Jazz a Vienne 2017

[Ian Thumwood]

In the Theatre Antique the evening was dedicated to funk. The evening kicked off with Juan Rozoff who is France's answer to Jamiriqpui. They were surprisingly good.

The next band was Trombone Shorty's and clearly be was the evenings biggest draw. Weird to hear Kid Ory style trombone mixed with a funk and rock. No doubting the ability of Shorty and the New Orleans elements were great fun but too many vocals. A second trombonist materialised in rhe encore being non other than the young musician I had heard in the street earlier. He was not out of his depth either.

The evening ended with Larry Graham whose set was made up other people's hits including Sly and Prince. Ok but turned in after 1 am as too tired.

Heard a big band from Belfort perform a set of original arrangements of Kind of Blue but a rip roaring version Of Joshua was a highlight. Hugely impressed by this big band which included an excellent tenor ./soprano was soloist and a good alto too. Nice set of arrangements.

More genuine jazz this evening in the shape of Jean luc Ponty and Youn Sun Nah who is usually on the money.

[Serial_Apologist]

Weird to hear Kid Ory style trombone mixed with a funk and rock.

Our very own Nick Evans was born to that kind of context for his own playing, as well as the freer stuff people probably more associate him with. Dennis Rollins another. When you think about it, the trombone is ideal for funk.

The evening ended with Larry Graham whose set was made up other people's hits including Sly and Prince.

Not his own? Sly??

More genuine jazz this evening in the shape of Jean luc Ponty and Youn Sun Nah who is usually on the money.

Is JLP back on the case? I lost track of him late 1970s, when he was doing all that post-Mahavishnu Fusion stuff.

[Ian Thumwood]

JLP plus B. LAGRENE and Kyle Eastwood in trio. Probably more gypsy jazz orientated.

Shoŕty not too different from D. Rollins but more rock orientated. He also plays trumpet and sings although there is a massive crossover appeal.

Shame Akinmusire not hear this year as there is too much fringe stuff which perhaps represents the nature of the music. Interesting to hear how mainstream Shepp is in context with the rest of the festival. Some of the local / French sax players have surpassed him now but this year is the first time you feel the post bop stuff is now being edged out . Contemporary now seems more electronic based but maybe distorted by general absence of Americans with college bands seeming Europe too risky post Trump. This is a genuine issue now with army visable and security stepped up here.

[Ian Thumwood]

The trip of Ponty, Lagrene and Eastwood was the surprise of the festival. The music took in loads of orinals as well as the time for Parker Coltrane and Parisienne Thoroughfare. A really good gig with Eastwood being no slouch.

The second half of the gig features Korean Singer Youn Sun N.a.. now backed byvrge excellent pianist Jamie Saft the singing was exceptional and merited the 3 encores. Her voice is a musical instrument which owes nothing to any previous jazz. The repertoire featured works by likes of Tom Waits and Paul Simon. Plus film material. To be honest.she is worth her own thread. A bit of a marmite musician perhaps but I am a fan although the likes of Bluesnik would hate this approach with a passion . A fascinating musician whose work is made edgier and perhaps less feminine by a NYC backing band.

[Serial_Apologist]

The music took in loads of orinals

Co-composed by Marcel Duchamp???

[Serial_Apologist]

JLP plus B. LAGRENE and Kyle Eastwood in trio. Probably more gypsy jazz orientated.

Shoŕty not too different from D. Rollins but more rock orientated. He also plays trumpet and sings although there is a massive crossover appeal.

Shame Akinmusire not hear this year as there is too much fringe stuff which perhaps represents the nature of the music. Interesting to hear how mainstream Shepp is in context with the rest of the festival. Some of the local / French sax players have surpassed him now but this year is the first time you feel the post bop stuff is now being edged out . Contemporary now seems more electronic based but maybe distorted by general absence of Americans with college bands seeming Europe too risky post Trump. This is a genuine issue now with army visable and security stepped up here.

How sad: I well remember this sort of nonsense happening at Tring in 1986 - the one year when the Bracknell Festival was transferred elsewhere, and presumably on fear of a repeat of Altamont 1969 the grounds were swarming with security treating easygoing festival attenders like crack pedallers until we advised them to ease up, resulting in days 2 and 3 recooping the relaxed goodnaturedness that had always characterised the occasion. And it seems to be on the comeback if I and my fellow pension agers' experience at Cadogan Hall last week is anything to go by. I did try easing the bouncer up with some friendly chat during the break but to no avail - defenses up all round. I suppose this is the norm we now have to look forward to.

[CGR]

Co-composed by Marcel Duchamp???

Taking the piss ?

[Ian Thumwood]

I missed the 10th July daytime gigs as I spent the day in Lyon. The evening coupled London based BBC Sound of 2012 artist Lianne LA Havas producing a solo set where she accompanied herself on guitar. Her guitar playing was ok but had nothing to do with jazz and her set was little better than you might expect to hear from buskers on the London Underground. Too much gushing and omg's and little to get your teeth in to. As bad as this set was, it was nothing to Mary J Blige. Some pop acts can transpire to be right on the money but this set up took 45 minutes before the music started and I was off out of the venue by the fourth umber, Absolute shite. Probably the worst ever gig at Vienne. No jazz and precious little music.

The next day featured the Devon Youth Jazz Orchestra. Nice to know that thus band exists. The band was over-sized with 29 pieces but the trombones and rhythm section were impressive. I spoke to an ex-member who now coaches this band and is off to the Guildhall to study jazz piano. It was an interesting discussion as his musical taste centred around players like Liam Noble and a host of more Euro-centric contemporaries as well as the obligatory Bill Evans who seems to be a starting point for jazz piano students these days. Nice to see the Brits take the stage.

The other gig I caught was an all-girl soul group + horns from Australia called "Sweethearts." They were very good and reminded me a bit of "The Sapphires" of you have ever seen that excellent film. However, nothing to do with jazz.

In the evening the first set was by Scott Bradlee's Post modern Jukebox , a rhythm section plus clarinet and trombone reviews which featured "jazzy" versions of pop repertoire. By this stage I was beginning to think the festival organisers had been abducted by aliens but there was still the second set for things to get worse in the form of French posters "Deluxe." I think I left this one after three numbers and ended up in a discussion with a furious French jazz fan who was ultra-critical. This group were piss-poor but by this stage of the festival it was apparent that there were a lot of really angry jazz fans in the town!

My final day was a mixture of jazz and archaeology as I went to look at some recent digs just outside the town before hearing Clementine Vacher's excellent £Ella project" which was pure jazz and featured a terrific, unnamed trombonist. This was very accomplished. I missed the Possible(s) Quartet as I was having a beer with an archaeologist but caught the tail end of the Hichem Khalfa quartet who were good.

In the evening it was back to contemporary jazz wich a set opened by Donny McCaslin's Quartet - the tenor player being someone about whom I have waxed lyrical about in the past. Well, these days he is basking in post-Bowie fame and seems to be undergoing a midlife crisis is his band are concerned. The keyboard player was Jason Lindner and Nate Woods was on drums, The opening number featured the tenor distorted by all sorts of electronics. Initially I felt very negative about this group until Lindner produced a good acoustic piano solo but the sooner McCaslin goes acoustic the better. I can think of few players whose recent output has nose-dived as spectacularly as McCaslin's and there were moments when his playing was unlistenable. A good proportion of what this group played was horrible to listen to.

As if to show how things should be done, Herbie Hancock was up next and re-visiting his early 70's repertoire with a band than included James Genus, Vinnie Colaiuta, Terrance Martin on sax / keys and the spell-binding Lionel Loueke. I have heard his perform better but the level of musicianship far exceeded anything else heard during the 12 days I was in Vienne. The set included some old chestnuts yet Hancock remains a fascinating musician to listen to and this ended the festival on a high for me.

All told, the festival was a massive disappointment and perhaps the weakest I have been to. The audience who came for jazz were all complaining and the new professional team seemed not to chime with the local businesses and hotels who seemed to share in the negativity. Everyone I met seemed underwhelmed and a good few were quite angry about the abundance of pop acts. Luckily there were many other things available to do that were more interesting than the music on offer whether it be the museums, bird watching or hanging out with old and new friends.

[Serial_Apologist]

I missed the 10th July daytime gigs as I spent the day in Lyon. The evening coupled London based BBC Sound of 2012 artist Lianne LA Havas producing a solo set where she accompanied herself on guitar. Her guitar playing was ok but had nothing to do with jazz and her set was little better than you might expect to hear from buskers on the London Underground. Too much gushing and omg's and little to get your teeth in to. As bad as this set was, it was nothing to Mary J Blige. Some pop acts can transpire to be right on the money but this set up took 45 minutes before the music started and I was off out of the venue by the fourth umber, Absolute shite. Probably the worst ever gig at Vienne. No jazz and precious little music.

The next day featured the Devon Youth Jazz Orchestra. Nice to know that thus band exists. The band was over-sized with 29 pieces but the trombones and rhythm section were impressive. I spoke to an ex-member who now coaches this band and is off to the Guildhall to study jazz piano. It was an interesting discussion as his musical taste centred around players like Liam Noble and a host of more Euro-centric contemporaries as well as the obligatory Bill Evans who seems to be a starting point for jazz piano students these days. Nice to see the Brits take the stage.

The other gig I caught was an all-girl soul group + horns from Australia called "Sweethearts." They were very good and reminded me a bit of "The Sapphires" of you have ever seen that excellent film. However, nothing to do with jazz.

In the evening the first set was by Scott Bradlee's Post modern Jukebox , a rhythm section plus clarinet and trombone reviews which featured "jazzy" versions of pop repertoire. By this stage I was beginning to think the festival organisers had been abducted by aliens but there was still the second set for things to get worse in the form of French posters "Deluxe." I think I left this one after three numbers and ended up in a discussion with a furious French jazz fan who was ultra-critical. This group were piss-poor but by this stage of the festival it was apparent that there were a lot of really angry jazz fans in the town!

My final day was a mixture of jazz and archaeology as I went to look at some recent digs just outside the town before hearing Clementine Vacher's excellent £Ella project" which was pure jazz and featured a terrific, unnamed trombonist. This was very accomplished. I missed the Possible(s) Quartet as I was having a beer with an archaeologist but caught the tail end of the Hichem Khalfa quartet who were good.

In the evening it was back to contemporary jazz wich a set opened by Donny McCaslin's Quartet - the tenor player being someone about whom I have waxed lyrical about in the past. Well, these days he is basking in post-Bowie fame and seems to be undergoing a midlife crisis is his band are concerned. The keyboard player was Jason Lindner and Nate Woods was on drums, The opening number featured the tenor distorted by all sorts of electronics. Initially I felt very negative about this group until Lindner produced a good acoustic piano solo but the sooner McCaslin goes acoustic the better. I can think of few players whose recent output has nose-dived as spectacularly as McCaslin's and there were moments when his playing was unlistenable. A good proportion of what this group played was horrible to listen to.

As if to show how things should be done, Herbie Hancock was up next and re-visiting his early 70's repertoire with a band than included James Genus, Vinnie Colaiuta, Terrance Martin on sax / keys and the spell-binding Lionel Loueke. I have heard his perform better but the level of musicianship far exceeded anything else heard during the 12 days I was in Vienne. The set included some old chestnuts yet Hancock remains a fascinating musician to listen to and this ended the festival on a high for me.

All told, the festival was a massive disappointment and perhaps the weakest I have been to. The audience who came for jazz were all complaining and the new professional team seemed not to chime with the local businesses and hotels who seemed to share in the negativity. Everyone I met seemed underwhelmed and a good few were quite angry about the abundance of pop acts. Luckily there were many other things available to do that were more interesting than the music on offer whether it be the museums, bird watching or hanging out with old and new friends.

Mucho Bliged for your accounts of the festival, Ian. It seems that if there wasn't much to dig there jazzwise, at least there was - in the archaeological sense! Will this be your last time there?

[Ian Thumwood]

SA

Normally I would have knocked the festival on the head after this one however I have a number of friends in the town so it is always nice to meet up with them. I consider one of them to be my "French sister" and therefore will be likely to go next year. The 30th anniversary festival which marked the change to a professionally run team and therefore allowing government subsidies marked a changing point and was previously the worst festival. This year was exceptionally poor although I missed two good free gigs by big bands as I was not in Vienne at the time and never saw Stephen Scott + Ahmed Jamal either.

There was a great deal of dissatisfaction from people only attending one gig through to written complaints recorded by festival staff at the venues. The musicians I spoke to were very critical and also quite negative about the current scene as a whole. There is now a perception that the colleges are turning out robots and the music is becoming formatted such as the current craze for piano trios who produce originals that all consist of 4- bar measures played in alternate time changes. A few people commented on this. I found the genuine musicians seem to believe that there is a lack of recognition for the heritage of jazz and that they believe younger players have failed to find their own voices. It is an argument that I am not unsympathetic with yet the festival's failure this year seemed more attributable to shocking programming. My gut feeling is that there will be a back lash and I am hoping to get hold of some friends and mobilise them to write them a letter similar to mine.

Over the weekend I contacted the festival organisers to ascertain what had been going on. Even the Club de minuit which is the last bastion for the hardcore jazz audience had nothing on offer of interest. Last years James carter tore up the venue. I had a response this morning which said they would consider my comments and contact the artistic coordinator. I copied my letter to the local jazz media too but this has not elicited a response . I did think about sending it to the local press but don't really want to be barred as a trouble-maker but if you are going to go to a jazz festival you expect to be able to hear jazz - especially as the train, concert and hotel bill is over £1000 before you rock up!!

[CGR]

Thanks Ian. Fascinating set of posts. Plenty of food for thought.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks Ian. Fascinating set of posts. Plenty of food for thought.

Just not enough music to be jazz...

[Ian Thumwood]

CGR / SA

I did draft a letter and e-mailed it across to the Jazz Festival on Saturday night. The difficulty is how not to be too critical. Last year I saw James Carter perform with an organ trio in club and it was probably one of the best gigs I have been to. There is no way that something like that would have fitted in with this year's programme and I am hoping it will just be a blip. I understand that my letter has been received and forwarded to artistic coordinator with the returning e-mail suggesting that they wanted to consider the contents of my correspondence. At the same time, I forwarded a copy to Jazz Rhone-Alpes who seem to have journalists teaming over the festival and that has not provoked a response. Looking on their website, they are plenty of lists of gigs but there seems to be no review unless this is covered by the newsletter.

I am aware that the English journalists who attend had been increasingly critical in recent years and they appeared to be absent in 2017. It is easily the best venue for any sort of music yet the encroachment of pop music (in the purest sense) and the horrible phrase that the festival was promoting all thing "jazzy" does make you fear for the worst. Interestingly, a number of other jazz festival including London seem to have some sort of tie in with Vienne and it will be curious to see if this relationship is purely informal or whether it has more artistic implications.

Part of the problem for me is that the elements in jazz that I enjoy are now deeply unfashionable. There seems to be a propensity to prefer musicians plundering their own cultural heritage (whether we are talking gypsy jazz, European music or even Japanese Animie) as opposed to the American heritage. In the past it has been fair to say that Traditional Jazz has been totally pushed to one side unless it is something like the Scott Bradlee Post Modern Jukebox which used a similar line up to play pop tunes sing by singers who have nothing to do with jazz. Post-bop seems to be going the same way and it was ironic that the publications being promoted at the festival which looked back at earlier Jazz a Vienne's seemed to celebrate exactly the kind of artists who were missing in 2017. Many of those performing this year are unlikely to be around in five years time. It also doesn't make sense insofar that the audiences seem down on previous years and nowhere as near as sizeable as in the early 2000s when Health & Safety regulations where broken as the Theatre Antique hosted in excess of it's 7500 capacity with people sitting in the stairways, etc.

Another issue is the fact that there isn't much "great" new jazz or major names to draw in the talent in 2017. For me, this is demonstrative of the industry really failing to promote the "important" artists from 2000's onwards with all the better players with any degree of following seeming to have emerged in the 1990's. The "jazz industry" really needs to look at itself and think what artists it should be promoting for the long haul and perhaps leaving the more modish stuff to fend for itself because it has a limited shelf life anyway. The comments made by some French acquaintances I met after their gig in a bar seemed to strike a chord and very much felt like they were singing from the same hymn sheet. However, this contrasted with two other fans I hung out with during the "Coltrane Day" gigs whereby they were pleased to be able to hear his contemporaries like Archie Shepp and Pharoah Sanders and could talk authoritatively about their favourite Coltrane discs (The Ellington encounter seemed a big favourite) yet the major draw for them that night was Emile Parisien backed by DJ Jeff Mills who sampled vintage Coltrane records into a kind of collage for the saxophonist to improvise over. Needless to -say, forget the comments about Parisien being the best European saxophonist of his generation, the music was shit. It was little better than going to a gig and listening to someone solo over a Jamey Abersold play-a-long disc.

[Ian Thumwood]

Other than a quick e-mail to acknowledge my letter, I have not received a response which is odd because I would have thought everything would have been packed uo and put away in a box by now with all the staff moved on to whatever they do when there is no jazz festival to organise. I did ring someone I knew who was similarly disgruntled but they had not done anything or heard anything regarding the comments they had put in the "complaints register." It was quite interesting that the people in the kiosk monitoring the register seemed quite sympathetic.

There is a fine balance to be struck in complaining, I think. Obviously you do not want to bite your nose off to spite your face but if you are going to spend circa £1k on a holiday to a jazz festival I think you can be justified in being upset because there was insufficient jazz. I am confident that my views were probably the same as the majority of "jazz fans" as opposed to the rest of the people snapping up tickets.

There was an article on line by John Abercrombie where he has complained that there used to be a lot of employment for American jazz musicians on the European jazz circuit but that this is becoming increasingly rare with festivals now happy to live off their reputations as jazz festivals yet book pop acts. I would be really curious to see how vociferous jazz musicians are in this respect. Do any musicians actually complain to the festival organisers too ? No one from the wider "jazz community" seems best pleased about this (I would include elements of the British press I have spoken to workshop musicians, fans, proprietors of retail outlets associated with the jazz festival and people who no longer work for the festival and no one is happy with the current situation.

I wonder if the dissent is as wide as I imagine or whether the people booking the gigs don't really care. Are they working to a different set of criteria ?