At last Birmingham gets a festival that reflects the thriving contemporary jazz scene in Birmingham.  The Harmonic Festival has been put together by two Birmingham based musicians, bass player Chris Mapp and trumpeter/bass player Percy Pursglove and it is an excellent showcase for all the various strands of the contemporary jazz happening in Birmingham.  It runs from Wednesday 10th  to Saturday 13th March.

It begins on Wednesday in the Adrian Boult Hall at Birmingham Conservatoire with two groups of the best students on the Conservatoire jazz course playing music by Dave Holland. Dave arrived this morning (Sunday) and will be working with the two groups in the next couple of days preparing them for the concert.  He won’t actually play with the students, but may do a short solo performance at the end.

Thursday sees a double bill at the regular Cobweb Collective session at the Yardbird Jazz Club with two bands, one led by Lluis Mather, winner of this year’s Dave Holland Ensemble Prize and the other led by local hero Soweto Kinch.

Friday begins with the Ben Markland Quintet playing the regular Rush Hour Blues sesion at the Symphony Hall foyer.  It then moves to the CBSO Centre where one of the most interesting New York bands, Claudia Quintet, plays at CBSO Centre at 8pm.  The band, which is actually a sextet this time,  is led by drummer and composer John Hollenbeck and has an interestingly unusual lineup with vibes, accordion as well as sax, piano, accordion, double bass.  In the second set the sextet will be joined by two Birmingham musicians, Steve Tromans on keys and Percy Pursglove on trumpet to play some original material of John Hollenbeck’s.  This evening is curated by us at Birmingham Jazz.

The final day is the Saturday and there is a very strong programme beginning at 5pm with a full evening of music with special projects from Aaron Diaz’s Moon Unit playing arrangements of Frank Zappa material, a new band Gambol led by bass player and Festival Direcor Chris Mapp and an improvising trio led Paul Dunmall featuring John Edwards on bass and Mark Sanders on drums .   In addition to these main acts there are short sets from various young players, notably the Hammond Organ trio Mc3 playing at 1pm in Brindley Place and various duos playing the foyer at the CBSO Centre between the main sets.  These are a double Rhodes set with Steve Tromans and Dan Nicholls, a vocal guitar duo with Holly Thomas and Tobie Carpenter, and a sax drum battle between Nick Rundle and Tim Jozwiak.

This short festival will give a real boost to the scene here in Birmingham and will hopefully generate some national publicity to make the outside world realise how good it is. Read more on the festival website here

Tony

Dave King with Buffalo Collision – photo courtesy of Russ Escritt

The Buffalo Collision gig at the CBSO Centre on Tuesday was another example of how varied freely improvised jazz can be today.  This quartet with Tim Berne on alto sax, Hank Roberts on cello, and two members of The Bad Plus, pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer Dave King is something of a heavyweight group and Tim Berne is rightly considered to be one of the most inventive organisers of a group anywhere in the world, though interestingly this seems to be recognised much more in Europe than in USA.

The group began a little tentatively realising that CBSO Centre is a different room from the Vortex where they had played the previous night, but gradually the music evolved into a very different set from the previous night, not better not worse, but equally good according to the musicians.  This is a band in which each player  listens very intently to the other and do not feel the need to contribute all the time.  The result is a gentler, more thoughtful approach to group improvisation than in some groups and it worked extremely well in the space and with a great listening audience.

The key relationship in the music seemed to be between Tim Berne and Hank Roberts.  This was the first time Hank had played in Birmingham and I think everyone was impressed with both his sound and his contribution to the group dynamic.  Dave King was his usual slightly manic and enjoyable self, but always made telling contributions.  Ethan Iverson, interestingly, often stood back allowing the others to control the direction of the music, but always made interesting and relevant entrances.

This was a great ending to a short period of intense gig activity for Birmingham Jazz.

Tony

Tomorrow we are at the CBSO Centre with Buffalo Collision, the quartet that brings together alto saxophonist Tim Berne with two members of The Bad Plus, pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer Dave King. The quartet is completed by Hank Roberts, a cellist who has often worked with Tim Berne, notanbly in an early band called Miniature.  The quote below from AllAboutJazz captures their music well:

‘The Buffalos veer from fragmented abstraction to near-funky Philly grooving, working on an engaging tension between these two traits, each constantly jostling for dominance’

The gig is at the CBSO Centre on Tuesday 2nd March at 8pm and you can buy tickets here

On Wednesday 3rd March the Town Hall presents Courtney Pine’s tribute to one of the greats of early jazz, soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet. Bechet was part of early New Orleans jazz, but became a world traveller and eventually settled in Paris.  Courtney’s tribute is respectful of Bechet’s legacy, but is presented in the more contemporary context of Courtney’s current band.  The music begins at 7.30 and you can buy tickets here

There is another gig on Wednesday night: guitarist Mike Walker brings his sextet to the Conservatoire’s Recital Hall as part of a monthly showcase for the Conservatoire jazz course.  Music begins at 7pm with an opening set from an excellent guitarist in his final year Jimmy Brewer. Mike walker will play a longer second set.  Tickets are £6 (£4) and are available on the door.

Tony

Nils Petter Molvaer at The Hare & Hounds, Friday 26th Feb / TG Collective at The Polish Club, Saturday 27th Feb
Photographs courtesy of Russ Escritt

It was wonderful and something of a relief that all the set up for Nils Petter Molvaer’s show at the Hare & Hounds last Friday (26th February) went smoothly; it is a very complicated show with a very precise tech and visual spec and thanks to house technical manager Jon Nash and his assistant plus the cooperation of the musicians it all got set up and the show started more or less on time.

I really enjoyed the music.  Drummer Audun Kleive and guitarist Stian Westerhus are brilliant musicians who set up a really interesting framework for Nils Petter Molvaer’s improvisations, building up the tension and occasionally taking the lead in those passages where each member of the trio were really firing.  Nils Petter’s own sound on both trumpet and effects is very beautiful and he mostly concentrates on developing quite long passages where the ambient sound of either the synthesised trumpet or the effects dominate.  Overall this was attractive music with some episodes of really full on intensity.  There were, however, also some down periods when the focus on creating  soundscapes seemed to reduce the level of intensity.  But overall this was a successful gig.

One or two people have commented that the review of the trio’s London concert in The Guardian was too critical; you can read the review here.  Either the London concert was a nervous first concert, or the reviewer missed the point on this occasion.  Peter Bacon has also written a review on his Jazz Breakfast site; you can read it here.

Last night (Saturday 27th February) TG Collective played a warm, very musical and thoroughly enjoyable concert at the Polish Club reminding us all what a charming venue the Polish Club is.  It has a attractive and in a positive way a slightly bizarre feel to it, all added to on this occasion by the presence of its Valentine’s Day and Christmas decorations.  TG Collective with its healthy mix of gypsy jazz, flamenco and more contemporary material, and great musicianship and dancing from Ana Garcia really enthused a good large audience.

Owing to the Nils Petter Molvaer gig on Friday night, I could only catch half an hour of Nick Smart’s Quintet with American saxophonist John Gunther at Rush Hour Blues.  The music struck me as excellent accessible jazz with pianist Malcolm Edmonstone outstanding.

But the gig of the week has to be Trio VD at Jazz Club at The Rainbow Wednesday night (February 24th).  Peter Bacon’s review on his Jazz Breakfast blogsite captures the excitement of the gig – you can read it here. Trio VD are undoubtedly one of the most creative groups on today’s scene and I look forward to seeing how they develop.  The music is highly structured, nonetheless leaving space for improvisation, and it draws quite extensively on elements of contemporary rock music.  It is thus music that should have an appeal to fans who don’t normally listen to jazz.

Tony

Birmingham Jazz is running something of a Norwegian season these days; Tord Gustavsen was at the CBSO Centre in autumn 2009, Nils Petter Molvaer brings the music of his latest album Hamada to the Hare & Hounds on Feb 26th and Humcrush, the duo of drummer Thomas Stronen and keyboard player Stale Storlokken of Supersilent will also be at the Hare & Hounds on 14th April (this one is a co-promotion with Caspule).  The Norwegian scene has  been for some time  arguably the most interesting scene in Europe and we at Birmingham Jazz are very keen to be able to present the best of Norway in Birmingham  Indeed, we have entered into partnership with the Norwegian Embassy in order to be able to do this.

Nile Petter Molvaer has produced some excellent albums for the ECM and Universal labels in recent years, notably Khmer, Solid Ether and np3, but he now seems to be recording for his own label Sula, named after his birthplace.  Nils’ music always brings together jazz, Scandinavian folk music and contemporary dance rhythms, hip hop, electronica and blends them into an intense but beautiful whole.  The latest album Hamada shows the same mix, but there are more of the uptempo numbers and this bodes well for the live show at the Hare & Hounds.  Nils is touring with drummer Audun Kleive and guitarist Stian Westerhus, the latter known for his high energy contributions to the British band Fraud when they played at Cheltenham and toured UK a couple of years ago.  Both these players will undoubtedly take the music further in the direction of a strong rhythmic pulse and powerful solos.

All this should work really well in the excellent informal surroundings of the Hare & Hounds.

Tickets are £10 ( £8 concessions) and available on the door on the night or at www.theticketsellers.co.uk or 0844 870 0000 until 3pm today.

For further details see Nils Petter Molvaer’s website.

Tony

Supported by:

This gig with Trio VD was a truly amazing gig that seems to have sent Peter Bacon off into very weird and wonderful dreams.  See his review here.

Jazz Club has established a very strong identity with its focus on the energy of young UK bands that draw on other genres, mostly rock, and crowds are growing all the time.

Troyka, the trio that features Kit Downes on keys, Chris Montague on guitar and Josh Blackmore on drums play the next Jazz Club on Wednesday 24th March.

Tony

Zed-U are Shabaka Hutchings, Neil Charles and Tom Skinner. Their debut album, Night time on the middle passage was launched last year to critical acclaim and was played to death in the Birmingham Jazz office. For their gig at Jazz Club in November, Tom had a more than able replacement in Polar Bear’s Seb Rochford. Zed-U describe themselves as playing music they’d like to hear and luckily, it’s music we like to hear too.

As usual, one track is included in the podcast the whole gig can be heard at: http://www.birminghamjazz.co.uk/jazzclub.htm

We have another run of great gigs coming up in the next week, actually eight days!

We start on Wednesday 24th February at The Rainbow on Digbeth with Trio VD led by guitarist Chris Sharkey. For me this is the best of the many young UK bands with a full on approach incorporating a rock influence.  Music begins at 9pm.

There are two gigs on Friday: the regular Rush Hour Blues session presents an American saxophonist John Gunther with a band led by UK trumpeter Nick Smart. The session runs from 5.30 to 7pm.

That leaves just about enough to grab something to eat before heading down to the Hare & Hounds Pub on Kings Heath High Street to hear the ambient music of Nils Petter Molvaer. Nils is a trumpeter from Norway and his trio has two other great Norwegian players: Stian Westerhus on guitar and Audun Kleive on drums.  Music begins at 8.30.

Saturday sees the great jazz flamenco group TG Collective at the Polish Club in Bordesley Street at 8pm.

Finally on Tuesday 2nd March Buffalo Collision play the CBSO Centre at 8pm.  The band features Tim Berne on alto sax with two of The Bad Plus piano trio, Ethan Iverson on piano and Dave King on drums, plus Hank Roberts on cello.

Tony

( photo courtesy of Garry Corbett )

What a brilliant gig last Friday’s session with the Kit Downes Trio was!  As ever, Peter Bacon’s review of the gig on his Jazz Breakfast site captures it extremely well.  You can read it here.   In addition to the photos by Garry Corbett that Peter mentions, you can see Bill Shakespeare’s shots here.

I totally agree that this was a gig worth paying a lot of money to hear, but there is something special about the Rush Hour Blues free entry gig.  It has a very loyal audience many of whom are not really jazz fans as such, but they seem to love the range of music that is presented at these sessions.  It is a large responsive audience (roughly 300 every week), and more and more bands and players are saying that it is a special and unique gig.

Long may it continue!

Tony

( photo by Garry Corbett )

There has been a dead heat in the Audience Poll at Rush Hour Blues to choose the favourite band of 2009.  Chris Aldridge’s Beebe and the University of Birmingham Big Band each received 53 votes and have been declared joint winners.  After discussion with the two band leaders we have decided that the University Big Band will play the Rush Hour Blues session on March 26th and Chris Aldridge’s Beebe will play a second Poll Winners’ concert on July 2nd.

The response from voters has been amazing this year with over 300 people voting; 200 of these voted online on this site.  This is proof of the ever increasing popularity of the Rush Hour Blues sessions run by Birmingham Jazz and Symphony Hall, which are attended by up to 300 people every week.  They run from 5.30 to 7pm every Friday in the foyer at Symphony Hall, which is a great setting for music with the band playing directly in front of the large window that overlooks the Birmingham Wheel in Centenary Square.

Bands always comment on the ‘open ears’ of the audience and it has been fascinating to observe how tastes have developed.  It is a session that has a growing national reputation and makes a great contribution to the music scene in Birmingham.

Tony