Jazz on a Winter's Weekend 2012 - Reviews
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JAZZ ON A WINTER’S WEEKEND
Royal Clifton Hotel, Southport, February 3-5
The problem with Southport’s Jazz on a Winter’s Weekend is the things you miss. This year my own diary confusions were partly responsible, but plotting your way through the programme is never as easy as a straightforward 11 concerts in three days suggests. The late night concert finishing at midnight-ish is always followed by the ubiquitous Harry Hussey in the Lounge Bar with his accordion and prodigious memory for tunes, but I was greeted on Sunday morning by Festival Director Geoff Matthews with, ‘Did you hear that pianist last night? Wasn’t he fantastic?’ It turns out that Italian-American pianist Dado Moroni had been joined by Mark Nightingale and others for a session finishing at 3.00 am! With an hour with David Newton and Mick Hutton squeezed into the programme between Gerard Presencer/John Taylor and the Greg Abate Quintet (missed thanks to a mistimed meal-time), plus any number of workshops, talks and exhibitions, there are bound to be casualties – fortunately, on the weekend winter came to England, there’s no need to stray beyond the rambling comfort of the Royal Clifton Hotel.
Planning the late night concerts could well be the most problematic element of Jazz on a Winter’s Weekend, with only the night owls committed to stay the course. The Jim Mullen Reunion Quartet was a banker for the final night of the festival, with the incisive playing and instinctive understanding of Jim and pianist Gareth Williams admirably supported by Mick Hutton while Gary Husband’s explosive drumming brought the official programme to a nobody-sleeps conclusion. The other two nights provided challenges for two relatively inexperienced singers.
Zoe Gilby and Zoe Chiotis dealt with the challenge in different ways. Zoe Gilby both benefits and suffers from always being described as a truly original singer – and here, in between showing unmistakeable signs of an unusual talent, she seemed to be trying too hard to live up to the reputation. I took in the first set which began and ended in fine style. The opening to Windmills of Your Mind, accompanied by her bassist partner Andy Champion in Bach solo cello mode, was original in just the right sort of way and the delightfully cynical An Occasional Man suited her knowing delivery perfectly. In between I found her scat singing especially strained. Zoe Chiotis, the following night, needed to smarten up her presentation (notably her introductions), but otherwise did as much as anyone could to convert me to the songs of A.C. Jobim. Especially sensitive to the original Portuguese, Zoe sang with exemplary coolness and poise in arrangements by herself and pianist/co-leader Jamie Safiruddin, with Sam Rapley also standing out in an accomplished six-piece backing group.
The weekend had begun with a splendidly fresh-sounding pan-European group, Andrea Vicari’s Jazz Ex-Tempore, with smart arrangements of some interesting original material and plenty of solo space for Vicari, Dutch bassist Rico de Jeer (especially eloquent of Andrea’s Caffe Calypso inspired by a bizarre French service station) and Croatian guitarist Elvis Stanic, with the crisp and powerful drumming of Bulgarian Hristo Yotsov in support. Elvis Stanic proved a revelation, moving from the tense impact of his composition, The Breakout (dynamic solos from Vicari and Stanic) to a beautifully gentle statement on accordion of a Croatian folk-song. The following evening performance by the 18-piece Gareth Lockrane Big Band fielded an impressive range of soloists and arrangements that featured multiple layers of sound and stabbing one-note brass interjections. At the time I found it exciting, but a touch unrelenting, a view I have had cause to modify when checking my notes to find a number of ballads, often scored for a reed section of alto sax, clarinet, two flutes and Bob McKay’s bass clarinet. Lockrane himself leapt between soloing on a full range of flutes and directing the orchestra with tremendous precision through his more complex charts. At times, with Lewis Edney switching from bass trombone to tuba, we entered the world of Kenton-ish sonorities. In a band stuffed with talent (Mark Nightingale, Brandon Allen, Mike Outram, etc.) Nigel Hitchcock justified the leader’s rather excessive use of the word ‘amazing’ (even his wildest solos never lost shape), and versatile pianist/keyboardist Ross Stanley and James Maddren, another spectacular drummer, flew the flag for the younger generation.
A necessary journey east of the Pennines meant I missed the Saturday daytime concerts by the Brandon Allen Sextet (with three more of the Lockrane Big Band, Messrs. Hitchcock, Nightingale and Stanley) and Munich-based pianist David Gazarov, one of the hits of Southport 2011, both of which were reportedly excellent.
Delays caused by the sudden onset of the Big Freeze meant that I joined Alan Barnes’ Dotty Blues Nonet half-way through, with an arrangement of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes that confirmed this as a most civilised entertainment! Tunes reigned supreme in Alan’s ingenious arrangements (taken from his 1998 Zephyr CD) of what the programme called ‘evergreen melodic classics’ (I’ve no reason to disagree), with Gerard Presencer playing especially beautifully after a late arrival caused by similar motorway problems to myself. (The word was that Jim Rotondi, who had stood in for the first half, had been similarly outstanding). Alan’s soundscape was pretty wide-ranging for a nine-piece, with the reeds threesome (the other two Robert Fowler and Pete Long) averaging three instruments each, from flute to bass clarinet. Alan’s version of Somebody Loves Me lived up to his description of being styled after Lil Darlin’, with piano and vibes (David Newton and Jim Hart) filling in for Freddie Green! A delightfully allusive Sunny Side of the Street coupled the original with Johnny Hodges’ famous re-modelling as Shady Side and called forth Alan’s most Hodges-like alto.
When Gerard Presencer appeared again the following afternoon, in a duo concert with John Taylor, opinion was more divided about the enjoyment quotient of his performance. People whose opinion I respect were afterwards talking of it as the concert of the festival, the year (and even, in one case, all time!), but for much of its duration, despite some brilliant playing, the abstract classicism did not enthuse me – a view shared by other people whose opinion I also respect! Then, half-way through the second half, subtly gospel-based piano and delicate trumpet achieved a version of In the Bleak Midwinter that made sense of the standing ovation accorded by some in the audience.
Interestingly enough, the first time during the weekend that I saw audience members rise to acclaim a performance was for a student performance – and well deserved it was, too. 2012 would have seen Gil Evans’ 100th birthday and the Birmingham Conservatoire Jazz Orchestra under Jeremy Price commemorated the occasion with a performance of Birth of the Cool and Sketches of Spain. The former was dealt with very maturely by a capable 11-piece, both trumpet and alto sax parts divided between two players and Andy Warren’s tuba a sonorous anchor to the ensembles. From the opening Move (fluent soloing by, I think, Nick Dunham and Alex Woods) this was a confident performance. Sketches of Spain (Percy Pursglove the admirable trumpet soloist) was even better, a particularly potent trumpet section and another splendid tuba player (Bob Payne). The opening Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez made such a dramatic impression in a relatively small room that I feared all else might be anti-climactic, but the final piece, Solea, removed such doubts. The Conservatoire Orchestra is due to perform both pieces in Birmingham Town Hall on February 24: some of the impact may possibly be diluted in the larger hall, but it’s still an event to be recommended.
Probably Geoff Matthews’ biggest coup this year was the final evening concert by Greg Abate’s ‘In the Moment’ Quintet, a group specially assembled from the States, Italy, Austria and London. The music was broadly of the hard bop school, but Jim Rotondi’s choice of Body and Soul as his ballad feature was only one part of an older tradition. What was immediately striking was the intensity of the performance, with up-front attack from drummer Enzo Zirilli and a creative tension between alto player and trumpeter, clearly rivals as well as colleagues, constantly outdoing each other in codas and cadenzas. Rotondi showed fine attack, with a broad tone in all registers, Dado Moroni confirmed the promise of the fabled late-night session and Harvie S proved a most creative bass soloist, though my one complaint would be the frequency of bass solos. Greg himself was at his most fluent and inventive and it was nice to find a programme largely of originals completed by two pieces from British players he has worked with: a tender ballad by John Patrick and a blues by Alan Barnes.
Jazz on a Winter’s Weekend has taken to calling the back-up events the Fringe and they occupy five more of the aristocratically or royally named suites in the hotel – the main concerts are confined to Balmoral and Windsor! William Ellis usually has a new project to bring to our notice and this year was no exception. Entitled ONE LP, he is building a collection of musicians – mostly, not all, jazz – photographed with, and interviewed about, their favourite albums. Probably the most cogent speaker was Terence Blanchard on Miles Davis (dramatic pic, too), but nothing compared with Jack Bruce in disguise behind sun glasses and beneath a Russian hat discoursing poetically on Olivier Messiaen – of all the things you never expected on a Sunday afternoon at a jazz festival.....
RON SIMPSON
all photos by Paul Bentley except Presencer/Taylor in rehearsal
LIVES: JAZZ ON A WINTER’S WEEKEND, Royal Clifton Hotel, Southport, 3-5 February 2012
Review by Peter Vacher
With its eleven concerts shoe-horned into Southport’s Royal Clifton Hotel and no duds among them, it’s no wonder this residential weekend festival was a winner. First on was Andrea Vicari’s multi-national Jazz Ex-Tempore quartet, her nimble piano and the Balkan-suffused improvising of Croatian guitarist/accordionist Elvis Stanic (yes, his parents loved the King) making their set a free-blowing standout, with Bulgarian drummer Hristo Yotsov’s eye-opening drive impressing everyone. The mighty Gareth Lockrane big band was next, up from the smoke for their first-ever regional concert and straining at the leash from the off. Packed to the gunnels with star players, not least flutist Lockrane himself, their complex, often overly-textured music was a palpable hit with this audience if not with me. Lockrane’s writing is loved by his musicians but would have pleased this listener more had there been some moments of calm amid its relentless barrage of sound.
No such cavils re tenorist Brandon Allen’s superb sextet, with Nigel Hitchcock, alto, Mark Nightingale, trombone, Ross Stanley, keyboards, Sam Burgess, bass, and Ian Thomas, drums, their efforts easily the most pleasing of the entire weekend. Aussie Allen is a cheerful soul who clearly loves to play and has re-engineered familiar standards (‘We don’t like originals,’ he quipped) to give them new life, prompting his players to solo with sustained zest, Thomas swinging harder than seemed wholly decent.
Munich-based pianist David Gazarov wowed Southport last year and if his return visit again emphasised his stylistic similarity to Oscar Peterson, his touch seemed lighter and more expansive this time, ex-pat drummer Mark Taylor tracking his every move. When Gerard Presencer was delayed, US trumpeter Jim Rotondi stepped in to play his parts in Alan Barnes’ Dotty Blues Nonet and very well he did it. With Pete Long and Robert Fowler alongside Barnes, plus Nightingale again, this classy group promised much and delivered plenty. Presencer duly appeared for their second half and then excelled a day later in a duo setting with pianist John Taylor. Cerebral but often pleasingly funky too, theirs was recital music of exceptional quality as was that of the late-playing Jim Mullen Reunion Quartet, with Gary Husband magisterial on drums.
Quick mentions: vocalists Zoe Gilbey (featuring husband Andy Champion’s valuable bass work) and Zoe Chiotis (performing Jobim’s songs) shone as did altoist Greg Abate and Rotondi going the bebop route with an all-star band and the students of the Birmingham Conservatoire essaying ‘Sketches of Spain’ with solo trumpeter Percy Purseglove. A winter wonderland indeed.
Peter Vacher /Jazzwise/ 22 February 2012
Time once again for the most imaginative ‘small’ festival of the year when Jazz on a Winter’s Weekend hit Southport at the beginning of February, as did snow in the South which caused some anxiety for the organisers, Geoff Matthews and his doughty crew of helpers. In the event, no problems, with only Gerard Presencer forced to miss half a show with Alan Barnes’s great Nonet. Easy to overlook an imaginative programme of fringe events on occasions like these so all credit to workshops run by Alan Barnes, Mike Outram, Dave Newton and Mick Hutton, an informative account by Wigan guru Ian Darrington on just how he put together local sax playing singer AJ Brown’s debut album. My favourite was a room crammed to hear top photographer William Ellis’s account of his OneLP project- a series of filmed interviews with musicians talking about their favourite LP. Mike Walker probably surprised a few with Shirley Horn’s Time for Love: top man! Above all, let’s hear it for accordionist Harry Hussey, a fine musician and strolling player serenading all corners of the Royal Clifton throughout the weekend and still at it in the bar at 2am duetting with Barnes (who else?) and Brandon Allen.
Covering of concerts is of necessity brief but I wouldn’t like to have missed any of them. Such a shame that Andrea Vicari couldn’t get a bigger tour together for her Dutch, Croatian and Bulgarian group Jazz Ex Tempore, for her opening Friday afternoon spell was excellent. Attractive, melodic originals, a ball bearing smooth rhythm section with Elvis Stanic’s classic Fender Strat sound warming a ’70s nostalgic’s heart, a soupςon of folkiness from the same player’s accordion and harmonica and Andria’s own great piano playing produced, for me, one of the understated highspots of the weekend.
Gareth Lochrane’s Big Band was a real blast on Friday evening, and for a musician who is the master of the most gentle of instruments – a clutch of flutes – he has a surprising predilection for that funky thing, with James Maddren, king of the new drum generation turning his hand to groove making with an enthusiasm that was a real lift. Great all round from Hitchcock, Outram, Fishwick, Fry, Main and Ben Somers tenor, with a real killer solo blues section to an original Roots from pianist Ross Stanley which was a welcome relief from the shouty, busy quality of many of the charts. ‘Trying too hard’ was my headmsasterly notebook scribble, ‘but very promising’.
Newcastle’s Zoe Gilby occupied the late spot and the big ballroom space seemed to faze her just a little, but by the time she got to her fifth song, ‘Do Nothin…’ she was well into her stride and her ‘African’ sounding scat was both unique and very appealing. Easy to see why she is receiving accolades all round.
Saturday morning isn’t a great time on these occasions but tenorist Brandon Allen’s Sextet with Nigel Hitchcock, Mark Nightingale, Ross Stanley, Sam Burgess and Ian Thomas was simply jazz heaven. These are great improvisers and every one was on his game supported by wonderful writing, that frequently made the three piece front line sound like a whole big band, on unhackneyed tunes like You Must Believe in Spring, Nobody Else But Me and Mingus’s Boogie Stop Shuffle. Please, please; nobody call this music retro. This was the heart and soul of jazz played by world class Brits caught at the very top of their game.
It is to the great credit of the Festival that it brought two pianists, of contrasting styles, to Southport for Saturday and Sunday afternoon recitals. David Gazorov, the Armenian virtuoso, returned with Andy Cleyndert and Mark Taylor, to the same packed house that he played to last year. One surprise was an unusually slow reading of Giant Steps, but as before this came a consistently exciting set of ultra fast arpeggios, nods to Bach some heavy block chording and classic tunes, he ought to be a shoe in for Ronnie’s. In contrast the appeal of John Taylor and trumpeter Gerard Presencer was to a more rigorous cast of mind. I loved it, with JT’s command of dynamics absolutely awesome. It was, however, a but like sitting in the Wigmore Hall, until suddenly, there was a bluesy gospel feeling on, of all things, In The Bleak Midwinter. Presencer is a great improviser but I must confess to thinking that trumpet/piano is a rather bleak combination. Fewer were interested than in Gazorov but those that were rewarded this coruscating duo with a well deserved standing ovation.
The Birmingham Conservatoire’s Jazz Orchestra’s readings of some of the material from Miles’s Birth of Cool and Sketches of Spain albums, under the direction of Jeremy Price with the excellent Percy Pursglove interpreting the classic trumpeter’s contributions, was lovely Sunday morning stuff, underlining the truism that today’s advanced students in any musical form are the equals of yesterday’s virtuosi. Sobering for us old romantics, what’s new to say about Alan Barnes? A perfect show for Saturday evening by his Dotty Blues Nonet, with a beautiful library of charts from a Lil Darlin’ slow on, Somebody Loves Me a crisp Way You Look Tonight, and All The Things…, which gave vibist Jim Hart a chance to stomp, and even a respectfully ‘trad’ Savoy Blues. Pete Long was a splendid dep. for Alex Garnett, missing on birth of baby duty (Congratulations!) and American tpt/flg Jim Rotondi, subbing, as they call it, for the snowbound Gerard P. on the first set, led the brass and was absolutely gorgeous on Accustomed to Her Face. As ever lots of witty, genuinely funny announcements from the great arranger and reedsman; what’s not to like? I wish I could be more enthusiastic about Greg Abate’s In The Moment Quintet, for the packed house in the big room on Sunday absolutely loved it. NY bass hero Harvey S chose to play a rather duff borrowed bass and even he didn’t seem to be able to make it sing, although Andy Hamill thought that he did – so what do I know? Drummer Enzo Zirilli, who I normally enjoy, just didn’t sound comfortable and a tight swinging rhythm section this was not. Jim Rotondi shone again, particularly on Star Eyes and his feature, Body & Soul, Greg was fine throughout and led the band well but somehow it sounded like a bunch of guys getting it together at the beginning of a tour, with just their professionalism getting them through.
And so to bed with the late show from Jim Mullen’s Reunion Quartet and Gareth Williams (pno), Mick Hutton (bs), Gary Husband (dms), I was completely enraptured by their waltzy treatment of You’ve Changed, and a great bluesy walk feel on He’s For Real and when you haven’t heard Mullen for a while you forget just how thrilling his sound and note attack, to say nothing of his wonderful jazzman’s fondness for the judicious quote from tunes learned over a lifetime. OK, Gary started to get a bit OTT in the bright ballroom space – Paul Robinson handled it a lot better last year – on the fast Freddie Hubbard closer, but nevertheless this was a great closing band for those still on their feet at the end of splendid weekend.
Brian Blain for JAZZ UK February 2011
New York Standards Quartet at Southport Melodic Jazz Sunday April 22nd 2012 – Review
On the last gig of their current UK tour which had already gained some high ratings from the UK critics (4 stars for their Bristol gig from John Fordham in Guardian) this remarkable American quartet certainly impressed the very savvy audience at The Royal Clifton Hotel last Sunday. Together for 7 years in New York with an extensive international touring CV, the band’s name gives you a clue to their speciality. Their arrangements of well known jazz ‘standard’ tunes are highly original, often reharmonised. Their opening number ‘Hidden Fondness’ transpired to be a rehash of ‘Secret Love’ [of Doris Day fame] and the band hit the ground running with some sparkling piano from David Berkman that was just a foretaste of things to come in arrangements of Cole Porter’s ‘I Love You’, Bill Evans’s ‘Blue In Green’, Johnny Mandel’s ‘Emily’, John Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps’ and ‘Milestones’ penned by John Lewis for Miles Davis. Tim Armacost on tenor and soprano saxes [several years with Kenny Barron, Roy Hargrove, Eddie Henderson and Randy Brecker] demonstrated a complete command of his instrument and tonal variations from hard driving blues in Ornette Coleman’s ‘The Turnaround’ to soft inventive balladeering in Harry Warren’s ‘Summer Nights’. On a borrowed kit, former Herbie Hancock drummer Gene Jackson glued it all together and provided the basis for a high degree of swing throughout with meaningful and not too extensive solos. The room’s natural (unamplified) acoustics took his sound to every corner to great effect. For this reviewer the highlight of the evening was a sublime bass solo from the brilliant Michael Janisch [a guest with the band and tour organiser] which bridged together the aforementioned Bill Evans favourites ‘Blue in Green’ and the waltz time ‘Emily’. After the gig, when congratulated on the solo’s shape, scope, pace and inventive use of harmonics and asked how long he’d spent working it up, the answer was ‘It just happened out of the air tonight, I hope somebody recorded it’. That’s jazz! A night to remember. When Manhattan came to Southport.
Geoff Matthews for Southport Visiter
