Bristol’s month in jazz – April 2023

So who’s that lurking behind the conspicuously jazzy beard? Why, none other than international sax star and former local boy Andy Sheppard. Andy will be making two appearances hereabouts this month, one being at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival (April 26 – May 1). Other big names appearing include bass hero Stanley Clarke, piano wunderkind Fergus McCreadie, the irrepressible Ezra Collective and … er … Damian Lewis. And talking of festivals … it’s great to see that tickets are now on sale for the Bristol Jazz Festival (May 19-21), their first ‘proper’ weekender for four years. They’ll be paying tribute to the late Pee Wee Ellis, a much-loved patron and supporter of the festival who will be sadly missed this year.

But what of this month’s jazz offerings? As mentioned, Andy Sheppard will be presenting his latest international trio (St George’s, Thur 20) with pianist Rita Marcotulli and bass player Anders Jormin. Further Euro-treats include folk-influenced Danish duo (and recent signing to Matthew Halsall’s influential Gondwana label) Svaneborg Kardyb (Jam Jar, Sun 23), and Greek tenor sax player Vasilis Xenopoulos (Bebop Club, Thur 20). The latter’s Dexterity project celebrates Blue Note hard bop legend Dexter Gordon. Bass player Henrik Jensen joins fellow Dane Esben Tjalve’s piano and Dave Smith’s drumming in his very promising new trio (Bebop Club, Thur 27). It’s another busy month for tenor player Jake McMurchie who appears with Riaan Vosloo’s high energy Uphill Game (El Rincon, Thur 6) and then alongside the excellent pianist David Newton in the McMurchie/Newton Quartet (Fringe Jazz, Wed 12). Jake also unveils yet another new quartet called  Honc (Bebop Club, Thur 13) which pairs him with fellow tenorist Dan Newberry and takes inspiration from Ornette Coleman and Joshua Redman. Fringe in the Round welcomes the impressive altoist Dee Byrne’s new sextet Outlines (Fringe, Tue 4) with Nick Malcolm (trumpet) and Rebecca Nash (piano) in the line-up and support from guitarist Dan Waldman’s hot grooving organ trio. Sophie Stockham’s acoustic quartet Orfic with Pete Judge’s trumpet comes to The Bell (Mon 24). Saxophonist Sam Crockatt also has a new quartet, this one featuring rising piano star Guy Shotton, and they debut at Fringe Jazz (Wed 26).

One local hero who hasn’t moved away (unlike the now Portuguese citizen Mr Sheppard) gets rightly celebrated this month. Pianist Jim Blomfield has been recognised nationally for decades as a truly great pianist, with a capacity for intense and absorbing improvisation as well as a sure-handed compositional ear. Promoter Ian Storrer has followed Jim’s development over the years and has given him one of his Jazzata evenings (Bristol Beacon, Sun 16) to showcase the range of his talents. This is bound to include his particular gift for Latin stylings, also to be caught in the Jim Blomfield/Michel Padron Latin Quintet (Fringe Jazz, Wed 19).

Another pianist returns to Fringe Jazz after a 5 year gap – the Andy Nowak Trio’s contemporary sound (Fringe Jazz, Wed 5) reflects the Scandinavian impact of EST and others. The trio includes accomplished bass player Ashley John Long  who also appears in another piano trio – Yetii – at The Greenbank (Thur 6). The band recently returned having toured their new album around the country and Norfolk’s Mammal Hands come to the Jam Jar (Fri 21) to promote their new Gondwana album with support from Tezeta pianist Daniel Inzani’s trio.

Stonking electronica/jazz fusioneers Hippo launch their debut waxing New Normal (Crofters Rights, Tue 18) with support from neo-minimalists Zoobers. Pop down to the Moor Beer brewery on Sat 8 and you’ll catch cinematic electronicists Hexcut  with support from similarly minded Venstra. Saxophonist Oli Morris also launches a new recording (Crofters Rights, Mon 10) previewing his upcoming sextet EP with drummer Ollie Grant’s Fantastic Stranger trio in support.

US reed man Colin Stetson’s playing (Strange Brew, Thur 27) has been deployed by (among others) Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson and David Byrne. Famed for seemingly unlimited circular breathing and the capacity to build complex grooving solo pieces he’s very much a ‘live’ experience. Support comes from the reunited duo of Andrew Hayes (sax) and Dan Johnson (drums). Strange Brew showcases more raucous (but equally inventive) explorations of reeds, loops and drums with Moon Hooch (Fri 21). And it’s good to see James Morton’s revived Porkchop band shake the rafters at The Old Duke (Sat 1) and The Bell (Wed 12) where uberfunky Cantaloop will follow (The Bell, Wed 19). A mystery project crops up in between those gigs – Longshadows (The Bell, Mon 17) is a collaboration between three idiosyncratic guitarists: Paul Bradley, Kevin Byrne and Neil Smith. What that adds up to is hard to predict except to confidently expect something of quality. Another fresh combination spins out of Snazzback in the shape of Green Beans (Canteen, Wed 26) promising hip hop, jazz and ‘heavy grooves’. The Jerry Crozier-Cole Quartet (Bebop Club, Thur 6) will probably lean more towards the mainstream but with trumpeter Gary Alesbrook, Jonny Henderson on Hammond and Eddie John drumming alongside Jerry’s guitar it will certainly be a tightly grooving set.

On a quieter note, Neil Cowley (Beacon Foyer, Fri 21) abandoned his previous trio manifesto – “Loud/Louder/Stop!” – when he released 2021’s Hall Of Mirrors. The album of reflective neo-classical solo piano has defined a change in his musical direction favouring intricacy over bombast. Gary Crosby (St George’s, Thur 27) is someone you could never accuse of bombast, though just to call him an excellent bass player (which he is) is to massively undersell the enormous contribution his Tomorrow’s Warriors project has made to developing the current exciting generations of young urban jazz players. He appears at St George’s with trumpeter Yazz Ahmed and drummer Romarna Campbell (a Warriors alumna). The hall also offers a couple of celebrations of great female vocalists with Victoria Klewin joining guitarist Adam Stokes Trio for A Tribute To Nancy Wilson (Wed 12) and Lucy Moon swinging through the repertoire of Anita O’Day (Sat 22). And for a nod to the old-time you can catch Around About Dusk’s New Orleans sound (Hare on The Hill, Sun 9) or the Panama Jug Band (The Bell, Sun 30) as well as the regular splendid selection of trad bands at The Old Duke.

Groove lovers will be buzzing about the return of Glasgow-based TC & The Groove Factory (Jam Jar, Sun 9), one of those big bands that combines a relaxed ambience with absolute rhythmic precision. Similar things could be said of local supergroup Dundundun (Trinity, Sun 2), Belgian dance jazzers Cosmo Sound (Canteen Fri 28) or Berlin’s electronica/jazz act Move 78 (Jam Jar, Wed 5) while Dareshack feature legendary Mute records mastermind Daniel Miller’s electronica project Sunroof (Fri 7). Bristol Street Music have their regular monthly night at Canteen (Tue 5) making the kind of hip-hop and ambient funk music that they busked during lockdown. Me and my Friends bring Afrobeat flavoured funkiness to Srange Brew (Thur 6) and Baraka’s well-established blend of West African style and soulful jazz freedoms will rock The Stable (Fri 21). Stone Cold Funk always deliver exactly what it says on the tin (Canteen, Tue 18), while Mr Wolf’s offer The Jazz And Blues Festival (Thur 20) – a jazzy dance night, definitely not to be confused with the official event in May. And if you thought Electro-swing was a thing of the past the Electric Swing Circus (The Fleece, Thur 6) would beg to differ.

And then there’s the exploratory side of things … such as the eclectic musical fusions of ‘Catalan vocal acrobat’ Marina Herlop (Strange Brew, Sat 15)  or the freely improvised vocalising of Phil Minton and Audrey Chen with Matt Davis’ trumpet and Henrik Nørstebø’s trombone (Cafe Kino, Mon 17). Sadly the latter clashes with a Liquid Library night at The Cube (Mon 17) with ‘power pop powerhouse’ Jack Goldstein headlining. The Cube also has another QWAK Club night (Fri 28) with the outrageously unpredictable Secluded Bronte headlining and an experimental guitar night (Thur 6) with THISQUIETARMY and Stereocilia. Cafe Kino has the monthly acoustic improvisation set from Broken Numbers 6tet (Wed 5). Drummer Adam Betts from power trio Three Trapped Tigers appears as Colossal Squid (Crofters Rights, Sat 15) delivering a personal fusion of electronics and acoustic percussion.

Experimental electronica fans have a hard choice on Mon 17 – there’s the dazzlingly colourful Neo-dance world of Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith (The Fleece) complete with psychedelic visuals, or the ‘extreme textures’ of sound artist Victoria Shen aka Evicshen (Crofters Rights). And finally, there’s COLLAPSE, a live show about black holes from void_null which tops an evening of AV treats at The Island (Thur 27).

A few tasty world music offerings: Persian-Irish guitarist Kourosh Kanani (St George’s, Wed 5) has a dazzling technical ability that combines the languages of Middle Eastern oud, Indian sitar and fusion jazz guitar into distinctive torrents of finely judged notes. His trio with propulsive bass player Dave O’Brien and the subtle precision of Matt Davies’ drumming captures the spontaneity of improvisation within the disciplines of structure. Syrian Qanun virtuoso Maya Youssef brings her 78 string zither to Boiling Wells outdoor amphitheatre (Fri 28), Senegalese griot Diabel Cissokho brings his 21 string kora to Canteen (Sat 8) and Otto & The Mutapa Calling bring their massed marimbas to the same venue (Fri 14).  Suntou Susso will share Gambian kora grooves with full band at the Jam Jar (Fri 28).

The Indian Fusion Night at Jam Jar (Fri 14) centres on J9 aka Judge Singh, bassist and producer from Bristol’s Bhangra behemoth RSVP. The night includes live sets, special guests and DJs to showcase J9’s imminent album Nascent. You can catch him in a more stripped down set at Canteen (Thur 20). Canteen also hosts a klezmer night with Loshn (Thur 13) and Macadonian music (Sun 23) courtesy of Danny Wallington (piano, Tryani Collective) and Isis Wolf (clarinet, Opa Rosa). The Cotham Club combine Italian jazz from guitarist Enrico Merlin and Italian folk dance from Trikkeballakke under the heading Musica Fantastica (Cotham Club, Fri 28).

Finally: the world of jam. Weekly sessions at Gallimaufry (Family Business, hip-hop, Suns), Mr Wolfs (Donut Filler Jam, Weds) and Old England (Jam & Toast, Thurs).

Then there’s one-offs:Hot Club Jam (Fringe, Mon 3), Stone Cold Funk Jam (Canteen, Tue 4), Canteen Jazz Session (Wed 5), Slapdash hip-hop jam (Canteen Tue 11), Hot Jazz Jam (Hare on the Hill, Wed 12), We All Play Synth (Dareshack, Wed 12), JFS Jam (Mr Wolf’s, Tue 18), Canteen Latin Session (Wed 19)The Door Is Ajar (Jam Jar, Sat 29).

And not forgetting the Stag & Hounds Sunday sessions with special musical guests: trombonist Joe Brandford (Sun 9), alto sax Luke Annesley Sun 16, tenor sax Jack Mack (Sun 23), trumpeter Nick Malcolm (Sun 30)