Bristol’s month in jazz – July 2024

As ever when the summer sun kicks in things cool off slightly on the Bristol jazz scene – no Bebop Club or Jazzata gigs, not so many fancy visitors – but there’s still a lot worth seeing plus a couple of great festivals. The WOMAD line-up includes some nifty jazz treats, notably hip Latin groovers New Regency Orchestra and Leeds finest TC & The Groove Family and then there’s Swanage … Plus we have an amazing birthday celebration.

Regulars at the Chelsea Inn will know that Henry’s Bootblacks have been playing there every week for some twenty years. That’s a great feat in itself, but it pales beside the fact that Henry Davies actually started the band 60 years ago in 1964. That’s him on vocal duties in the 1985 video above and he’s still going strong. The anniversary is marked by a special gig at the Red Lodge (Fri 12) and it will be a great opportunity to celebrate one of Bristol’s jazz legends.

Did we mention the Swanage Jazz Festival (Fri 12 – Sun 14)? It may not be in Bristol but the city’s jazz lovers are always well represented in the audiences for what is reliably a really great and diverse programme. This year sees hot new saxophone talents Emma Rawicz and Asha Parkinson each bring their ambitious projects, as well as  great pianist Zoe Rahman’s Colour of Sound Octet and legendary vocalist Norma Winstone appearing with The Printmakers. Veteran bass player and dynamo of UK jazz Gary Crosby’s Mingus Moves sextet will be a highlight and Bristol drummer Matt Stockham Brown’s 6161 (pictured at top) will be a must see, too. Other BS postcode faves include Yetii, Snazzback and Andy Hague’s Sextet. Plus there’s the seaside! And oysters!

Closer to home the Fringe In The Round features guitarist Phil Dawson’s Quintet (Tue 2) – he’s a cool improvisatory player with a packed CV of collaborations with African musicians – and Exchange sees the launch of guitarist Adrian Utley’s new improvising quartet collaboration 137 (Mon 29). That band comprises Adrian with Larry Stabbins on various wind instruments, Jim Barr’s bass and Seb Rochford drumming – truly an all-star effort with a tight fresh sound veering from subtle reflection to pure in-your-face noisiness. Brackish axe-wielder Neil Smith pops up in Milon (Canteen, Wed 10) for some energetic jazz jousting with Dino Christodoulou’s urgent tenor sax and Dan Waldman’s jazz-funk guitar chases John Paul Gard’s classic Hammond stylings in Manuals of Fire (Old Fish Market, Sun 7). John Paul’s regular Trio kicks off the month with a set at The Bell (Mon 1).

En route to Swanage ace piano trio Yetii are joined by vocalist Peter Jones (Greenbank,Thur 4) for an unprecedented foray into jazz standards territory. Drumless piano trio M.S.K. (Tobacco Factory, Sun 14)features pianist Rachel Kerry alongside trumpeter David Mowatt and bass player Dorian Sutton and draws inspiration from Alice Coltrane, among others.

Happily the weekly FringeJazz sessions at Bristol Music Club aren’t yet on a summer break and their July programme starts with regular favourites David Newton and Alan Barnes (Wed 3) followed by Benjy Sandler (Wed 10), a rising sax star on the London scene with a very promising new quartet including in-demand young trombonist Olivia Hughes. And then there’s Tony Orrell’s Big Top (Wed 17) pitching the irrepressible Mr Orrell’s drumming against the equally fiery Matt Stockham Brown – always an entertaining prospect.

A couple of vocal treats: continuing her welcome return to live performance, emotionally expressive singer Tammy Payne comes to the Old Duke (Wed 31) while Victoria Klewin’s soulful swing joins the Bristol Community Big Band at The Mount Without (Tuesday 30) for a swing dance session complete with Lindy Hop dance workshop before the gig. No doubt bandleader Jonny Bruce’s soaring trumpet will figure prominently in the BCBB sound and Andy Hague’s Havana-inspired horn will be leading his Sexteto Gringo in a set of Latin jazz and salsa at Canteen (Wed 31).

It was hardly surprising that Madison McFerrin (Strange Brew, Fri 5) would develop an a cappella performing style – yes, her dad is the great Bobby – but she has developed her sound into something much wider through jazz styles and nu soul production. Alto sax player James Morton forged his sound through the grooving influence of mentor Pee Wee Ellis and his ongoing Groove Den (The Bell, Wed 24) shows that tight funk discipline still informing his flamboyantly energetic playing. There’s all kinds of influences – jazz-funk, prog, contemporary groove – in the Halcyon sound, as their imminent EP release (Fringe, Wed 3) will showcase. Brass-rich 7-piece Heyouki bring flashy jazz arrangements to Neo-soul numbers (Jam Jar, Fri 26) with an inevitable nod to J Dilla and the like. They’ll have support from Glossolalia’s interesting fusion of modern jazz, hip hop and jungle. And of course the Brass Junkies’ crowd pleasing formula of New Orleans second line and contemporary R’n’B and his hop grooves should lift the roof at the Old Duke (Thur 25).

If, however, swing’s your thing then the Sarah Meek Quintet will be at Swing In The Park (Redcatch Community Garden, Sun 7), the Tight Lipped Combo at Canteen (Fri 12) and the Duke hosts both the Scarlet Muses (Sat 13) and Gin Bowlers (Fri 19) – and don’t forget the aforementioned Bristol Community Big Band gig (Mount Without, Tue 30).

Turntable magician Mariam Rezaei headlines an evening of Women in Experimental Music (Strange Brew, Thur 18) that also includes multi-media performer Susu Laroche. Experimental industrial pop queen Kilynn Lunsford tops a night at Crofters Rights (Wed`10) with support from a solo Dan Johnson percussion set and ‘cardboard prince’ Robert Ridley-Shackleton’s inimitable thing. Dan reappears with compelling songstress Annie Gardiner as part of Wendyfest (The Cube, Sat 27) as does RRS and others with Wendy Miasma headlining, of course. Saxophonist Dave Colebourne aka 30 Circles performs multi-layered loopscapes in support of avant-metal guitarist Fabio Ferri’s Quintet at St Stephens Church (Thur 11), and new venue Kit Form, based in the Jamaica Street Studios, has an electro-drone evening from French ‘variable-geometry’ synth duo Why Patterns? (Fri 5).

Improv’s Greatest Hits host a US artists night at Cafe Kino (Fri 5) with eclectically unpredictable New Yorkers The Cradle, strange songwriter Frances Chang and LA underground popster Andrea Schiavelli. Kino has another improv night (Mon 1) with electronicists David David as well as Matthew Grigg and Tina Hitchens and the Broken Numbers quintet with Rebecca Sneddon guesting on saxophones. Quite a few of those performers will be involved when former Kino regulars the South West Improvisers Group pop up again at new home The Fringe (Wed 24)

Having started the month with contemporary keyboard minimalist Nils Frahm (Mon 1) The Beacon also has the more electronic musings of John Hopkins (Fri 26) whose composition style ‘marries the dance floor to the devotional’ (it says here). The Arnolfini, meanwhile, has composer Karen Wimhurst’s Jump (Sat 13), a suite of quirkily original pieces celebrating the sounds and lives of disappearing insect species using sound samples and contributions from entomologist Peter Smithers. There may well also be unscheduled invertebrate contributions to harp/bass duo Written On Water’s open air Summer Party at the Nissen Hut in Eastville Park (Thur 11). The event features a ‘contact improvisation outdoor dance jam’ – you have been warned. And finally there’s Spanish themed classical music to be found at the Ham Farm Festival (Sat 27) with CarmenCo’s Pocket Opera and the Wyvern Guitar Orchestra as well Bristol’s Clube de Choro celebrating Brazilian folk dance music.

If you want jam on it as well then you’ve got The Fringe and Canteen to thank. Fringe jams are: Hot Club (Mon 1), Peanut Butter Jam (Mon 8) and Jazz Rapport Jam (Tue 16). Canteen have: Stone Cold Funk Jam (Tue 2, Tue 16), Canteen Jazz Session (Wed 3), Slapdash Jam (Tue 9) Canteen Latin Session (Wed 17) and Bristol Street Music (Tue 23).

Read next:

• Review: Slate Trio/Cool Quiet, Gallimaufry – ‘Noise, beats and the joy of spontaneity’
• The shock of the new?
• Review: Bristol Jazz Festival, Tobacco Factory