Cheltenham Jazz Festival and other live gigs

[Guest]

I am new in town, apologies if there is already a thread going for this. This is by way of introduction and further apologies if I have breached any established etiquette :)

I saw the Kyle Eastwood Band (Clint's boy) on Monday in Tunbridge Wells on the launch date of the new album. Great trumpet player (Graham Flowers) and sax (Graeme Blevins); Kyle is no slouch on bass either. I already had tickets to see him at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and then he pitches up on my doorstep :) . I've got tickets for The Overtone Quartet (not the dodgy crooners of that name but Chris Potter's band). Unfortunately Dave Holland has had to withdraw due to a family bereavement: he is replaced by Larry Grenadier. Also got tickets for Andy Sheppard. Radio 3 usually broadcasts selected items from the main jazz festivals, I am not sure what has been selected from Cheltenham 2011.

The last great gigs I have been to recently were Joe Lovano at Ronnie Scott's with Us Five (Esperanza has been replaced because she is a big, Grammy winning star in her own right now) - there was a recent Radio interview with Joe but nothing from the RS gig. I also saw Billy Jenkins with Iain Ballamy and the BBC big band at the London jazz festival, which was broadcast on Radio 3. Thanks to R3 for sponsoring that. Billy doesn't play much and it was great to see him.

Anyway, I'm here guys and I'll try to behave

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

hi rumbaba and welcome to dis bored

[charles t]

ditto

Welcome, Tangoada, to de bored.

Guarantee you will dig Chris Potter, whom I saw with (needless to say) Dave Holland.

BTW, Larry Grenadier very fine (saw him as member of Brad Mehldau Quartet).

[Rumbaba]

ditto

Welcome, Tangoada, to de bored.

Guarantee you will dig Chris Potter, whom I saw with (needless to say) Dave Holland.

BTW, Larry Grenadier very fine (saw him as member of Brad Mehldau Quartet).

Chris is the DBs, a big influence on Graeme Blevins. The Lift album is great. I don't know Larry but I am sure he will fill the bill. I have seen so much live stuff recently, it's crazy. Does anyone know Billy Jenkins (eccentric genius) or is it just me?

[Old Grumpy]

As a relative newbie to this site myself - welcome to the board. Andy Sheppard is great value - I have been going to his gigs since the early days (late 70s) when he was part of a band called Sphere (if I recall correctly). Saw Joe Lovano - at the Sage the night before he was at Ronnies. I also attended the recording of Jazz Library, which as you say concentrated on stuff other than with UsFive.

The next highlight on my jazz calendar is Gwilym Simcock with Mike Walker, Steve Swallow, Adam Nussbaum: The Impossible Gentlemen - greatly looking forward to that.

[Rumbaba]

Hi Grumpy, sounds like a great itinerary, Steve Swallow is worth a look. I caught the second set at Ronnie's for Joe Lovano (the good old days when you could stay for both sets are long gone - sold seperately now :( )

[Ian Thumwood]

The band with Simcock, Walker , Swallow and Nussbaum is terrific. I caught this band in Southampton last year and this was definately one of the best gigs of 2010. i think this quartet definately casts Simcock in a more conventional jazz vein albeit Mike Walker was the star of this gig for my money even if the eubullient Nussbaum ran his a close second. Us Five played Southampton too last month and I enjoyed this gig as well - as good as the "Bird Songs" CD is, I don't think it is a substitute for catching this band live as Lovano is probably one of the most exciting tenor players on today's scene and the interplay between the two drummers really has to be observed to be totally appreciated. There is very much a visual aspect to this band as you get a better idea of what is going on in the live setting as opposed to from listening to the music on the disc. What is great about this record is that material like "Barbados", "Yardbird Suite " "Moose the mooche" and "Dewey Square" can all be found in the Aebrsold "Bird plays latin" play-a-long so it has been fun digging this out even if I not confient enough to play the heads over the latin grooves which makes Parker's lines far more complex from a rhythmic point of view.

Chris Potter is an odd player. Technically he is excellent and his work with Dave Holland's various bands definately puts all the right ticks in the boxes. He was a player that always got heavily criticised on the old messageboard and this did seem a bit unjust. However, am I the only one who has been a bit under-whelmed by the records he has out out under his own name?

Has the programme for Cheltnham been published ? I' ve got my tickets for Vienne and signed up for the "abonnement" back in November before the line up was announced. There was a lot of flack last year as commercial / non-jazz acts had started to muscle in. Whilst there has always been an element of "non-jazz", the artists seemed to be jazz based but recent years has witnessed unwelcome singers such as Seal, Gilberto Gil, Elvis Costello and the woeful Joe Cocker. I thought that all of this music was shit despite initially attending with an open mind and hoping to be won over - no improvisation, no creativity and just polished "product." Walked out on all these gigs , I'm afraid. Shame none were capable of at least putting in a gutsy performance like Al Green where the showmanship and brilliance of his band put the aforementioned groups into a significant shade. This year Tom Jones (!) has blagged his way in and Cyndi Lauper (remember her?) is appearing as a blues act (seriously) - I was a bit sceptical about this but the reviews have been amazingly positive so I will go with open ears. The "genuine" jazz acts includes the usual stalwarts Wayne Shorter with Herbie and Marcus Miller, John Scofield, Sonny Rollins, Ahmed Jamal, Dave Holland, Return to Forever, Hiromi, Rhoda Scott and (ahem) Jamie Cullum. Having seen Rollins play twice before, it is usually a magical evening. Can't the to the Mike Stern gig. The gigs in the club seem to reflect the current economic downturn. Usually this acts as a showcase for emerging talent as well as more adventurous performers but the higlight this year is Bunk Green / Reudresh Mahanthappa group. Gretchen Parlato is also performing and she has been billed on "All about jazz" as th best female jazz singer under the age of 40. Looking forward to her gig as the backing band look pretty impressive too. Most of the other bands seem to be French / european acts unknown to me although this can be the opportunity to hear some really great jazz that has snuck under the radar. Soweto kinch and Robert Galsper are two acts booked for the jazz mix venue.

Don't really like to complain too much as I enjoy the festival and have many friends in the town that I enjoy catching up with but I do get hacked off with non-jazz acts gate-crashing Jazz Festivals. Tom Jones has recorded an album of blues covers and anyone who has seen the Mike Figgis DVD about the British blues scene will appreciate that Jones is a knowledgeable and honest fan of this music. That said, I would have rather have seen some proper jazz - especially as some elements of the music are really under-represented this year. (No mainstream, no free jazz , no Latin jazz and no genuine surprises to whet the appetite.) It was fascinating to compare with Marciac which is one of Vienne's main rivals. This usually takes a more "absolutist" approach as you would expect where Wynton is the artistic director or atleast has some say in the festival. This year, the festival also seems to be demonstrating a lack of imagination too. Previously the festival had looked tempting but was always a non-starter as there is little accomodation in the village which is situated in the middle of nowhere. I think the nearest big town is Auch whcih you would be forgiven for not being aware of.

Shame none of these festivals take a punt on more edgy stuff like John Hollenbeck, James Darcy Argue, Vijay Iyer, Henry Threadgill , etc to play the main Theatre Antique gig. Difficult balance booking big names and making the festival musically interesting. I sometimes feel that festivals bring out the worst in some performers who coast through performances with little effort bit but in it's favour new music sometimes gets commissioned and the setting / partisan nature of the crowd can act as an inspiration too. It is also noticeable how often the same names get booked. I'm a fan of Herbie but this is about the sixth time I've caught him play there.

[Rumbaba]

Paloma Faith with the Guy Barker orchestra was actually a terrific concert last year, believe it or not. I spoke to Guy just before the rehearsal and he was full of praise for PF as a performer and she didn't disappoint. Maybe not one for the purists but a good gig.

John Scofield was a bit average last year, scrappy - a bit hit and miss. It didn't help that the piano appeared to have been supplied by Chas n Dave.

I agree about the two drummers with JL. I wasn't sure it would work but it works really well live.

I am giving Hugh Laurie at Cheltenham a miss (Bertie Wooster plays boogie woogie, no thanks)

Does Billy Jenkins appear on anyone's radar or did I imagine him? Mad and brilliant in equal measure.

http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/find-events?title=&tid=4&tid_1=All&date_filter_1%5Bvalue%5D%5Byear%5D=&date_filter_1%5Bvalue%5D%5Bmonth%5D=&date_filter_1%5Bvalue%5D%5Bday%5D=

[Ian Thumwood]

Rumbaba

Thanks for posting the link to Cheltenham. The stand-out gig is definately the Chris Potter goup as it feaures pianist Jason Moran, arguably one of the most original musicians in the current jazz scene. His trio "Bandwagon" are probably the defining group in jazz at the moment. The bigger names are obviously the ones to go for and it is great to see that Django Bates is back playing in this country. Ditto John Taylor. However, I feel that the line up as a whole doesn't seem quite as strong as in the past. There are a lot of "fashionable" bands from the UK but , again, too many "fringe" groups seem to be getting in on the act. There also seems to be an imbalance of singers. Is this the influence of Jamie Cullum ? Usually I feel I would like to go to Cheltenham have to miss out due to other committments (related to marking exam papers for my profession ) in May which always make it impossible. It always seems worse as a couple of friends always go and then come back to say that such-and-such did a terrific set. This year, there are few gigs that make me wish that I was there.

I find it frustrating that reviews of gigs in NYC or the festivals in the States seem to book a wealth of different styles and include musicians who seem seldom to cross the Atlantic. Check out a website like "All about jazz" and you can see just how exciting the scene must be in places like New York whereas Chicargo seems to have being going through some form of renaissance over the last 10-15 years without attracting the attention of the promoters in Europe. However, it does seem a bit safe and full of some pretty familiar faces. Amongst the names I listed at the Theatre Antique, I've seen all these musicians at least once before. It would be interesting to see how artists are selected for festivals and what the editing process is before a choice is made. I know that the musical director at Turner Sims does actually go to the States to hear all sorts of bands and it was fascinating to learn just how discerning he is and how hard he works to get interesting groups to play in Southampton. I would suggest that he is pretty successful in this respect. However, the impression from this year's Vienne line up is that the selections have been pretty lazy. Is this the case, I wonder, or are many American musicians reluctant to tour Europe?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

this weeks JLU previews the Cheltenham festival

... when i was in US two years ago the jazz people i spoke to were very keen to come to Eu but there is an economic hurdl;e to climb, air fares and accommodation demands are heavy

[Ian Thumwood]

Did anyone pick up on the fact that Cheltenham Jazz Festival was operating it's own FM radio station over the period of the festival? Haven't managed to find it but wonder if it is available locally?

[Flyposter]

A bit late in the day but..

http://www.fromheretoear.com/

[Rumbaba]

Saw a few things:

Kyle Eastwood - good
Andy Sheppard - good
Jazz Library interview with John Taylor - dull
Django Bates Trio - Charlie Parker tribute - very interesting, a bit mad but worth seeing
Overtone Quartet - Self indulgent noodling. Mrs R declared it 'Jazz from Hell'. She hates drum solos (there were two and quite long), it has to 'have a tune' - it didn't meet that criteria for her, almost no communication with the audience (she thinks that's rude). There was one, wonderful, soulful ballad but, mostly, it was tedious. Judge for yourself when it is on Radio 3.
My BiL liked Pharoah Sanders and thought Denys Baptiste was the best thing at the festival. He shares a pianist with Kyle (Andrew McCormack)

[Rumbaba]

Hugh Laurie is on Radio 2 now. Bertie Wooster does N'awlins - it's a bit tragic he is closing the festival. Paloma with the Guy Barker Orchestra was a choice to annoy the purists last year but I was there and it was brilliant. I'm not sure about Hugh though.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

thanks for the briefing rumababa ... what were the audiences like, were there many there?