Bristol’s month in jazz – March 2023

There’s another big month in prospect in the jazz-related hinterland of the Bristol scene, with more than a few tasty visitors sorely challenged by the best of our local talent.

The cracking duo of Alex Hitchcock’s sax and Ant Law on guitar would be attraction enough, but in the Same Moon quartet with mega bass player Jasper Høiby and full-tilt drummer Sun-Mi Hong (Beacon Foyer, Sun 19) even they will have to work to keep the spotlight. Another bass virtuoso – Riaan Vosloo – has two great bands on offer this month: his South African inspired septet Commotion (Fringe Jazz, Wed 15 – pictured above) and the hard bop quartet Uphill Game (El Rincon, Thur 23). The latter features Jake McMurchie on sax and his Get The Blessing horn mate Pete Judge who also brings his trumpet-drum duo Eyebrow for an afternoon session at The Exchange (Sun 12). There’s a mystery bass player joining Milon’s Dino Christodoulou and Neil Smith in the 2+1 Trio (El Rincon, Sun 5) and that pair also feature in 60s-evoking Dr Scriff (Canteen, Wed 22) with Stefano Manfredi on bass and Roberto Nappi drumming. Think The Meters, Grant Green … It’s an unfortunate clash with the intriguing SMIODAIR trio’s debut at Fringe Jazz (Bristol Music Club, Wed 22) – a highly promising improvisatory combination of French reeds man Robin Fincker, Irish bass guitarist Simon Jermyn and our very own drum monster Dave Smith. Fringe Jazz is also showcasing rising saxophone star Dan Newberry’s quartet (Wed 1) and the ever-twinkling sax and piano stars Iain Ballamy and Huw Warren (Wed 29) in a quartet with Nick Pini on bass and Andy Tween on drums.

The Bebop Club will be rounding off a fine month’s programme with gritty sax star Duncan Eagles’ high energy trio Partikel (Thur 30) having kicked things off (Thur 2) with a celebration of pianist and jazz promoter Ray D’Inverno who turns 80 this year. His Quintessential Groove quintet features Canadian sax player Terry Quinney, and the sax theme continues with the great combination of Swiss hard bop tenor player Martin Kern and the Jim Blomfield piano Trio (Thur 9) – another outing for Riaan Vosloo. Then there’s stylish tenor sax from Greg Sterling with his quartet (Thur 16) before the club welcomes Irish pianist John Donegan (Thur 23), formerly of this parish and bringing a sextet of local heroes including Ben Waghorn and Luke Annesley on reeds to squeeze into the Hen and Chicken  backroom. The aforementioned Jim Blomfield will also be appearing in his Latin themed quintet with Cuban trumpeter Michel Padron (Mr Wolf’s, Tue 14) and fans of this virtuoso of the jazz piano will be anticipating a well-deserved showcase evening for him at the Beacon in April (Sun 16). Oh – and it’s important not to confuse the contemporary improvising Partikel with US trio Charged Particles, visiting the Old Duke (Wed 22) to kick off their UK tour in partnership with saxophonist Todd Dickow and a celebration of the music of Michael Brecker.

Having triumphantly launched their new album Nature Will Take Care Of You last month the expanded Run Logan Run appear at The Bell (Wed 29) with occasional vocalist Annie Gardiner in support. The Bell also hosts the touring Ben Tunnicliffe’s Nowhere Ensemble (Mon 27) as does the Greenbank (Tue 28). Synth bass player Ben’s quartet creates contemporary electro-acoustic music with the bass clarinet of Maria Lamburn giving it a rich sonic mix. Baldhu will be offering equally exploratory electro jazz at the Gallimaufry (Wed 8). UWE round off their annual eclectic Festival of Sound with a straight ahead jazz night in the Bristol Beacon Foyer (Sat 25) featuring the highly rated UWE Big Band plus their Gospel Choir and with a guest performance from the classy Ronnie Scott’s All Stars – for once a line-up that justifies its name. And it seems Bristol University’s big band scene might be the in the background of new sextet Al Dente (Exchange, Fri 24) judging by the special guest names on the programme, while Crofters Rights has a double bill (Sun 19) featuring guitarist Martin Mexme’s Worldwide Experiment supported by drummer Ollie Grant’s trio Fantastic Stranger.There’s another interesting double header at Strange Brew when steel pan jazzers Owanj get support from producer/songwriter t l k (Sat 11).

On the grooving front, Pete Cunningham’s Ishmael Collective have been one of Bristol’s proudest musical exports for some time now so its great to see them headlining at Ashton Court Mansion (Fri 10) – an event promoted by Bristol 24/7, as it happens. Hip-hop jazzers Heyouki are at Mr Wolfs (Thur 2) and ‘eco-centric soul jazz-hop’ quintet The Other Way (Canteen Wed 8) promise to bring birdsong into their instrumentation. There will, of course, be the regular Slapdash improvised hip-hop session (Canteen, Tue 14) and the Bristol Street Music  session (Canteen, Tue 28) as well as the Gallimaufry’s hip-hop jam session Family Business (Sundays).Hailing from the now modish (in nu-jazz terms) South East London, producer/saxophonist Cktrl will be at Rough Trade (Thur 9), the same date as Brass Junkies appear at Canteen with their brand of New Orleans street funk – also available at Canteen (Fri 10). Legendary Reprazent bass man Si John’s Clusterfunk collective hits Canteen on Sat 18 and the ex-LBJB funksters Stone Cold Hustle join the implausibly named Barry & The Crumpets (Mr Wolf’s, Sat 25).

The busy Worm Discs crew are putting one of their latest projects – Dundundun – onto a bigger stage at Trinity (Sun 19). Their sound nicely combines tropical percussion textures, contemporary rhythm grooves and electro-acoustic instrumentation, and earlier in the month the Worms are promoting a similar mix when Londoners Waaju join Moroccan gimbri virtuoso Majid Bekkas for a Gnawa-jazz fusion evening (Strange Brew, Fri 3). Latin percussion meets Malian Kora playing in Marakafoli (Canteen, Sat 4) while his Congolese roots run through New Zealand producer Myele Manzanza’s electronic grooves (Jam Jar, Thur 16). Similarly, Israel-based DIY trance musician Eyal El Wahab derives his music from his Yemeni heritage, using homemade ‘junkyard’ instruments for his project El Khat (Crofters Rights, Mon 20). Norwich’s Nebula Sun base their jazz in a diversity of African insp[irations (Canteen, Fri 24) and it’s great to see Canteen also hosting ace violinist Azhaar Saffar’s Global Wave band with their blend of African, Latin and contemporary jazz styling. St George’s have two great acoustic world music nights: firstly the mesmerising Sufi music of the Hamdel Ensemble from Iran, led by Seyed Ali Jaberi playing tanbur (a lute-like string instrument); secondly contemporary sitar player Roopa Panesar brings her 7-piece band mixing Indian classical and Western instruments to preview her imminent album ATMA.

The improv world continues to thrive, with the addition of Late Call, a monthly improvisatory session at Friendly Records so called because the line-up will only be announced at the last minute. The first session (Sun 5) makes for an impressive launch, with local guitar/bass duo Matthew Grigg & Jo Kelly opening for Matt Davis/Luigi Marino/Phil Minton – the latter being one of the UK’s mainstays of improvising vocals since the 80s. Then the monthly Fringe In The Round offers Space Unfolding, a trio led by Norwegian drummer Emil Karlsen (Bristol Fringe, Tue 7). The Cube features the ‘genre fluid sound world’ of Abstract Concrete (Thur 9), a quintet including violinist Agate Max and This Heat drummer Charles Hayward with Bristol duo COIMS in support, following up the next night (Fri 10) with deconstruction maestro Alex Zhang Hungtai. Later in the month (Thur 16) Liquid Library brings a night of DIY extemporisation to the Cube including fiery trio Wastel/Butcher/Marino. All sorts of noise, free music and improvisations are promised at Kino with the Kodian Trio headlining (Sun 19) after RIM ACD and Viridian Ensemble.

Which just leaves the jam scene – still a glorious thing it seems. The Stag and Hounds Sunday session has an impressive roster of guests, starting with saxophonists Jake McMurchie ((Sun 5) and John Martin (Sun 12) and then trumpeters Rowan Porteous (Sun 19) and Gary Alesbrook (Sun 26). Other regular sessions are: Bounce Jam (Strange Brew, Mondays), JFS Jam (MR Wolf’s, alternate Tuesdays), Donut Filler Jam (Mr Wolf’s, Wednesdays), Jam & Toast (Old England, Thursday). Monthly sessions are: Hot Club Jam (Fringe, Mon 6)Stone Cold Funk Jam (Canteen, Tue 7), Hot Jazz Jam (Hare On The Hill, Wed 8), Fringe Jam (Mon 13), Canteen Jazz Session (Wed 15), Canteen Latin Session (Tue 28).