’s a fine piano solo on this.

TM: Sam Leak is great – it was a real pleasure to work with him

UKJN: And a Django-style guitar solo...

TM: That was Bim Williams – I still haven’t come across a more tasteful arch top guitarist so I always bring him down from Manchester when I can.

UKJN: There are two jazz standards- “Del Sasser” and “Django”.

TM: An album has to fulfil a couple of things: it has to be an artistic thing, but also I do have to get some gigs from it so I thought it would be a good idea to put a more swingy jazzy tune in there. [Cannonball Adderley Quintet’s “Del Sasser”] I love playing more straight ahead jazz. Those tracks were mainly improvised.

UKJN: They sound really different with the gypsy jazz treatment.

TM: “Django” was by the Modern Jazz Quartet and I like the Joe Pass version a lot. He was quite explicitly influenced by Django- Pass is one of my favourites jazz musicians, so I thought it would be a good idea to reference him on the album.

UKJN: How did the band get together?

TM: The band started as a quartet with me, Bim, Sol Grimshaw on rhythm guitar and Marcus on the bass. For this album I wanted a string section so I got in touch with Shirley Smart (cello) and Kit Massey (violin), who I’ve worked with quite a bit. Shirley recommended Helen Sanders-Hewitt who played the viola and pianist Sam Leak is well-known on the scene. Tom Smith, who’s on clarinet, is an old friend.

UKJN: Some of the classical composers used folk tunes – how does that connect with gypsy jazz?

TM: That’s an interesting link. Gypsy jazz does very much stem from a folk tradition. It has dual influences: the influence of jazz, going all the way back to Django Reinhardt, who was very much into Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and those guys. It also comes directly from Romani music from Central Europe. Benjamin Britain and Vaughan Williams use Celtic folk music and it still has the same logic to it. A lot of Bartok’s music might as well be gypsy jazz- there is a massive connection there.

UKJN: Which violinists do you admire?

TM: When listening to jazz I usually favour pianists, guitarists and saxophonists: Joe Pass, Bill Evans, Chick Corea. When it comes to violinists, Jean-Luc Ponty, Stephane Grappelli, Didier Lockwood. Anglo-Parisian Daniel John Martin has been a mentor over the years. There’s a guy who works in Paris at the moment called Florin Niculescu. Jason Anick from America is one of my favourites of the current ones.

UKJN: Have you studied writing string arrangements?

TM: I studied Composition and Philosophy at university. It comes naturally. I find it quite a practical way to express myself in music. I know the instruments, what they can do and how strings sound together.

In my mind, I wanted to evoke an almost physical realm. I was trying to describe a faraway planet, and the only things in that world would be birds. It’s a world where humans and their problems don’t exist, with all these birds flying around getting on with their lives – mystical and magical.

The post Tobie Medland – new album ‘The Aviary’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

 Korean drummer Sun-Mi Hong’s Amsterdam-based Quintet (Jul 3) was due to play in Bolzano/Bozen’s amphitheatre  Parco Semirurali, open to the elements. A dramatic mountain storm meant the organisers had to improvise a last minute alternative- a modern concert hall in the depths of a nearby school. The drums opened, sonorous and stately with mallets, an Afro-Latin feel with an Eastern cymbal sound. (Although Hong doesn’t deliberately draw on Korean influences.) Dreamy trumpet (Scottish Alistair Robert Payne) and tenor (Nicolò Francesco Ricci) slid over the soft hip hop. The bass solo (Italian Alessandro Fongaro) followed the open modal chords beautifully. Another piece had sax and trumpet sparking angular phrases off each other, with broad piano ripples. (Chaerin Im– Korea) Everyone played the plangent melody- including the drums. The descending bass line fell then jumped back up only to fall again. The trumpet solo drew clear shapes over the pixilated background of free bass and drums. Another piece featured grand piano with gospel-edged chords. The horns pulled the notes from the centre and harmonised them. The piano solo had ruminative, spiky rhythms- intriguingly Ligeti-like. Escapism’s piano trills created shimmering overtones, taking us into her world. Trumpet and sax squeals embellished Hong’s gentle brushes like a dawn chorus. Blind had darker harmonies, tenor playing a sweet theme over gentle piano chords, with superb drumming as they exploded into double time. Letter with No Words (from her father finally supporting her “fight to be a drummer”) was understated and meditative as the slow burning energy increased.

Bolzano/Bozen’s Batzen Sudwerk Ca’ de Bezzi hosted the late night gigs in its atmospheric cellar. In KRY, (Jul 3) Austrians Alexander Yannilos (drums) and Philipp Kienberger (bass guitar) laid down the grooves for Iranian clarinettist Mona Riahi. No 1 had long bass guitar notes moving into bumpy clarinet synth sounds, like an EWI. Later, you could hear the clarinet’s natural tone but it was still enhanced over the driving groove. As the clarinet improvised, it was hard to tell which instrument was producing which sound but it didn’t feel important. The second piece (No 3) was fun, with a funky feel, the bass stalking behind light lively clarinet. Twit was full of synth swirls immersed in fabulously inventive drumming and arpeggiated bass. Riahi’s piece I Am My Body was prefaced by a poem, which gave it context. A spacious, beautiful melody unfolded over slow funk. Later, sticks scraped on cymbals with thundery drum beats; the bassist scratched the strings high on the neck. The clarinet floated on top of a big menacing synth groove.

Getting to see DUO IN 人 (Jul 4) was like a jazz journey to the centre of the earth. Bunker H had been a WW11 air raid shelter, with labyrinthine paths hewn into the rock under the mountain. Rock falls and graffiti were lit by coloured lights, and Korean drummer Sun-Mi Hong and Scottish trumpeter Alistair Robert Payne were bathed in red light at the back of a cavernous space. Hong’s percussive sounds reverberated along the tunnel; the trumpet at times had a breathy tone more like a flugel. The drums were melodic with a variety of deep tones, contrasting with the trumpet’s rhythmic yearning scales. (“It’s beautiful here but it really scares me,” he said.) He made unearthly sounds with his hand in front of the bell; Hong played lots of tiny percussive beats like scree falling down the mountain. Payne played as if soloing over chords in his head, referencing older trumpeters, like Woody Shaw and Clifford Brown. The cymbals were like stalactites dripping as Payne walked back into the red light.

Late that evening, back down in the cellar at Batzen Sudwerk Ca’ de Bezzi, Sun-Mi Hong was improvising with Austrian bassist Lukas Kranzelbinder and Iranian clarinettist Mona Riahi. Kranzelbinder has talked about the importance of repeated grooves and phrases to build energy. He’s studied Moroccan music, and the drums responded brilliantly to his earthy grooves; long electronically-enhanced clarinet notes brought them together. The drums played a samba feel across the beat with bubbling clarinet sounds. A bass solo was meditative, played like a kalimba; in the next phase he played an actual kalimba. The clarinet and drums settled into patterns with a  mesmeric, Steve Reichian vibe. Alistair Robert Payne and  José Soares guested with them on trumpet and sax on the last piece, all crescendoing into a funky groove.

The next night in Batzen Sudwerk Ca’ de Bezzi, (Jul 5) Brussels band Don Kapot were improvising with fellow Belgian Fulco Otterwanger, describing their music as a “mix of krautrock and jazz.” Viktor Perdieus’ bass sax made tongued sounds; Ottervanger‘skeyboard synth was full of effects; Giotis Damianidis’ (from Greece) bass guitar strutted in with a bouncy riff; Jakob Warmenbol’s strong bass drum beat upwards through the floor. They played a series of asymmetrical time signatures, cerebral but fun, as a basis for improvisation throughout the gig. Perdieus moved to bamboo clarinet in a slow minor prog jazz piece, with overtones of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew. Ottervanger changed to guitar, with vocalisations somewhere between Robert Plant and Kate Westbrook. Perdieus played a blues on harmonica, and later Ottervanger played a keyboard solo that sounded like metal guitar. Damianidis sometimes strummed the bass behind synth splurges.

It was a dazzling range of bands in well-chosen venues.

The post Suedtirol JazzFestival Alto Adige (Part 3 of 3) first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Mountains surround you in the Italian city of Bolzano/Bozen. (in the Suedtirol names are in German and Italian.) The Festival organisers match venue with gig carefully: the mountains affect the way you experience the music, and perhaps the way it’s played too. The “base camp” is in the Parco Cappuccini Park, a walled grassy space with Medieval-style tents to keep out the sun and rain, where you can buy food and local wines. Many evening gigs took place on the raised stage with a dramatic mountain backdrop.

Singer/pianist KID BE KID from Berlin took total command of the stage. (Jul. 2) Like Alicia Keys, she played classically-influenced grand piano with R&B beats- all improvised, from old-fashioned Moog sounds to EDM bass drops. Her voice was lighter and breathier than Keys’, but still soulful in the evening’s sultry heat. She got the audience to sing long notes to back her, as she whooped freely like Bjork.  Another piece nicely contrasted delicate vocals with beatbox backbeats and eerie piano overtones. Naked Times, about “being honest to others and to yourself,” had quavery synth notes and spiky, emotive Satie-esque piano. Gospelly jazz chords introduced an anti-love song. Synth sounds created vapour trails behind the high throaty voice. Move was a positive song with a tricksy time signature, about bringing change. She tapped her face to make rhythmic sounds. Hold my Hand was full of dreamy glissando piano while News Feeds invoked Herbie Hancock, interspersed with a 4 on the floor club vibe.  The encore with its dubstep influences got the audience singing- and we didn’t want to stop.

The following evening (Jul 3) Norwegian drummer Gard Nilssen’s Acoustic Unity took to the same stage, their music as stormy as the weather. His solo picked up the sound of the heavy rain on the tent. Swedish bassist Petter Eldh played freely, while Kjetil Mester (Norway) played Coltrane-ish gravelly baritone. The sax’ vibrato grew more throaty, more Albert Ayler, as the time shifted around, with neat bass and sax unison riffs. Eldh moved freely along the bass’ neck but always returned to the root, everyone slightly out of sync with each other. Mester moved to tenor in another piece with an impossible time signature and an incredibly full drum sound, all urging each other on to ever freer phrases as lightning lit up the mountains. The Ironically titled Acoustic Dance Music started with a wild flash of slap-tongued tenor, bass and drums chasing each other into very fast swing. In a piece by Eldh, the restless bass circled round Mester’s clarinet trills; grooves slipped together with the huge presence to compete with the storm. In Boogie, the baritone eased sounds from the maelstrom in a lopsided Afro-Latin feel, till an Ornette Coleman quirky melody emerged. The storm joined in. 

Early the next evening (Jul 4) the music was given a sense of otherness by incredible views from high up in the mountains. Bassist/vocalist Ruth Goller (from Suedtirol, living in London) and US saxophonist/vocalist Dan Kinzelman (living in Italy) had a three-day residency at the Stanglerhof restaurant and performed a long seamless piece with many stages. Goller’s high clear voice and electric bass harmonised with the keening sax, full of reverb. She leaned into her bass, and Kinzelman swung from side to side with intense vibrato. The bass roamed the chords, sometimes played more like a guitar, the electronic effects like an aura of energy. Kinzelman sang too, with melancholy long harmony notes. He moved to clarinet, thickened with effects, as Goller scraped the bass strings with a rocky distorted timbre. “No-one can take this away from us now,” they sang. In a change of mood, his tenor cut through the insistent bass groove with oriental scales. Goller crouched on the floor, looping effects, till they were left with just breath sounds- cries and whispers. Her voice sounded natural and folk-edged, as Kinzelman’s bass clarinet played deep notes underneath, in a mix of punky defiance and vulnerability.

Back in the Parco Cappuccini later that evening were French trio NOUT with Swedish guest saxophonist Mats Gustafsson. The angelic Rafaëlle Rinaudo’s delicate harp burst into flames with thrash metal.  Gustafsson duetted on flute with main flautist Delphine Joussein, a dreamy lull before the storm, blending folk and free jazz, with shades of Eric Dolphy. Blanche Lafuente’s drums came in freely, in a prog rock mode of alternating between acoustic folk and hard rock. A big rock blast (with dry ice, of course) subverted traditional sedate ideas of women playing harp and flute- almost mischievously comic, but musically very serious. Joussein’s fast cycles of notes had bright overtones, evoking forest sounds with the harp, till baritone and drums crashed vividly in. Sometimes, the harp was played like a bass, or strings slapped like a guitar. A slow rock pulse with military drum rolls became a double time kind of samba. Theatrical orange spotlights coloured a rock scream and harp distortion- it could almost have been Led Zeppelin, as effects on flute sounded like a rock guitar. Crème Brûlée brought a cymbal rush to dreamy harp and free sax squeals then broke anarchically into a big Club groove.

In total contrast (Jul 5) were French guitarist Antoine Boyer and harmonica-player Yeore Kim (from Korea, living in France.) Among the mountains, surrounded by fruit trees and vines, was the Brennerei Roner Distillerie; its spacious atrium provided a good acoustic for the duo’s mix of standards and originals. Boyer opened with two original chord-melody guitar pieces, blending gypsy jazz with Spanish classical. Kim joined him in Sous le Ciel de Paris, her tone and wide range strongly recalling Toots Thielemans. She bent the notes expressively in  Metheny/Haden’s “Our Spanish Love Song”, while Boyer’s Django Reinhardt-style work on Autumn Leaves was superb. The harmonica sounded like a bandoneon on one Piazzolla-esque original, and more like Metheny’s guitar synth on another. Their jazz version of McCartney’s Blackbird was virtuosic, while their “romantic moment” was a sweet rubato Playing Love (Morricone.) What sounded like a speedy Hermeto Pascoal tune turned out to be their composition, followed by an upbeat swing “Love me Tender” and a standing ovation.

Later that evening in the Parco Cappuccini, Danish guitarist Teis Semey told us that, being Danish, he hadn’t seen a mountain until he was 15. His Amsterdam-based Quintet opened with a “fake Danish folk song” had free bass (Jort Terwijn-Netherlands) and drums (Sun-Mi Hong- Korea) drawn together by horn lines. The electric guitar had a Frisell feel, while gorgeous sax and trumpet tones emerge from the melee. (José Soares- Portugal; Alistair Robert Payne- Scotland.) The electricity in the air wasn’t just lightning, as a rockier piece developed a skipping time signature behind Soares’ detailed notes. The guitar’s reverb had overtones of Marc Ribot, and Hong’s drum solo was powerful. A tune written for Semey’s sisters had a more indie rock feel, with strummed guitar. The cymbals frothed into double time swing, and the trumpet had a Hubbard-like timbre. In another piece, the bass double stopped in a resonant solo intro; silvery cymbals brought in an indie groove. A gorgeous guitar solo, double time, melted into gooey sounds. In Fleshy (“Almost danceable!”) had a grandiose start with quirky harmonies, gentle drums, walking bass, and changes of tempo. It was an intriguing gig, mixing jazz and rock, freedom and taut arrangements.

In the morning, (Jul 6) we travelled to Pippo’s Mountain Lodge by cable car, looking down at the clouds. Keyboard-player Shuteen Erdenebaatar (German, Mongolian-born) led her German Quartet.. In In a Time Warp, her glowing Fender Rhodes sound had a little Herbie Hancock stirred in. The bass solo notes (Nils Kugelmann) glided in and out of each other, blurring together to create a cloudy sound- there seemed to be no barrier between musicians and instruments, and the arrangements sounded very natural. Olden Days was a sweet ballad with a gentle backbeat (Valentin Renner). Anton Mangold’s alto had a smooth soulfulness. Another serene piece (inspired by the Bavarian Alps) had an In a Silent Way vibe, with flute trills and arco bass, developing into joyful 60s/70s funk. In Page no 7,671, she showed how expressively she could play, accentuating some notes and smoothing over others. Mangold’s soprano solo was also beautifully-phrased, keeping you listening.  In the funky Rising Sun, he burst into edgier harmonies. In the cross-rhythmed, Corea-like Ups and Downs, we had a natural light show, as clouds drifted behind the band like dry ice, the sun shining through. In the emotional I’m Glad I Got to Know You, with its Jarrett-like feel, the clouds lifted, and there was a sense of the music’s transience.

The post Suedtirol Jazz Festival Alto Adige 2023 (Part 2 of 3) first appeared on UK Jazz News.

UKJazz News: What is it about Paris?

Dan Forshaw: Paris is at the centre of jazz- it was the first place to class jazz as an art form, rather than just music. They really embraced it and still do. Miles Davis was there in the post-war period, and we’ll be playing classic stuff like So What and All Blues. One of Miles’ final concerts was in Paris, and we’re going to play Human Nature from that mid 80s period. He was given the Légion d’honneur by Chirac. Paul Higgs is playing trumpet with me on the gig, and, like myself, he’s very keen to tell the stories behind the music.

The saxophone, the instrument which most people would associate with jazz, owes its history to Paris. Adolphe Sax persuaded the French military to bring the saxophone into French military bands. They had a battle of the bands on the Champ de Mars behind the Eiffel Tower, between Adolphe Sax’ band with saxophones, and the ones without- the saxophones won. His benefactor King Louis introduced saxophones to French military bands. It’s thanks to those bands travelling around the world that we have the sax in jazz, and that started in Paris.

UKJN: What other music will you be playing?

DF: We’ll also be playing the music of Sidney Bechet, who came over after the First World War, and is buried in Paris. The music of the hot jazz clubs, with things like Sweet Georgia Brown, Summertime. Guitarist Louis Thorne is joining us- he does a lot of Django Reinhardt stuff.

UKJN: He’s a manouche guitarist?

DF: Yes, we’ll be highlighting Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, who kept that jazz scene going in occupied Paris in the 40s. Jazz was seen as very much a degenerate music, so we talk about that and how jazz was this beacon of freedom as well.

UKJN: Coltrane has strong links with Paris, and he’s been a huge influence on you.

DF: Yes, I spent a huge part of my life studying Coltrane. He got his first soprano saxophone in London but it was played during a European Tour with Miles Davis. We do a bit on Dexter Gordon and borrowed his album title: Our Man in Paris- we play some of the music from that. And Scrapple from the Apple by Charlie Parker. Also, Lester Young recorded his final album in Paris. The film Round Midnight was loosely based on him and Bud Powell and their lives in Paris. So we pay tribute to Lester Young- a phenomenal influence on every saxophonist who came after him.

UKJN: You yourself have played in different styles...

DF: I’ve always been mindful that you’ve got to give people a reason for coming out that evening. I think if we’re having fun on stage that translates into people thinking they can have fun in the audience as well.

UKJN: You have a serious side too – you quote Martin Luther King: “The blues tell the story of life’s difficulties.” Does that give people something to relate to as well?

DF: Yes, Martin Luther King wrote that text for the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival. Jazz is a wonderful art form, it’s just sometimes had a bad press. I’m passionate about trying to engage new people in the music, which is what “Our Music in Paris” is about- sharing a particular story of jazz focusing on Paris.

UKJN: You come from a musical family and you taught yourself piano.

DF: Very badly! My dad was a church organist and a semi-professional bass player. I was very fortunate at primary school, where you were in a minority if you didn’t play an instrument. Later I had a brilliant sax teacher called Ray Wilkes in Blackpool. There was so much work in Blackpool for musicians in the 50s, 60s and 70s, but that started to decline in the 80s, so a lot of musicians in the generation after Ray had to leave Blackpool. I was really fortunate to get a musical education with Ray and his contemporaries playing in big bands from the age of 16. I’m in Cambridge now, and we are very fortunate that in the southeast we have those kinds of opportunities, but sadly in some areas of the country kids don’t get those same opportunities.

UKJN: There’s a great story about Branford Marsalis taking you under his wing.

DF: I owe Branford almost everything in terms of my musical career. I met him in Manchester and just quizzed him. He said, “Here’s my e-mail address, keep in touch.” And he was true to his word, and really helped me and got me over to the states in 2005. He’s a really great guy, a superb mentor, and it’s something I try to emulate with my own students.

UKJN: You also studied with Eric Alexander and Ravi Coltrane?

DF: Ravi was more when I was doing my research into John Coltrane. Eric was more of a straight saxophone teacher, working on technique and things like that- very good. I also had the good fortune to have a couple of lessons with Dave Liebman when I was over in the States.

UKJN: Would you say that tenor is your main instrument?

DF: Yes, and soprano. I spend about 90% of my time playing tenor and I desperately want to play more soprano! For a lot of saxophone players, the soprano becomes the next octave of the tenor, whereas I try and treat them as separate instruments. That is something that Bradford taught me to do. The soprano can bite you on the backside when you least expect it! The intonation is so hard to get right. I play alto as well, but it tends to be more for classical music.

UKJN: Who else will be joining you on this Pizza Express gig?

DF: As well as Paul Higgs on trumpet and Louis Thorne on guitar, it’ll be Derek Scurll on drums and Alex Keen on bass. Paris really is a city where as a musician you can feel at home and valued, so I hope people will come out to hear us in London!

The post Dan Forshaw – ‘Our Music in Paris’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

UKJazz News: Tell us about the Festival.

Stefan Festini Cucco: Klaus Widmann ran the Festival for 18 years – he transformed it and expanded it; not only into the whole provincial territory, but also the number of concerts increased quite a lot. He developed what our concept still is today, which is not to invite the big stars of jazz but to focus on younger musicians and try to create some new projects. The festival should still be a point of encounter for young musicians – it’s common nowadays in the young scene to mix jazz with a bit of rock, pop and electronic music.

UKJN: Some established musicians you bring back frequently. This year, for example, you have (Austrian bassist) Lukas Kranzelbinder, (Italy-based US-born saxophonist) Dan Kinzelman, (Italian guitarist) Francesco Diodati and (London-based, Suedtirol-born bassist/vocalist) Ruth Goller…

SFC: We try to combine them with other musicians we haven’t brought before and to introduce them to new projects. On the opening night, (French vocalist) Leila Martial will be with KID BE KID, a piano and beatbox artist based in Berlin. Lukas Kranzelbinder we called because he is going to perform a new concept – a kind of ritual of music. Several months ago I read a book by the philosopher Byung-Chul Han about the disappearance of rituals in the present time. They’re going to play for five hours continuously and there will be some dancers to transform the basement cellar in Bolzano’s Batzen Sudwerk Ca’ de Bezzi. Lukas was the right person in our opinion because he did some musical research in Morocco about the Gnawa people, and he’s really into these trance rituals.

UKJN: The festival’s always made a point of nurturing new talent.

SFC: That’s an idea that we bring to the Euregio Jazz Collective and the Jazz Labs that we have in Suedtirol, to bring together emerging musicians from the local regions. We want to include the new generation – not just presenting music but also trying to play an active part in the evolution of music.

UKJN: In the past you’ve had themes relating to particular countries.

SFC: This year we wanted to be completely free – we still focus on a certain kind of music, but the programme is broad. On the opening night, for example, we have Juan Sais from Spain, then Leila Martial; then we go to a Berlin-based band Simularia, which is heavily into electronics. We end that night with a big electronic music event almost like a rave, till 5am, which for Bolzano is really exceptional! We had the chance to do something for the local youth, because a festival is about music, but it also has some cultural, political and social duties.

UKJN: You’re well-known for matching music to venues, some of which are spectacular.

SFC: We’ve lost some but gained some new ones. We have a concert in the mountains which is actually the place where my family is from. It’s really lovely and a bit less touristic, because the Dolomites these days are really crowded! In recent years we’ve had the “base camp” (in Bolzano’s Parco Cappuccini Park). People who come for the festival, journalists and other organisers can meet local people. It’s there for the whole period, which creates more of a festival atmosphere.

UKJN: The Parco Semirurali has an amazing mountain backdrop.

SFC: We have German speakers and Italian speakers in the region, and more concerts take place in the German-speaking areas. The Parco Semirurali has a good audience in the Italian-speaking area, and local people come. We think it’s important to bring the music to the people and not only the people to the music. That’s why we play in a lot of different places, in quite remote towns or in the mountains and not just in the city.

UKJN: Another interesting venue is the Fortezza Fortress.

SFC: It’s a big fortress from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then the Italian Ministry of Defence, and then it became a museum. We’re developing a new concept – we’ll do an acoustic guide to the structure. The usual guided tour is more about the history of the place. The sextet Ghost Horse will stay there three days and guide the audience through the spaces of the fortress.

UKJN: Now there are three of you in charge of the Festival – what do you bring to it?

SFC: Max von Pretz carries over his role as manager, so he deals with the business side, as he has always done. Roberto Tubaro is the man for aesthetics – he does the graphics and also the design of the locations. All three of us together do the music programme. It was really a good experience actually, because we’ve grown a lot together over the last 10 years. When we make our selection, we listen together to the music and most of the time we have nearly the same opinion.

UKJN: It’s your 41^st festival – what’s the secret of your success?

SFC: A few years ago when we brought in more experimental stuff, sometimes the audience was quite small. We get public funding and private sponsors so if there’s no audience it’s not good. But in recent years even the more experimental side of the festival has been really well attended, and so that means people trust the programming.

Some people ask, do you want to grow? But we don’t want to increase the number of concerts, which is between 50 and 60. There’s also the ecological thing – we want to make everything really sustainable.

We always try to combine the international with the local, and always try to fit the music to the location. We have many different locations and I think researching special places and combining them with a certain kind of music is good. You not only enjoy the music, but also the place and the atmosphere. A festival should be an experience.

Some gigs are free, or offer concessions, and there are always helpful people around to get you where you want to be. Take a train or fly to Verona, then a train to Bolzano.

The post Suedtirol/Alto Adige Jazz Festival 30 June-9 July 2023 first appeared on UK Jazz News.

UKJazz News: How did you get into jazz?

Angela Verbrugge: I grew up watching old movie musicals (love Fred Astaire!) and I used to sight-read sheet music in books like “Classics from the Big Band Era”. As a teen in Kingston, I started doing musical theater where I connected with local jazz musicians. As a classically-trained musician, I was amazed at their ability to improvise and be so creative with the songs I knew and loved. Years later, after I survived three near-death experiences, I realized I needed to follow the magic path of jazz. I found instructors and started sitting in at jazz jams. I’ve had the “jazz bug” ever since. A remarkable thing about dedicating one’s life to this music – it continuously forces me to face my fears and challenge myself.

UKJN: You mention Blossom Dearie and Sheila Jordan as influences- you have their playfulness. Who are your favourite jazz singers?

AV: I loved hearing some of the early swing standards in old musicals I watched performed by Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Rosemary Clooney and others. When I arrived in Toronto, I spent my grocery money on collections that featured Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Blossom, Dinah Washington, and Helen Merrill. As time went on, I found my way to more contemporary artists.

UKJN: You have a range of styles on your albums from bebop, blues and swing to Latin- which jazz instrumentalists have influenced you?

AV: When I attended courses with Sheila Jordan, she recommended learning the blues melodies: it would help to hear the harmonics, bebop vocabulary, and melodic variations. I really love Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Lester Young, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Hank Mobley, Ahmad Jamal, Count Basie…

UKJN: What prompts you to write a song and which songwriters have most influenced you?

AV: When it was decided I would go to New York to record my first album, The Night We Couldn’t Say Good Night, with bassist Cameron Brown, and pianist Ray Gallon, a jazz singer friend encouraged me to write some originals, since I did character studies as part of my acting training, and played piano. With Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Irving Berlin, Lorenz Hart, Frishberg, and even Gilbert and Sullivan swimming around in my head, I started writing lyrics and then added the melodies. From the positive audience responses, and enthusiastic magazine reviews of my first efforts, I decided to pursue songwriting further during the pandemic. I won an arts grant and worked hard to pull together various brainstorms and unfinished works, to be ready to record. The new album, Love for Connoisseurs, is 100% original compositions and song-writing collaborations where I added the lyrics to contemporary NYC and Vancouver-based jazz artists’ compositions. 

With some songs, a phrase will jump out at me that fits the rhythm and authentically matches the word stress of a phrase. After that, I fill in the rest of the story. For Ray’s piece “That’s the Question”, I heard the phrase  “I’m running late…” and that song became an Annie Ross-style bebop song about all the reasons one might be late. His other song, “Plus One”, I heard “enough’s enough” within his melody, and I thought what could enough be enough of? And then I thought- cleaning! And that song became an ode to the irrational anger domestic partners feel when one has the house clean and another person disturbs that hard-won tidiness. Of course, as a mom and artist running a million miles a minute, in reality, it is often me who is guilty of the offences listed in the song! These are the first songs introduced to the jazz repertoire that I know of about being late and cleaning, and I think that’s the fun of songwriting collaborations: that the instrumentalist’s melody inspires unlikely topics.

UKJN: New York pianist Ray Gallon will be accompanying you on your gigs. How did you start working with him?

AV: Ray and I met through the Vermont Jazz Center. He is a well-established jazz pianist who grew up in NYC being mentored by the likes of Hank Jones, John Lewis, and Jaki Byard. Ray worked for many years as a sideman with such jazz giants as Lionel Hampton, Ron Carter, Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, George Adams, Jon Hendricks and Sheila Jordan, before leading his own trio. He has a new album coming out in the fall recorded at Van Gelder with Ron Carter and Lewis Nash. He has been an amazing mentor and friend to me on my jazz journey. We are presently working on a duo album of standards and new originals in a classic jazz standard style.

UKJN: What can we expect at Pizza Express?

AV: Ray, and the wonderful rhythm section of bassist Mark Hodgson, and drummer Stephen Keogh are such an incredible trio with a fantastic chemistry, and feel authentically rooted in the tradition of bebop, swing, and blues. We will have a fun romp through some swingin’ standards folks in the audience will know and love, and pepper in some thought-provoking originals written in the classic songbook tradition. We are going to also feature the trio instrumentally in the set. Hope to see you there, London!

The post Angela Verbrugge and the Ray Gallon Trio first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Matar Naem, from Lebanon, is slow and atmospheric with a jazz-inflected piano intro (My Love and I by David Raksin.) Their version is plaintive, melancholy and beautiful, evoking “Gentle rain/in a foreign autumn.” Madeleine’s vocal style owes something to French chanson, and has an affecting directness and intensity. In the Egyptian Ma Fatsh Leah, Salomon combines a minimalist classical feel with a suggestion of rock, the way Rufus Wainwright’s piano can. There’s a sense of urgency in a mysterious street scene where traffic separates two people destined never to meet. The voice is gentle, with an innocent quality enhanced by vocal harmonies from Salomon.

 Komakam Kon, an “Iranian pop hymn” is juxtaposed with lines spoken from Ginsberg’s Howl. Salomon keeps the 6/8 feel of the original with powerful block chords. Love is described as “a prison”; the beat poetry fits the dark mood well: “…supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz”. In De l’Orient à Orion, French lyrics are sung softly over flowing Debussy-esque piano. It’s a long way from the original Tunisian jazz rock version (RK Nagati) and creates something exquisitely new. Four tracks dissolve into improvised phases (Rhapsodies) with effects created by Jean-Paul Gonnod. Rhapsodie 1 here adds an eerie aura to the voice.

Ince Ince Bir Kar Yaga is a Turkish protest song, and Madeleine keeps some of the oriental vocal trills and quarter tones in her declamatory style. “Why is it so hard to share our lands/To love each other, to respect ourselves?” She plays haunting flute in Rhapsodie 2, with Salomon’s Ligeti-like piano. Lili Twil is a fierce Moroccan love song, tensely rhythmic before folding into Rhapsodie 3 with its louring flute. In complete contrast, the Israeli Layil is slow, atmospheric and intimate, almost like a jazz standard. “A night like this/Doesn’t make any sound/It dazzles you.”

The traditional Turkish Dere Geliyor Dere develops into the Israeli Ha’Yalda Hachi Yafa Ba’gan via the sub-aquatic sounds of Rhapsodie 4. The first is vigorously asymmetrical, while the Israeli song has an irresistibly sweet melody and jazz harmony. The piano brings an almost Schubertian feel to the Lebanese pop song Do you love me? while the vocals have a tenderness and delicacy over blurry piano.

It’s a distinctive, creative and very original album, drawing all the songs together in the duo’s own style.

The post Madeleine & Salomon – ‘Eastern Spring’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

UKJazz News: You wrote your first song at just 8 years old?

Laura Lantano: I have a classical background on piano- Bach, Mozart, Chopin- it helped me develop my ear and read music. When I write a song it’s different every time. For example, with the song Returning to Myself I was just at the piano playing chords and improvising a melody, so lyrics came to mind and that became a hook. Most of this album is actually a result of my MA in song writing at Bath Spa University. I wanted to start with the lyrics and then breathe some life into them with melody. I learned techniques like free writing, writing around a title and looking at photos and existing poetry. I think composition is a slowed down version of improvisation.

UKJN: One of your songs was entered into the Eurovision Song Contest?

LL: I was 14 at the time! I remember spending the whole summer just writing and recording songs on my dictaphone, and I played one to a friend at school. Her parents knew a record producer in Carnaby Street who put it in for the UK entry. Nothing came of it, but at the age of 14 that gives you the encouragement to continue.

UKJN: You’ve got Sam Leak and Duncan Eagles to join you on this album.

LL: Sam and Duncan are incredible musicians. I met Sam when I was studying jazz at Trinity. They take the music somewhere I wouldn’t be able to do on my own. I wrote the chord progressions and gave an of idea of the feel. They have their own musical experiences and they bring all that to my little old songs. I feel really privileged to be working with them.

UKJN: Any stories behind the songs?

 LL: Returning to Myself is about childhood when you were carefree and playful, listening to your truth and being authentic. It’s influenced by Carol King- I love her Tapestry album. There are a couple of songs where I tried to take the approach of writing a standard: I’ll Never Fall in Love Again and Mind Over Heart. There’s a bunch of love songs about heartache and a thread of feeling lost. Everyone Has a Place to Go is about trying to find somewhere that’s home, and hopefully it’s a comforting song.

UKJN: Your voice sounds deep and husky on ‘All is Not Lost’ and higher on ‘I’ll Never Fall in Love Again’.

LL: I usually sing jazz standards in a lower register but some of these songs are more in my mid-range. All Is Not Lost is about consoling a disheartened friend. Eyes Wide Open (video below) is a song about the singer’s partner being unfaithful- she’s just working out what to do. In the last verse she moves on and is a lot happier.

UKJN: There’s some improvisation between voice and sax.

LL: [Vocalist] Anita Wardell was at the recording session and she suggested it- it actually opened up the song. Sea of Summer Stars has a Latin vibe- it’s romantic and the relationship has blossomed into something more meaningful. A more gospelly song is Waiting for Someone– I definitely needed a gospel choir. Sunset Fire started out as a poem. I love the idea of ending the album with a sunset.

UKJN: Lennon & McCartney, Carole King, Burt Bacharach. Have any other songwriters influenced you?

LL: Jazz songwriters- there are so many to choose from. Rogers and Hart wrote some of my favourites: ‘I Didn’t Know What Time it Was’, ‘I Could Write a Book’, ‘My Funny Valentine’. Don Raye and Gene de Paul wrote ‘You Don’t Know What Love Is’, and then ‘Skylark’ by Hoagy Carmichael.

UKJN: How did you get into jazz?

LL: I’ve had brief encounters with jazz throughout my life, but I didn’t take it seriously until I was in my late 20s. I played the Microjazz piano series when I was younger and I loved the syncopation of it. I also studied saxophone for a couple of years and learned to play some standards.

Erykah Badu has been a big influence on my writing- her album ‘Mama’s Gun’ has Roy Hargrove and Roy Ayres on it, which introduced me to this whole sort of jazz influence: Jill Scott, Bilal, Guru’s Jazzmatazz. When I was in my early 20s I worked with a Streatham-based hip hop producer who used to take samples from jazz records. Then I heard Anita Wardell’s album ‘Noted’- I was thinking, wow, this is amazing. I didn’t know about scat singing, but she taught me and got me to transcribe Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and some Sarah Vaughan. I also transcribed a lot of Hank Mobley and Wynton Kelly. I got hooked on jazz and then I went to Trinity.

UKJN: You mentioned Betty Carter and Carmen McRae- any other jazz singers you particularly like?

LL: I would say Sarah Vaughan- I just love her voice. The album Crazy and Mixed Up is just amazing; her improvising. I think, “I want to be her, I want to know how to do what she does.”

UKJN: Tell me about your launch gig coming up at the 1901 Arts Club.

LL: I just fell in love with it- it’s a unique venue and there’s a beautiful piano. It’s going to be with Duncan on sax, and Matt Robinson on piano- he plays with Snowpoet and he’s Emilia Martensson’s regular pianist. He’s got a lot of experience working with singers, so he’s always encouraging and gives you space. The first set will be by my friend singer-songwriter Roisin Quinn; then there’ll be a mini-set from me. The second set will be all the songs from my album.

 I can’t wait- I’ve been rehearsing for months! I’ve already started thinking about my second album, and I’m getting the urge to write again…

The post Laura Lantano – new album ‘Returning To Myself’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.

There are five soulful covers and one instrumental original. Eddie Money’s ‘77 hit Baby Hold on To Me opens with dramatic subtlety; complex rhythms and gentle vocals that build in power as if energised by the drumming. Elling has had soulful elements in his singing right from his first album, and his improvisations at the end blend perfectly with Hunter’s single string funkiness. In Isaac Hayes’ Wrap It Up, Hunter’s strutting bass lines and sleazy wah wah guitar merge with the slinky vocals and powerful backbeat. Elling veers between knowing blues and falsetto with a wide vibrato; there’s some fine rhythmic scatting and imaginative harmony in the backing vocals.

Elling wraps Al Jarreau’s Boogie Down in vocal harmonies instead of horns. The driving groove has a personality of its own, and there’s a sense everybody’s contributing to it. (“If you are playing with a drummer, you don’t try and boss the drummer around!” Hunter has said.) Bounce is by Nate Smith, wonderfully asymmetrical and originally on his Kinfolk album. This version has Hunter playing complex bass and spacey guitar synth sounds.

PJ Morton’s Sticking to My Guns has an irresistibly intricate feel, the clipped vocal grooving along. The falsetto backing vocals sync their vibrato loosely with the lead vocal, D’Angelo-like. (Hunter has also worked with D’Angelo.) A surprise is AC/DC’s rock hit (about a hitman) song Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, in a minor funky groove. Elling responds with soulful humour and a rock rasp in the voice, declaiming some of the lyrics like a beat poem The drumming is so complex it’s almost like a continuous solo with the slap bass.

Superblue’s first album was recorded during lockdown, using pre-recorded tracks, while The London Sessions were recorded Live at the Pool; Guilty Pleasures returns to the pre-recorded model, adding vocals later, but has the raw energy of a live performance. It’s a thrilling EP, guilty as charged of being very pleasurable. Expect an augmented version out later this year.

The post SuperBlue (Kurt Elling & Charlie Hunter) – ‘Guilty Pleasures’ first appeared on UK Jazz News.