Music / Bath Jazz Weekend
Review: Bath Jazz Weekend, Widcombe Social Club – ‘A cavalcade of contemporary jazz styles rich in creative imagination’
You needed to approach this event with a certain degree of caution – careful listening to ten very different jazz acts over three days takes stamina.
Judging by the Bath Jazz Weekend audience demographic this was mostly the result of decades of practice, the reward for which was a cavalcade of contemporary jazz styles rich in creative imagination.
The diversity was reflected in the variety of musicians involved, ranging from the Tomorrow’s Warriors rising names in the Emily Tran Quintet to bass player Alison Rayner and clarinettist Louis Sclavis who each can boast a half-century of acclaimed music making.
Rebecca Nash and Alex Merrit – photo: Tony Benjamin
It felt like the weekend had been planned around the idea of contrasts, the music yinning and yanging between spaciously reflective compositions and vigorously improvisation-rich mash-ups. The former began with Friday’s opening act the John Lloyd Quartet, the tenor saxophonists long-standing partnership with pianist John Law played out in lyrical melodies and gently interwoven arrangements, with ebullient drummer Alex Goodyear constrained largely to brushwork and cymbals.
A similar sound quality ran through Sunday’s set from Rebecca Nash and Alex Merrit’s piano/sax duo. Their more intricate compositions verged towards the classical, with the eloquent counterpoint and rich dynamic sweeps enriching John Taylor’s Autumn a highlight of their set.
Robert Mitchell – photo: Tony Benjamin
Saturday evening opened with a solo performance by pianist Robert Mitchell very much in the style of a classical recital. The pieces varied in length but consistently had an elaboration (that may have been improvised) through a narrative flow helped by taped voice samples.
The complex A Room In Which To Dream came to an abrupt stop which felt arbitrary, giving a sense of an idea unfinished.
Louis Sclavis and Bruno Ducret – photo: Tony Benjamin
Robert was followed by one of the weekend’s most anticipated high points, however – the duo of veteran French clarinettist Louis Sclavis and the much younger cellist Bruno Ducret.
Bruno is the son of French jazz royalty who has established himself in his own right and there was a balanced equality to the duo’s music that permitted fascinating interplay.
Each piece hovered between French folk, baroque and jazz musics, somehow achieving intensity with the lightest of touches throughout a set that was all-too soon over.
Equal Spirits: Xolani Mbatha and Raph Clarkson – photo: Tim Dickeson
The more brash yang side of jazz also began on Friday night with trombonist Raph Clarkson’s South African rooted project Equal Spirits.
Originally a collaboration between Raph and musicians in three South African cities the UK version is a sextet including trumpeter Chris Batchelor who began his career in the 80s with exiled South Africans Dudu Pukwana and Chris McGregor, with vocals fronted by Durban-born Xolani Mbatha.
The music swung with effusive positivity in simmering grooves that often collapsed into vigorous free blowing episodes before gathering back together.
By the end of the set Xolani’s vocals had gained strength and the willing audience call and response of Shosha Lhosa brought him out in time for the splendid Wise and Waiting.
Olie Brice Quartet – All It Was – photo: Tony Benjamin
Saturday burst into life thanks to Olie Brice’s all-star All It Was quartet, Olie’s ringing Mingus-like bass led in Rachel Musson’s full-toned and furious tenor sax, Alexander Hawkins’ piano sweeping in over Will Glaser’s sharp and hard drumming.
Four powerful players, well able to hold their own in improvisational meltdowns, they even had the audacity to dedicate a number to the great Cecil Taylor and not disgrace themselves at all – far from it.
Another number dedicated to South African exile and masterful bass player Johnny Dyani gave Olie the chance of a virtuoso solo introduction, stretching across many styles and textures before Rachel’s scorching saxophone wound the tune into a rasping climax.
Nick Malcolm – Out Front Quintet – photo: Tony Benjamin
Olie would return at the end of the day in Nick Malcolm’s quintet Out Front, another all-star affair with improv credentials.
With Nick’s trumpet joined by Jason Yarde on alto and Jake McMurchie’s tenor the music could slip from anarchic freedom into sweet brass harmonies, while Dave Smith’s drumming could challenge, goad or gently steer any resulting mayhem.
Tunes like Song Unlimited were surprisingly tightly arranged yet Dark Dancing was a fine (if undanceable) melee of cross rhythms and counterpoints as they ended our long day on a high energy note.
ARQ: Dierdre Cartwright and Alison Rayner – photo: Tony Benjamin
There were a couple of bands who straddle the yin-yang divide, albeit for different reasons.
Veteran bass player Alison Rayner’s ARQ quintet, which includes fellow Guest Stars alumna guitarist Deirdre Cartwright, have a well-established sound that draws on carefully crafted arrangements and clever musical ideas as a context for accomplished solo work.
Thus Short Stories went in and out of a 7-time groove, Trick Dance had the hiccup of 11-time while Tribute to Jaco slipped into a faultless Weather Report vibe. All of this was effortlessly rooted in Alison’s precise and effective bass playing, a true bandleader’s performance that shone out quietly.
The Ruin: Corrie Dick and Elliot Galvin – photo: Tony Benjamin
In contrast Elliot Galvin’s The Ruin was a stark electro-acoustic tone poem merging Elliot’s piano and electronica with Mandhira de Saram’s violin and Ruth Goller’s bass guitar and vocals.
Drummer Corrie Dick sat impassively, biding his time as the piece opened and took shape. Mandhira’s violin scraped and rasped, then soared and sawed, while Ruth’s spectral voice overlaid her unmistakeable hard-nosed bass sound.
The continuous 45 minute piece shifted in and out of gear and textures came and went in an unfolding post-apocalyptic narrative. It was a masterful combination of intellectual rigour and emotional catharsis.
Emily Tran Quintet – photo: Tony Benjamin
It has become a habit of the Bath Jazz Weekend to begin with a jazz-related film and end with a promising glimpse of young talent.
This year’s movie was the brilliant All Night Long transposition of Othello to the London jazz scene of the 60s, with many amazing cameos of jazz greats, while the rising stars were Tomorrow’s Warriors graduate Emilie Tran’s Quintet.
Emilie’s compositions are as varied as they are assured, whether the tight hard bop ensemble arrangement of Get Out Of My Head, the looser ballad form of Salt or the fine freewheeling mashup energy of Anti-Movement, while allowing great solo opportunities for Mali Sheard’s saxes or Christ-Stéphane Boizes’ trombone.
Shining through it all, however, was the astonishing bass playing of Holly Reinhardt, surely one of the strongest performances of the whole weekend – and, given the competition, that is really saying something.
Header photo of Olie Brice and Nick Malcolm by Tim Dickeson
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