Review from The Champion Newspaper. Photos by kind permission of William Ellis.

The leap from the three times successful formula (2005/6/7) of an under-the-one-roof hotel based event at The Royal Clifton to a much more ambitious and costly theatre setting at Southport Arts Centre for 08 must have had the organisers, Southport Melodic Jazz Club (SMJC), holding their breath. It proved to be a wise move. 

What did matter was the outstanding calibre of the music played by some of the World's leading jazz musicians, attracted by the growing reputation of this festival; and the visitor numbers who braved the elements to be there. Leading UK jazz vocalist Claire Martin (left) had the Friday evening audience spellbound with the help of her remarkable band featuring Scottish guitar wizard Jim Mullen and multiaward winning saxophonist Alan Barnes. Saturday kicked off with the Swingshift Big Band and trumpet stars Bruce Adams and Steve Waterman duelling it out through some great arrangements. The club has always seemed to provide a treat of interesting new music for the Saturday afternoon spot and this year it was Arnie Somogyi's band 'Ambulance' which filled it with original tunes played with great energy by gifted young players like saxophonist Paul Booth and pianist Tim Lapthorn, supported by visiting American trumpet legend Eddie Henderson who, although a generation removed from the rest, provided a blend of attacking precision and subtlety that glued the band together.  

Russell Malone (right) brought his band over from New York for the exclusive Saturday headline gig. This versatile and personable young guitarist who has picked up the mantle of jazz greats like Wes Montgomery and George Benson had them rocking with his combination of rousing blues and exquisitely crafted soft ballads. He even ended with a Jimi Hendrix groove. This concert was recorded and will be broadcast on BBC 3 Jazz Line-Up on Saturday March 8th. So was the Sunday opener which goes out on the same programme on March 29th, a most unusual and delightful quartet fronted by vibraphonists Jim Hart and Roger Beaujolais playing combinations of vibes and marimba to create some of the finest music ever heard at this festival.

Eddie Henderson (right) had invited Britain's most feted alto saxist Peter King to join him in a quintet which also featured pianist John Donaldson, drummer Asaf Sirkis and Arnie Somogyi on bass to pay homage to his mentor Miles Davis. A half full house was treated to renditions of some of Miles's greatest tunes, including the legendary 'So What'. Peter King (below left), just recovering from a bout of pneumonia that laid him low was outstanding, keeping Eddie on his toes with a drive and creativity that belied his age and ill health. This set was done without rehearsal and was full of tension.

The final concert in the theatre on Sunday evening was an all-star line up of the cream of British jazz musicians lead by Alan Barnes (below) playing some of his and fellow saxophonist Andy Panayi's arrangements of the great Ellington altoist Johnny Hodges small band music from the 1950's in celebration of Hodges's birth centenary. Barnes continues to provide that most unusual blend of instrumental mastery, huge output of creative arranging and writing and a stage presence that keeps jazz audiences wanting more. Outstanding were drummer Clark Tracey and bassist Simon Thorpe and there was some scorching solos from all, especially trombonist Mark Nightingale.

The late night gigs back at The Royal Clifton proved the stamina of the jazz audience who stayed up till 1 am three nights running to hear great jazz from the likes of Benn Clatworthy, Neil Yates and Bobby Wellins. Belgian pianist Pascal Michaux's trio played out the festival with a rousing set mostly paying tribute to the recently departed jazz giant Oscar Peterson. And how well he did it. 

The festival organisers promise a 5th Jazz on a Winter's Weekend 6-8 February 2009. Jazz lovers - keep that free. The event has definitely established itself in the UK jazz calendar and developed its own stamp for excellence and a combination of innovation and originality whilst keeping its feet very firmly on the hallowed ground of jazz. The headliner concerts definitely needed the extra seating capacity at the theatre but the organisers might care to consider running more of the others at the hotel next time round. That might bring back more of the party atmosphere of previous years which was perhaps a little bit missing?  Otherwise a just about perfect weekend.  

Verdict 5/5.

Review from The Jazz Rag. Photos by kind permission of Robert Burns. 

RON SIMPSON spends the first weekend of February braving the Atlantic breezes and enjoying the jazz in Southport Melodic Jazz's three-day festival.

Bert Stern's film Jazz on a Summer's Day is forever associated with images of America's Cup yachts off Newport, Rhode Island. All Jazz on a Winter's Weekend at Southport could manage was the rescue operation for the ferry Riverdance some 30 miles further up the Lancashire Coast. In truth the weather in Southport for the festival weekend was quite bearable, though more than a touch blowy on the prom, but why organise a jazz festival, especially a coastal one, at such a time of year?

There is sound policy behind the timing. Spring and Summer are now so crammed with festivals that February is probably the best time for a new festival to make its mark: the first Jazz on a Winter's Weekend was as recently as 2005. Indeed Southport itself has another quite different jazz festival lined up for May/June. Furthermore, for a resort town, Winter is the best time to find excellent hotels with sufficient room to accommodate jazz events and punters on reasonable terms.

In its 2008 version Jazz on a Winter's Weekend offered 11 actual performances (of which I caught the last eight, either complete or in part), the late-night sessions in the Royal Clifton Hotel on Southport's Promenade, the others in the town's Arts Centre, a fine Victorian building containing a 440-seat theatre, a 250-seat studio and enough assorted rooms, spaces, nooks and crannies for three bars/cafes, several exhibitions (including, inevitably, William Ellis' excellent jazz photographs) and a sprinkling of conferences, workshops and display stands.

For the previous three years the Royal Clifton (still described as the 'spiritual home' of the festival) served as the venue for all events, but various refurbishment projects ruled that out for this year, though the hotel was able to host three events and accommodate a good percentage of the punters staying over. The programme still bore the mark of a hotel-based festival in some ways, with the four major events each day spaced out to allow a fairly quick lunch and a leisurely dinner/high tea/fish supper, with a final music session to go with the late-night drinks. However, the use of the Arts Centre Theatre, with a capacity double that of any room at the Royal Clifton, plus the area's raised profile for Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture, made it possible to be more daring in the booking of the festival's headline acts.

So on Saturday night Southport Melodic Jazz Chairman, Geoff Matthews, found himself announcing, somewhat to his own astonishment, that the Russell Malone Quartet had flown into the UK for one gig only - at Southport! Surprisingly (and, at first worryingly) Malone, a splendidly lyrical guitarist, began with two originals, high on energy, technique and precision, low on melody and warmth. Admittedly bassist Tassili Bond and drummer Jonathan Blake emerged as prodigious players, as did Martin Bejerano, but his piano playing, like the leader's guitar, belonged strictly to the sound and fury school. Then the third original, Flirt, dropped the tempo and raised the wit and lyricism and before long we were being treated to some beautiful ballad playing, with More than You Know calming all nerves before the interval. The second half was a more balanced programme, Malone by this time playing the audience expertly, Bejerano emerging as a remarkable developing talent and a final BB-into-Hendrix blues thrash sending all out warmed against the February night (though one veteran punter was heard to exclaim that his ears hurt!).

That day had begun for me with a snowy trans-Pennine journey which meant I arrived in time for only the last two numbers of the morning concert, time enough to catch Bruce Adams and Steve Waterman's blistering exchanges in front of the SMJ-Swingshift Big Band playing Steve's arrangements under Phil Shotton. Swingshift is a very capable semi-pro 17-piece discovered by the Melodic Jazz folk backing a Sinatra soundalike in Ormskirk and now adopted as the SMJ's resident big band. For the occasion the sound was boosted by the presence of Alan Barnes and Mark Nightingale and the same four guest stars were back in the theatre for the big Sunday night show, my highlight of the two days.

With Andy Panayi added as a fifth front-liner, Alan Barnes' Octet played the music of Johnny Hodges in arrangements and transcriptions by Alan and Andy. Interestingly most of the music came from the early 1950s when Hodges took his sabbatical from the Duke's band, rather than the memorable small group sessions of the early 1940s. So together with such favourites as Good Queen Bess and The Jeep is Jumpin', we got Shady Side, the delightful Mulligan-Hodges paraphrase of Sunny Side of the Street, and a wistful Billy Strayhorn ballad, previously unknown to me, the oddly titled Three and Six. Alan Barnes took the alto part throughout (Andy Panayi quick-changing between tenor sax, flute and clarinet), at times very much into the Hodges sound and phrasing, especially in the melody statement of ballads like Passion Flower, but never limited to mere imitation. With the wonderfully versatile John Donaldson on piano and telling contributions from Simon Thorpe and Clark Tracey, the octet had solo power to burn, the two-trumpet exchanges again memorable, and the arrangements found all kinds of unexpected voicings for various instrumental combinations. Alan Barnes described the evening as being for him 'two hours of sheer self-indulgence', a feeling shared by the audience.

Another inspired piece of programming teamed Jim Hart and Roger Beaujolais with two vibraphones and a marimba for the Sunday morning slot. This was the first time they had worked together as a vibes duo (backed by Simon Thorpe and Dave Smith) and, apart from the high level of inspiration and mallet-blurring technique, the work on arrangements was impressive for what was supposed to be a 'one-off' gig, though I don't doubt now that more will follow. The main inspiration was the music of Gary Burton and Chick Corea, from the dynamic Armando's Rhumba to the subtle interweaving of the vibes on Crystal Silence, with bass and drums sitting out. A few fine standards found their way into the programme as well, notably Easy to Remember (or Easy to Marimba, in Roger Beaujolais' version), with particularly sensitive work from Hart and Thorpe.

The afternoons were given over to the fine New York trumpeter and ex-Jazz Messenger Eddie Henderson. On Saturday he joined Arnie Somoygi's Ambulance in the first date of a UK tour. Consisting mainly of originals composed during a retreat at Aldeburgh, this was the most challenging, cutting edge programme of the festival, but still sufficiently audience-friendly. Sirenity, an ambulance-chasing chunk of hard-boppery, with a droll climax, and Captain Courageous, with its sea-sounds and bird-song, contrasted with the mellow evocation of Snape Maltings, Adrift. Apart from Eddie Henderson's crackling trumpet, I particularly enjoyed Paul Booth's meaty tenor sax. On the following afternoon Arnie Somoygi took his place in the Eddie Henderson Quintet for a concert derived from the trumpeter's 2002 Miles Davis tribute, So What? Frequently tightly-muted, Henderson also stirred memories of the likes of Lee Morgan with some fierce, precisely controlled open trumpet and was joined in the front-line by the authoritative Peter King.

Pianist/singers took over the late-night gig on both nights, Pete Churchill, with guest Bobby Wellins, bringing typical wit and poise to an eclectic programme, but suffering from a jazzed-out audience who found two full sets starting at 11.00 pm a bit much, and Belgian multi-instrumentalist Pascal Michaux rounding off the festival with an exhilarating single set. Several numbers were dedicated to the memory of Oscar Peterson, including an explosive You Are My Heart's Delight, and Pascal added singing to his portfolio of tenor sax, piano, Hammond, vibes and bass guitar by exuding Gallic charm on It Had to Be You. Bobby Worth and Andrew Cleyndert provided outstanding support.

Review from the Wigan Jazz Club magazine. Photos by kind permission of Robert Burns and Jamie Matthews.

It's only 3 years since Southport Melodic Jazz Club introduced their "Jazz on a Winter's Weekend" event but in that time it has established itself as one of the UK's premier jazz happenings. It also has one of the most well laid out, informative printed programmes on the circuit.This year's cover featured paintings of the two US guests by some chap called Gordon Humphreys.... (that's another beer you owe me!!)

This year the format was slightly different: the non-availability of some rooms in the Royal Clifton Hotel meant that most concerts were held at the Arts Centre. In some ways this meant that the cohesiveness of the event was fragmented; however the theatre facilities and organisation were superior to those in the hotel and I know this arrangement took some pressure off Geoff Matthews and the SMJC team.

The Sefton Youth Jazz Orchestra opened the weekend with a session entitled "A Master class with Eddie Henderson". Regrettably it was nothing of the sort. Trumpeter Eddie Henderson was taught by stars like Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis and after touring with Herbie Hancock, joined Art Blakey.

But here it was as if there was some form of disconnect between him and Sefton's MD Glenn Waite. It seemed that there had not been any advance planning to run through numbers and coach the band and Henderson was reduced to general platitudes as the band ran through two full sets. He did join in on a couple of numbers including a delightful muted trumpet on the vocal "Willow Weep for Me". But in the second set, little coaching took place and by the end, Henderson turned down a request to play another number with the ensemble. The Orchestra did not play to their best and this was a great opportunity missed.

There was time for tea before Friday's main event, The Claire Martin Quartet featuring Jim Mullen on guitar, with guest Alan Barnes on reeds. This was a feisty performance by the chanteuse and was thoroughly enjoyable. I was surprised that she had never played with Alan before; it might have been the first time but I'm sure it won't be the last.

Every night there was a late night session at the Royal Clifton Hotel and the first of these was Southport favourite, tenor saxist Benn Clatworthy. Benn, who plays very much in the style of Sonny Rollins, is based in LA and brought some of his US based band with him. Also guesting with him was trumpeter Neil Yates who I felt was below par on the night: not so Benn who was very much on form.

Saturday brought the other Big Band on show, SMJC's Swingshift who played a concert in tribute to the Jazz Trumpet Greats. This was based on a programme put together by trumpeter Steve Waterman for his big band and Steve shared the trumpet solos with that master of the mute, Bruce Adams. For this concert, the trombone line was joined by Mark Nightingale whilst Alan Barnes was with the saxes.

Bruce and Steve alternated on solos during an excellent romp through the history of Jazz Trumpet. Numbers such as Maynard Ferguson's "Hey There" from the 1959 "Jazz For Dancing" recording featured Bruce hitting the high notes before he got his plunger mute out to great effect for the Ellington composition "Concerto for Cootie". "Stardust" saw Bruce taking the place of Doc Severinsen – or should that be Jock Severinsen? (His joke, not mine!!)

Steve's features included the evocative "I Remember Clifford", written by Benny Golson in memory of his friend Clifford Brown. With The Gil Evans arrangement of "Maids of Cadiz" originally penned for Miles Davis, these tunes showed his sensitive side. This was trumpet playing at its very best.

Swingshift have a very good lead trumpet in the shape of Cliff Ray (who also plays in our Jazz Club Big Band) and his performance of Dizzy Gillespie's "Night in Tunisia" matched up to the excellent playing of the guests.  Swingshift did a fine job in supporting their guest artists: I'm sure that they learnt a lot from this experience which will help the band develop even further in the future.

One of the new features at this year's event was the very welcome appearance of a real ale bar, supplied by the local Southport brewery. In fact it was so successful that it ran out by the Sunday morning. (I have to say that I did my best to help them sell out!!)  In the canteen, jazz paintings by local artists were on display whilst Thelwall's own, William Ellis, displayed some of his great photographs of the world's jazz stars. CD and guitar sales stands were in evidence to ensure that everyone's tastes were catered for, whilst there was a raffle with great prizes.

At lunchtime, with all the food and drink to enjoy, Ian repeated his Wigan Festival talk "Remembering Maynard" which needless to say included an interesting description of Maynard's special mouth piece as well as many amusing anecdotes and stories. An ideal accompaniment to a pint of Sandgrounder!!

The Saturday afternoon session is usually given over to something different and this year was no exception - bassist Arnie Somogyi's contemporary group, "Ambulance" at the start of a short UK tour with Eddie Henderson. The group, (tagline "Specialists in musical accident and insurgency"), wrote many of their numbers last year at a getaway at the Snape Maltings at Aldeburgh. The music was inspired by the sounds, sights and people of the Suffolk coast, and most were reflective such as "Captain Courageous" and "Lobster Pot". The cheekily named "Sirenity" sounded like a load of ambulance sirens and was not for me. But this was the only number like this and even though I had gone into the concert with a lot of scepticism, I rather enjoyed it overall.

Throughout the day, workshops had been taking place on jazz choir with Pete Churchill, drumming with Clark Tracey and jazz sax with Benn Clatworthy. The singers gave a brief performance of the three songs they had been working on in a freezing hall in the Arts Centre – everyone had enjoyed it (well they had to work hard to keep warm) and who knows maybe one day a jazz choir will be formed in Southport?

During the weekend, US guitar giant Russell Malone (who has played several times at Wigan) had been in the audience, but now it was his turn to shine. With his US quartet, he got off to a hesitant start, but soon was in full flow with many numbers from his latest CD recorded at the Jazz Standard Club in New York. Very definitely a hit with the ladies, he was on top form with numbers like "Flirt" and the smooth "He Said What" but mixed these with familiar standards and bluesy numbers. He finally ended with a few riffs of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" to the delight of most of the audience! He was ably supported by his musicians and they all thoroughly deserved their standing ovation.  This concert was recorded by BBC Jazz Line Up and was broadcast in early March

By contrast, the late night Pete Churchill gig was disappointing. Everyone was tired, including Pete who had been teaching all day, and it would have been better if this session had been one set instead of two.

Never before had Roger Beaujolais and Jim Hart played vibes together, but their concert on Sunday turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend. The programme was a pure delight; they obviously enjoyed themselves whilst running through numbers from their own bands' repertoires. Both used the vibraphone with its aluminium keys and its wooden counterpart, the marimba, with all its tonal differences, to great effect. Luckily, this performance was also recorded by the BBC, so some of us got two bites at the cherry. They are now thinking about making a CD together as a result of this performance. Let's hope they do!

Eddie Henderson was in the limelight again with his UK quintet, playing tunes from his 2002 CD "So What", a tribute to his mentor, Miles Davis. "So What" was it all about I wondered? Despite a line up of top UK players, this concert just didn't do the business and I found it rather boring. Henderson looked as though he didn't want to be there, prowling round the edge of the stage when not playing and wrapping himself away out of sight in the curtain folds. Of course Miles had a habit of doing this on stage too, but it didn't enhance this performance which was bland and repetitive. However it was great to see Peter King playing again after his recent illness and straight away he was off to London to play at concert in his honour at Ronnie Scotts.

By contrast, the last concert in the Arts Centre was also a delight - it was yet another of Alan Barnes' projects, this time playing the music of Johnny Hodges. Hodges is best known for his lyrical playing with Duke Ellington but he also formed a small band in the early 50s and the double  LP "The Jeep is Jumping" (Jeep was one of Hodges' nicknames) was a big influence on a young Alan Barnes. So much so in fact that he recently adapted some of the 46 tracks for his octet. With all the musicians enjoying themselves, this was a tremendous evenings-worth with top class playing from some of the UK's best – Andy Panayi, Bruce Adams, Steve Waterman, Mark Nightingale, John Donaldson, Simon Thorpe and Clark Tracey.

For the first time, there was a late night concert on the Sunday and this featured Belgian multi instrumentalist Pascal Michaux. Never heard of him? Well nor had I until he played piano with the Alan Barnes Quintet at SMJC last year when he was impressive. He stuck with the piano again this time (he also plays tenor, bass guitar and Hammond organ) and had Andy Cleyndert on bass and Bobby Worth swinging effortlessly on drums. What a wonderful way to end an exhausting but most enjoyable three days.

This was a well organised and friendly festival and was the best way to spend what was turned out to be a very wintry weekend. So if you are interested in coming in 2009 (Feb 6-8), look out for information on the Jazz Club stall or keep an eye on www.jazzinsouthport.co.uk for details.

Review by Ivan Hewett - Daily Telegraph.  Photos by kind permission of Robert Burns.

Wave the sea goodbye and turn up the heat

Arnie Somogyi's Ambulance - Southport Arts Centre

Arnie Somogyi is a great jazz bass player, of Hungarian extraction but now living in the UK, and Ambulance is the quartet of young British jazz players he's gathered round him. In 2006 Ambulance became the first jazz band to be awarded a musical development residency by Aldburgh Productions.

This gave the band the opportunity to try out new ideas, take bracing walks along the Suffolk coast and be inspired by the magical light that once inspired Benjamin Britten. The result was a brand-new album Accident and Insurgency which was launched at this gig, part of the excellent Jazz on a Winter's Weekend festival promoted by Southport Melodic Jazz.

I gave the CD a spin before going to the gig, and my heart sank. Somogyi seems to have felt a duty to respond to all the local colour, but the truth is that jazz isn't well suited to subtle scene-painting. What we get are rather obvious mood pictures (tinkly Fender-Rhodes piano over the crunch of shingle) with slightly toe-curling titles like Lobster Pot 999. It made me think that jazz musicians should avoid the healthy sea air and stick to the smog of the city.

Thankfully, this gig was more energised, serious and engaging than the album - which proves there is nothing like a live audience to sharpen musicians' wits. The Suffolk atmosphere was played down - I only caught the sound of crashing breakers once - and in its place we heard some proper jazz, including a nicely judged rendition of Larry Willis's To Wisdom the Praise.

Another factor which kept the musical temperature high was the authoritative, soberly presence of senior American trumpeter Eddie Henderson. The band has two strong melodic improvisers in Rob Townsend and Paul Booth, who between them play an impressive array of instruments. But their playing had an extra edge when in dialogue with Henderson's spare and focused trumpet. 

Not that the band's Suffolk sojourn was entirely fruitless. Pianist Tim Lapthorne's Solace lifted a mellow mood-piece redolent of sunny beaches into something harmonically distinctive. And Somogyi's own Captain Courageous moved between two tempi in a way that was musically cogent rather than merely whimsical. But the eloquent renditions of Miles Davis's Blue in Green and Henderson's own Dream was evidence that this band plays best when it leaves the beach and goes home.

Workshops

The Eddie Henderson master class with Sefton Youth Jazz Orchestra got things off to a poor start on Friday. There had clearly been insufficient pre-planning of the programme and advance communication between Henderson and the MD. The orchestra performed more than adequately but there was no serious attempt to use the occasion to encourage the individual musicians or band sections. Notwithstanding this the vocal numbers were very pleasing and Eddie's solos were excellent.

Pete Churchill once again took about 40 local singers for a day's tuition on jazz harmonies and expression. Despite the failure of the heating system in the Atkinson Gallery, the choristors had a great day and gave a very spirited performance to some of the festival goers at the end of the day with the accompaniment of Pete on Keyboard, bassist Steve Watts and Dave Wickins on drums.

Benn Clatworthy's saxophone class and Clark Tracey's drum workshop were both well attended and enjoyable. Clark brought in bassist Simon Thorpe and Mark Nightingale on trombone to give the aspiring drummers a real taste of playing with pro musicians. 

Dr Ian Darrington's talk on the late Maynard Ferguson was a full house. Some failed to get in. Ian's stories of his personal acquaintance with Maynard over several appearances at the Wigan International Jazz Festival were especially appreciated.