Click here for a photo set from the weekend by Bill Shakespeare

 6th JAZZ ON A WINTER'S WEEKEND

Royal Clifton Hotel, Southport, February 5-7

Ron Simpson, Jazz Rag

Photographs by Paul Bentley ARPS

I have a long and inglorious history of never quite managing to catch the highly-rated young group, 6pac. That was due to end on the first afternoon of Southport Melodic Jazz's annual weekend festival, then a lorry fire on the M62 and the resultant 20-mile tailbacks took a hand. The general opinion was that I'd missed a fine set, with singer Alice Zawadzki also impressing. Apparently 6pac is the only cutting edge group to finish a set with a riotous Bourbon Street Parade, band vocals and all!

 The afternoon sessions seemed jinxed at Southport and the way the festival coped with major problems shows its strength and stability in its sixth year. The appearance of Azerbaijani pianist David Gazarov was eagerly anticipated - until a cancelled flight from Berlin intervened. If Robin Aspland's appearance as a late deputy lacked the shock of the new, it was still a superb trio performance, with tours de force from bassist Andrew Cleyndert on No More Blues and Robin Aspland and drummer Martin Drew on Chick Corea's Windows being followed by a supremely delicate version of In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning. The following afternoon Cleveland Watkiss was there all right, but his electronic box of tricks refused to function. What followed was a hastily improvised more-or-less-acoustic set, with bassist Karl Rashed Able and drummer Shainey Forbes alert and inventive in support. Maybe there was a touch too much scatting for my taste, with one or two numbers (deprived of their harmonies and back-up) going nowhere in particular, but Cleveland's command of his audience was remarkable, with his hastily recruited choir doing sterling work in place of the missing technical wizardry. Highlights included an electrifying Everybody's Boppin', an articulate and subtly varied No Moon at All and an inspired segue from Faure to Stevie Wonder (a powerful take on Free).

Southport's schedule takes in 11 full concerts between Friday afternoon and late night Sunday, all in the capacious public rooms of the Royal Clifton Hotel. First up on Friday evening were Martin Drew's New Couriers, with the electrifying tenor sax of Mornington Lockett making an immediate impact. When the New Couriers first formed, Mornington shared tenor sax duties with Nigel Hitchcock and at Southport he sometimes seemed to be playing for two. Now Jim Hart's vibes represent the other side of Tubby Hayes and, with pianist Robin Aspland, there is solo power to burn. Sometimes the succession of long solos at frequently breakneck tempos was a little unrelenting, but there was plenty of delicacy in Jim Hart's poised and beautiful Nancy with the Laughing Face, accompanied only by the superb bass of Paul Morgan and the final You and the Night and the Music, described by Martin as 'our flagwaver', really did wave the flag, with complex top-and-tailing ensembles and a lengthy and inventive drum solo. 

Joe Stilgoe's set was perhaps not the jazz highlight of the weekend, but was perfectly suited to its late-night setting. Beginning with smart versions of 1930s standards, his confidential light tenor capable of considerable variety and power, Joe kept a still sizeable audience entertained well past their bedtimes with his mixture of classical piano technique, hints of Oscar Peterson, late-night cabaret style and verbal humour. As the second set wore on, he moved on to a remarkable 'requests' spot, selecting some half a dozen tunes from those suggested and improvising on them alternately, consecutively and simultaneously! His own composition, The Chestnut Tree, provided a pretty interlude, but the tone of the proceedings was set more by his re-telling of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's one-legged Tarzan sketch before his cute tribute to Dud, Mr. Spigot.

 The second morning began with probably the outstanding performance of the weekend. The presence of Iain Dixon is a guarantee of quality, but I had never heard the co-leader of the quintet, guitarist Mike Walker, in such lyrical and eloquent vein. The resulting music, straightahead but thoughtful, full of controlled power, was perfectly judged. By the end the attack invention remnded the distinguished critic next to me of the heyday of Morrissey/Mullen, but there were many more restrained delights: Iain Dixon's yearning Star Crossed Lovers, for instance, or the evocative and gentle The Clock Maker, dedicated to Iain's father and played by just guitar and piano. The admirable pianist Les Chisnall's clear devotion to the music of Bill Evans prompted Iain's quip that the next CD would be titled Nobody Digs Les Chisnall! The evening saw the ever-ubiquitous Alan Barnes (who also ran a Masterclass) guesting wth two very different bands, the first an unexpected delight, the second a mild disappointment. 

 The Al Wood Big Band was formed three years ago when Al retired from Leeds College of Music and consists of alumni of the college. I guess there are those who would think the band's repertoire dangerously old-fashioned: to me it was an exhilarating two hours with material ranging from 1930s Basie to Bob Florence, a hefty ensemble sound and plenty of individual-sounding soloists - no clones here! Watermelon Man featured fine solos from the likes of tenor saxist Robin Mitchell and trumpeter Sean Hollis, Mark Chandler's flugel horn decorated a poised and melodic Moonlight in Vermont and powerhouse drummer Bob Howard brought the house down with the old Ted Heath favourite, King's Cross Climax. Best of all was a riotous Peanut Vendor, with a gloriously fractured piano solo from Johnny Tomlinson. And then there was Mr. Barnes, in turn on clarinet, baritone and alto, doing his Art Pepper thing to great effect on Bernie's Tune and joining Al in My Man Benny from the Phil Woods/Benny Carter sessions. Finally Al Wood nailed his Basie colours to the mast with Flight of the Foo Birds from The Atomic... and a quick encore on One O'Clock Jump. 

 Surprisingly the big band session rather overshadowed the Dave Newton XSK Band that followed. With Dave, Colin Oxley, Dave Chamberlain and Steve Brown, plus Alan Barnes, you're not going to get a bad set and this was undeniably polished and enjoyable, but it never really took off as I'd hoped. The name of the band (XSK for ex-Stacey Kent!) suggested a spirit of mischief that was borne out by the opening few numbers, with a sprightly and witty Let's Do It followed by Stompin' at the Savoy, based on a repetitive march figure that sounded like the Soviet artists' response to just criticism! Then the fun dissipated in a rambling series of solos and, when Alan Barnes appeared with his baritone sax to reprise numbers from his excellent 1998 CD with Dave, Below Zero, it took a litte while to shake the dust off the old charts. By the final number, Gerry Mulligan's K4 Pacific, the band was cooking, but the set was strangely uneven.

 Oddly enough something of the same thing happened on the final night. Steve Waterman had mustered a superb line-up for his Tentet: a sax section of Barnes, O'Higgins and Panayi, for instance! The concert was billed as From Gerry Mulligan to Chick Corea, based on a 2008 CD. It turned out to be Bebop and Beyond - Their Greatest Hits, with many jazz composers' best-known tunes taken from Steve's earlier repertoire CDs: Tadd Dameron's Good Bait, Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man, Benny Golson's Killer Joe. Of course the band read the complex charts brilliantly, but it was noticeable that the more relaxed, lively and inventive performances came on the Corea/Mulligan tracks of recent memory, both sets finishing with exhilarating treatments of Corea compositions, Spain and La Fiesta. Alistair White's gruff Bill Harris-styled trombone always impressed and Jim Rattigan's French horn proved a surprisingly deft solo instrument. Much of the warmest applause was reserved for Alec Dankworth, appearing the evening after his father's death and contributing a couple of sparkling bass solos. 

 The other last day concerts both featured tenor saxist Mike Hall. His splendidly versatile RNCM Big Band with Mike Walker guesting played a fascinating set of Fred Sturm's ingenious arrangements of Steely Dan in the morning, with polished and precise section work and a particularly strong hand of sax soloists. Finally Mike played out the weekend with pianist Don Whieldon, plus Clark Tracey and Alec Dankworth, to a decent-sized audience which I must confess I joined only briefly.

 Southport's 1st XI of gigs contained no real weak links, but the weekend is always more than the sum of its main concerts. The Royal Clifton was again taken over by record stalls, publicity stands and art exhibiitions: photographs by William Ellis, Paul Bentley and Robert Burns, paintings by John Zehentner.  Daily workshops and lunch-time jazz talks fill the programme, with a particularly interesting session featuring a Jazz Promoters' Panel (under the irreverent title Harmless Old Nutters?). One of the key subjects, as ever, was what to do about the problem of the ageing audience for jazz. Certainly, Southport's sell-out audience contained a pretty small percentage of sub-60s, but it's by no means unique in this: Jerry Brown of Norwich Jazz Party, just back from the Arbors festival in the States, reckoned that the typical punter there was some 10 years older than at Southport!

Like all the best festivals Jazz on a Winter's Weekend has its own character, based on many things (from the genial omnipresence of its red-shirted staff - so much classier than Redcoats, don't you think? -  to the charms of the old-fashioned British seaside resort) and a new one was added this year. This is probably the only festival to have an accordionist in residence, Harry Hussey, with an inexhaustible supply of good songs  and jazz standards long into the night! 

LIVE / REVIEW: Jazz on a Winter’s Weekend, Royal Clifton Hotel, Southport,

5-7 February 2010

Review by Peter Vacher, Jazzwise

This was Southport Melodic Jazz’s sixth successful weekender and the expertise of organiser Geoff Matthews (and his team) kept things going without fuss or fluster.  Thus, the non-appearance of star pianist David Gazarov (his flight from Azerbaijan via Berlin was cancelled: all other efforts to expedite his passage failed) might have derailed things but up stepped Robin Aspland (from Martin Drew’s Couriers) who produced a trio set of abiding worth, stretching out on a quiver-full of Corea and Jobim numbers, before streaking down the motorway to make a 10.30pm London deadline.
Friday night is always music night at these events, opening band 6 PAC, from nearby Manchester, mixing originals and cleverly arranged standards in fetching style, with trumpeter Russell Bennett the pick of the bunch and singer Alice Zawadzki phrasing ably with the horns.   Drew’s Couriers impressed as ever, with vibist Jim Hart’s four-mallet creativity the standout and Morning ton Lockett burning brightly on tenor. Joe Stilgoe had the late-night spot, cabaret meets jazz, you might say, his mix of engaging patter and down-home piano drive a definite crowd-pleaser.   
The performance of the weekend came from the Iain Dixon-Mike Walker Quintet, all Manchester-based now and a model of succinct, limber playing.  Tenorist Dixon can blow hard or ease down at will, while Walker is quite simply a giant on guitar, ceaselessly inventive and enthusiastic.  Further proof that the North is no jazz backwater came with the Leeds-based Al Wood big band, Alan Barnes guesting, all gutsy power, with trumpeter Mark Chandler featured.   Barnes came on again with XSK led by Dave Newton, low-key and neat.

Sunday’s opener featured the RNCM big band, led by saxophonist Mike Hall and full of zest, as students invariably are, with Walker guesting, before vocalist Cleveland Watkiss took over, with Shaney Forbes on drums, re-inventing melodies with stunning aplomb, his set marred only by the non-function of his electronic gizmos.  No matter: he carried the day.   Final plaudits to trumpeter Steve Waterman’s Tentet, packed with good men and at ease on a mini-catalogue of Golson, Corea and Mulligan creations.  A job well done.  Memo to self: must go again. 

Peter Vacher / Amended: 29 March 2010

 By Brian Blain (for Jazz UK)