Three hours from Cheltenham Jazz Festival, on Radio 2 - today (3 May)

[Serial_Apologist]

3.00 Jamie Cullum
Highlights from the Cheltenham Jazz Festival (30 April-5 May), including backstage input and on-stage performances from Judith Owen, Curtis Steigers, Melanie De Biasio and Get the Blessing. Plus highlights from across the weekend, including live tracks and music from Jamie's favourite artists performing at the festival.

It says. More follows nest Tuesday, 7 pm, same place on the Gloucestershire dial.

Steigers, who used to be a pop singer, was on The Wright Stuff (Ch5) on Thursday morning. I haven't heard of any of the others. Has this festival the jazz prestige it had in the 1980s, I wonder?

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Cheltenham 1997...

"Although there was a special mini-
festival of "New Sounds", a day-long
programme of contemporary British
bands associated with Django Bates,
the big guns were mainly
Americans who don't usually get to
play outside London. The chance to
see saxophonists Chico Freeman,
Jackie McLean and Johnny Griffin,
as well as the legendary Art
Ensemble of Chicago, attracted
impressive crowds.

McLean, who played with the
wonderful trio of pianist Cedar
Walton, was particularly good, with
a sound on alto saxophone that
seemed to provide the missing link
between his friends Charlie Parker
and Ornette Coleman. Though he's
64 (and age is a factor in jazz
festivals, where many elder
American brethren see out their
days in cautious pipe and slippers
mode), McLean played with passion,
rifling off hard, fluent phrases at
maximum velocity, the tone of his
horn pitched to the emotional
rather than the well-tempered
scale. When, for an encore, he
started to weep out the intro to "A
Nightingale Sang in Berkeley
Square", it was one of the great
jazz moments."....Independent.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh....memories!

BN.

But today I think the Wee Jamie and Curtis Steeeeeglos combined would be WAY too exciting. A bit like the Everleys last tour....

[Honoured Guest]

It's a very balanced programme.

The brochure lists the ticketed events in categories:
5 Big Nights Out
5 Rising Stars
5 Show-Stopping Vocalists
5 International
5 Cutting Edge
5 Best of British

Tony Dudley-Evans, who programmed it for several good years, is now the Programme Advisor to Festival Director Ian George.

Over recent years, the venues have been refreshed, with most events now taking place on a main site in Montpelier Gardens and everything now within walking distance.

There's also a Free Stage throughout the Festival, free late night jam sessions over the weekend, and a Jazz Festival Fringe over the preceding weekend.

I wish I could afford to attend!

[Serial_Apologist]

1 hour 10 minutes in, no jazz yet, just 1970s-style pop and 1 sub-Einaudi-type piano trio number. Oh I'd forgotten, this is Radio 2; is that a jazz festival?

Oh we now have Take Five played by a Bollywood orchestra. I'm obviously wasting a lovely sunny day by being stuck in here.

[Serial_Apologist]

A session by Get The Blessing is about to start here - a Bristol band I'd assumed to be a Gospel chorus, but they look interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_the_Blessing

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"The band dress uniformly in white
shirt and dark grey suits and, for
promotional pictures and record
covers, often cover their heads,
most notably with brown paper
bags."


I do that when I am robbing the Post Office.

"Stand back yew pensioners an yew won get urt!"

BN.

[Serial_Apologist]

A session by Get The Blessing is about to start here - a Bristol band I'd assumed to be a Gospel chorus, but they look interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_the_Blessing

Seem like nice boys...

I remember them 1st time around - they didn't make much impression then. Sorry!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Seem like nice boys...

I remember them 1st time around - they didn't make much impression then. Sorry!

Things are now so bad for "jazz" that its got a paper bag on its head and its robbing the post office to survive...

I blame the parents.

BN.

[Ian Thumwood]

Things are now so bad for "jazz" that its got a paper bag on its head and its robbing the post office to survive...

I blame the parents.

BN.

I don't think that the problem is with the quality of contemporary jazz but more a problem with the people organising the festivals. The same thing has happened at Vienne where the quality of "genuine jazz" has diminished since the "professionals" took over the organisation.

It is curious to see how festivals envisage the current state of jazz and how they are increasingly failing to have their finger on the pulse. Vienne used to feature a lot of emerging talent at the Club de minuit and the better quality music is now being squeezed out by decidedly average European acts. It isn't too much of a step to see this as the conclusion of the protestations of Stuart Nicholson about ten years ago when he was writing articles that suggested that the creative jazz had relocated to Europe. I find this to have been a major mistake and whilst I would concede that the Europeans have produced some very fine jazz, all too often very average bands are featuring in festivals, especially as now that the jazz education system has blossomed. That said, I was really unimpressed by Snarky Puppy on JRR tonight and , despite their NYC credentials, they sounded like something from about 1981.

If you know where to look, there is some terrific jazz being produced these days and it is a genuinely fascinating time to be listening to jazz. You wouldn't believe this by the programmes many festivals are producing and even if Curtis Stigers did actually begin in jazz (he studied with Gene Harris) before embarking on a pop career, years ago he would have been a fringe artist as opposed to someone more in line with the jazz mainstream.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

You may say that Ian but this afternoon I saw "Jazz" selling The Big Issue....I gave him the Iain Duncan Smith help line number but he just mumbled, "didn't he use to play trombone with Mike Cotton?"

Time to let go of the white whale.

The end is Nye. As we say in Pontypandy.

BN.

[Ian Thumwood]

Last month I spoke to the man who books the jazz gigs at the Turner Sims as he is usually quite informative about the kinds of artists who are available to book and knowledgeable about which artists are available for concerts or who are on tour. One of the things he told me about was a recent trip he had to the Chicago jazz festival where there seemed to be an incredible number of artists / groups performing some pretty outside jazz to large audiences. Jazz in Europe is getting a bit like cinema insofar that there is a degree of laziness in that no one is willing to take risks with the result that there is little variety in the groups appearing. You get the occasional "block buster" during the summer but, to be frank, some of these artists might have been big names in the 1960's but many are past their sell by date. Even those older players who are making invaluable music seem to be squeezed out of the festival scene. I would rather hear the likes of George Cables, Stanley Cowell, Henry Grimes, etc, etc than a lot of the music that now gets booked at festivals. These players no longer get a look in but perhaps they told regularly tour these days. The jazz fan is caught between a rock and a hard place. The same old names get trundled out at festivals with the majority of the gigs being performed by "fillers" who are either European non-entities or some modish group who won't be around in 2014.

There are plenty of really great jazz musicians playing around at the moment who are at least as good as anything in the 50's / 60's. I don't think that the European scene affords them much opportunity as may have been the case 10-20 years ago. However the example of what appears to be happening at Chicago or indeed something like Vision Festival demonstrates that there is an audience for proper and creative jazz. Given the quality of music being produced by a host of players ranging from David Binney, William Parker, Kenny Garrett, Dianne Reeves, Jason Adasieiwizc, Josh Abrams, Dave Douglas, Mary Halvorson, etc, etc the music is clearly in rude health even if the European festival scene is increasingly ignorant of the jazz of true value.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Tend to agree with that. I think "Europe" has often swallowed its own publicity.

BN.

I see one of the American free jazz blogs proposed a "Stuart Nicholson Prize" for the best anti-Americanism. As irony.

[Ian Thumwood]

Back in the 50's / 60's European jazz seemed to be in thrall of the music coming out of the States whereas now some musicians seem a bit contemptuous of it. Several years ago a took my Dad to hear the Mingus Big Band play at Salisbury festival and he commented that there was a quality with American groups that seemed to allude their British counterparts(Even though a British bassist was standing in with the band that night.) Of the three of us who went to hear the concert, not one failed to have been bowled over by the shear energy of the band and the manner in which they swung as a unit. I've also heard this on a much smaller scale with Branford Marsalis' quartet where Jeff "Tain" Watts swung with such a range of dynamics that seemed well beyond the grasp of any European drummer I've heard. Even most American college bands would shred European bands in many instances. By and large, I would totally agree that "Europe" has swallowed it's own publicity whilst also adding that of many of the European bands that are feted by the festivals, not many of them have put anything down in the last two decades by way of heritage. Maybe Loose Tubes are a good exception but groups like EST sound piss poor in comparison with artists like Jason Moran or Vijay Iyer who are producing the kind of body of work that will leave a legacy. I don't think you can escape the "heritage" and artists like Tigran making comments regarding the need to look back to styles like bop miss the point because nearly everything that is worthwhile in jazz in 2014 does have antecedents in what was being produced 50-60 years ago. Listening to some 1980's David Murray last week, for example, it was striking just how much an album like "Home" owes to Duke Ellington. The tracks from the new Frank Roebke record also seem to have a Ellingtonian influence in the excerpts I have heard. Bearing in mind that Ellington's music first appeared on records nearly 90 years ago and still resonates it is ridiculous that the likes of Nicholson can make such laughable claims for European jazz when it hasn't had a fraction of the time to put down roots. Jazz musicians will still be influenced by Ellington when a good proportion of the European players featured on labels like ACT will have been forgotten. I do think that the quality of European jazz has improved and there are some great and original thinkers out there. However, for my money, the better European players are not the bright and shining players being featured at festivals but those who are not too proud to disown their influences whether we are talking about Surman, Stanko, Portal, Sclavis, Belmondo, Rypdal, etc, etc. These are the Europeans whose music matters in my opinion and not pop acts like EST.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

it is a shame that AUNT/PEPSI/R2 are now so adept at making it all seem like twaddle ..... there must surely be a neo-Frankfurter somewhere who could elucidate for us all the intimacy and compulsive attractions between marketing theory/arts management diplomas/corporate£hunger[vampiresquid3.08] and "arts" programming

[Serial_Apologist]

for my money, the better European players are not the bright and shining players being featured at festivals but those who are not too proud to disown their influences whether we are talking about Surman, Stanko, Portal, Sclavis, Belmondo, Rypdal, etc, etc. These are the Europeans whose music matters in my opinion and not pop acts like EST.

Gosh poor John Surman must be feeling pretty lonely as the sole representative of British jazz passing Thumwood muster!

But, let's just go back a paltry ten years to see if we can pick out anyone else worthy of more than dismissal when up against them unimpeachable Americans.

2004
Kenny Wheeler/John Taylor - "Where Do We Go From Here?"
Gilad Atzmon's Orient House Ensemble - "Rearranging the Twentieth Century"

2005
Gary Crosby with Harry Beckett, Soweto Kinch, Matthew Bourne and Leo Taylor at Jazz Britannia, saluting Joe Harriott
Paul Towndrow - "Out of Town" with Steve Hamilton, Michael Janisch, Alyn Cosker
Chris Laurence Qt - "New View" with John Parricelli, Frank Ricotti, Martin France & Norma Winstone
Acoustic Triangle - "Resonance" with Gwilym Simcock, Tim Garland, Malcolm Creese

2006
Veryan Weston's Quintet of Uncertainty on Jon3 with Yado Gibson (ts) Satako Fukuda (viola) Hannah Marshall (clo) Nana Tsiboe (perc)
Finn Peters Quintet at the Dean St Pizza Express (b/cast) with Nick Ramm, Matt Yee King (laptop) Mike Outram, Tom Herbert, Tom Skinner
Les Diaboloques - "Jubilee Concert" with Joelle Leandre (b,vo) Irene Schweizer (p) Maggie Nicolls (vo)

2007
Empirical @ The Jazz Lounge, Glastonbury Festival (b/cast) with Jay Phelps, Nathaniel Facey, Kit Downes, Tom Farmer, Shaney Forbes
Liam Noble Trio - "Brubeck" with Dave Whitford, Dave Wickens

2008
Norma Winstone - "Distances" with Klaus Gessing & Glauco Vennio
Daniel Crosby's The Mighty Jeddo @ the RFH (b/cast) with Crosby (d) Shabaka Hutchings (ts,ss) Peter Edwards (syn) Darren Taylor & 2 vocalists
Chris Sharkey's TrioVD at the above
Robert Mitchell's 3IO at the above
Phronesis at the Vortex Loop Collective Festival with Ivo Neame (p) Jasper Hoiby (b) Anton Eger (d)
Outhouse at the above with Robin Fincker, Tom Challenger (saxes) Pierre-Alexandre Tremblay (laptop) John Brisley (b) Dave Smith (d)

2009
Matana Roberts WITH - wait for it! - Robert Mitchell, Tom Mason, Chris Vatalaro at the Vortex (Jon3)
Blink @ the Vortex Loop Festival (Jon3) with Alcyona Mick (p, leader) Robin Fincker, Paul Clarvis
The Profound Sound Trio @ The Pillar Room Cheltenham Fest., with Paul Dunmall, (oh he's british ) Henry Grimes, Andrew Cyrille (Jon3)
Mark Lockheart Group - "In Deep" with Dave Priseman (tpt) Liam Noble, Jasper Hoiby, Dave Smith
Mingus Moves - "Portraits of Mingus" with Chris Biscoe, Henry Lowther, Trevor Mires (tb) Pete Hurt (ts) Kate Williams (p) Dave Green, Stu Butterfield

2010
Fringe Magnetic at the Vortex Loop Collective Festival with Rory Simmons (tpt) Tori Freestone (ts) Robin Fincker (cl) James Allsopp (bcl) Ivo Neame (p) Jasper Hoiby, Bert Reynolds (d) + 4 others
Jim Hart's Gemini at the above, with Hart (vbs) Ivo Neame (as,cl) Jasper Hoiby, Dave Smith - both Jon3
Ingrid Laubrock - "Anti-House" with Kris Davis (p) Mary Halvorsen (g) John Hebert (b) Tom Rainey (d)
Ingrid Laubrock Sleepthief - "The Madness of Crowds" with Liam Noble, Tom Rainey
Alexander Hawkins Ensemble - "All There, Ever Out" with Hawkins (p) Oto Fischer (g) Hannah Marshall (clo) Dominic Lash (b) Orphy Robinson (marimba) Kit Downes (kbds) Javier Carmona (perc)

2011
Django Bates & the TDEs at Cheltenham (b/cast) with Jay Phelps (tpt) Shabaka Hutchings (cl,as) Denys Baptiste (ts) James Allsopp (bs,bcl) Kit Downes (kbds) Chris Montague (g) Jasper Hoiby (b) Joshua Blackmore (d) Bates (conductor)

George Crowley Quartet - "Paper Universe" with Crowley (ts) Kit Downes (p) Calum Gourlay (b) James Maddren (d)

Just a small selection from my admittedly limited archives.