Bristol’s month in jazz – November 2024

They’re coming from all over the world this month: Australia’s cerebral improv trio The Necks (Strange Brew, Fri 15), US drummer Robert Searight (aka Sput of Snarky Puppy) with his Spartacus band (Jam Jar, Wed 6) and Norway-meets-Netherlands ECM duo Arve Henriksen & Harmen Fraanje (St George’s, Thur 21). There’s the brilliant US guitarist Julian Lage already sold out at the Beacon, too. But it’s good to see local heroes Get The Blessing getting back to their roots with a gig at The Bell (Wed 6), the place where they recorded their first live album umpteen years ago.

Probably the biggest name in contemporary UK jazz comes to St Mary Redcliffe (Thur 28) courtesy of the ever-enterprising Worm Disc collective: Shabaka Hutchings will appear with a quintet (including two harps) to play music from latest album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace. That’s also likely to be sold out, however, so it’s good to spot other ear-worthy evenings such as the Dunmall & Pursglove Quartet (Fringe Jazz @ Bristol Music Club, Wed 6), a fine foursome of seasoned improvisers. They’re followed at the same venue by trumpet virtuoso Laura Jurd joining bass player Riaan Vosloo’s excellent South African jazz project Commotion (Wed 13) and Jim Blomfield’s SAOCO Collective(Wed 27). Jim’s mastery of Latin piano is at the core of SAOCO’s brilliant Cuban sound, showcased at The Lantern recently in a tribute to their percussionist Jason Gaines who sadly passed away recently. This month’s Jazzata gig at the Lantern features the return of longstanding Albert Inn 90s favourites Perfect Houseplants though they too recently lost drummer Martin France after a long illness.

Vocalist Clare Teal’s easy swinging style returns for an entertaining evening at St George’s (Thur 28) with her great septet including Dave Archer – sometime guitarist for Sheelanagig who will themselves be bouncing at Strange Brew (Thur 21). St George’s also hosts an interesting new collaboration between the Jazz Defenders and powerful singer Hannah Williams’s band The Affirmations (Fri 22). The two combos will mix and mingle with special arrangements from Defender pianist George Cooper bringing an additional string quartet to fill out the sound. Multi-talented singer/songwriter/percussionist Tammy Payne brings her original songs to The Forge (Fri 8) with a fine new quintet including trombonist Joe Bradford, and he also leads off a Stag & Hounds session (Sun 17). Meanwhile over at The Beacon (Thur 14) you can catch Beth Rowley’s remarkable voice exploring her early inspiration in blues and soul. Nu-jazz singer Priscilla Andersohn leads off the Stag & Hounds session (Sun 10) following soulful showtune aficionado Marvin Muoneke the week before (Sun 3).

Jim Blomfield’s montuno style figures strongly in trumpeter Andy Hague’s Latin-Jazz outfit Sexteto Gringo (Old Duke, Fri 15) with Ben Waghorn on tenor sax and Jim, Andy and Ben will have also shared an earlier stage (Bebop Club, Thur 7) when Tough Tenors pitches the sax player with fellow top tenorist Dan Newberry. Then Andy’s trumpet pops up again alongside hot organ trio Manuals of Fire (Bebop Club, Thur 14) – the trio having already appeared at The Old Fish Market (Sun 3). In contrasting trumpet style, Jonny Bruce joins guitarist Adam Stokes’ Trio to honour big band horn man Sweets Edison (St George’s, Wed 20).

Another powerful tenor player – Craig Crofton – teams up with pianist Martin Jenkins for a tribute to the legendary Thelonious Monk (Bebop, Thur 21), while Get The Blessing’s reedman Jake McMurchie appears at El Rincon (Thur 7) in a duo with bass player (and fellow Jazz Defender) Will Harris. It’s a busy month for Jake, who also leads at the Stag & Hounds session (Sun 24) as well as the aforementioned Defenders and GTB gigs. And there’ll be tenors galore, not to mention altos, baritones etc when the JFS hold their Sax & The City night at the Fleece (Wed 20) featuring big bands from UWE and Bristol University plus the Bristol Hornstars. Regular Tuesday JFS gigs at Mr Wolf’s include their open jam sessions plus a visit from the does-what-it-says Soul Strutters (Tue 19).

Violinist John Pearce and pianist David Newton are joined by bass player Nick Pini for a Fringe Jazz trio session (Bristol Music Club, Wed 20), while piano trio Yetii eschew guests for their regular monthly evening at Greenbank (Thur 7) and Elmer’s Arms welcome radical improvising Belgian threesome Don Kapot (Tue 19) for what they describe as ‘free jazz Afrobeat Kraut-Punk’ – think Moonhooch crashing The Necks … Similarly genre-crunching adventurousness is promised by bass player Al Swainger’s Pointless Beauty (Bebop Club, Thur 28), an electronic quartet bringing head-nodding grooves to immersive soundscapes (it says here). Proggish jazz rockers Rwkus collude with Junglists Ruffneck for a promising jazz-jungle mash up at the Jam Jar (Thur 21). And the ever-exploratory guitarist Phil Dawson brings a powerful quintet of Brazilian musicians fronted by top Latin vocalist Carolina Lelis (Cotham Club, Fri 22).

Shabaka’s not the only big name from the UK scene in town this month – a whole swathe of groove-heavy crowd pullers are headed this way, starting with Mercury nominees corto.alto at Thekla (Mon 4), followed by Mercury winners Ezra Collective at the Beacon (Wed 13) and Sheila Morris-Grey’s Afrofuturist big band Kokoroko at the O2 Academy (Tue 26). Bristol’s own Snazzback can hold it’s head up in that company, of course, and they launch new EP Within and Without at Strange Brew (Thur 7). The Beacon also has hip-hop leaning big band Abstract Orchestra (Tue 19) as well as the more cerebrally ambient Submotion Orchestra (Sun 3). Over at The Bell (if you’re quick) you can catch Santarnal, guitarist Denny Ilett’s tribute to Latin rock pioneers Santana (Sat 2).

There’s a couple of tributes to longevity at the Beacon: The Herbaliser’s hip-hop jazz started in the 90s and despite declaring the band defunct in 2021 they have regenerated since the pandemic with a massive touring schedule this year. Local sax star James Morton is a longstanding member and you can catch them on Fri 15. Acid jazz stars Galliano (Wed 20) were big through the 90s, broke up in ’97 but re-emerged in 2023 with new material and released a fresh album – Halfway Somewhere – this summer. Supertight groove quartet Jingu Bang (The Bell, Mon 25) reach back still further being inspired by 70s jazz funk from Herbie Hancock, Jaco Pastorius and others, while Clusterfunk will similarly rock the Bell (Wed 20). If you like that updated New Orleans band sound head to Mr Wolf’s: Jingu Bang’s Ruth Hammond will be there among the Brass Junkies (Sat 9), hot on the heels of Headrush Brass Band (Fri 8) and followed by Full House Brass Band (Fri 22). Meanwhile there’s smaller scale fun with equally big grooves and a fine slice of weirdness when bizarre duo Dogshow bring their techno-jazz to Jam Jar for their Bristol debut (Fri 29)

All Saints Church is a promisingly atmospheric venue for ambient experiment and this month (Wed 6) welcomes multi-instrumental composer Damsel Elysium and performance artist Sarahsson for ‘dramatic and ethereal’ performances courtesy of Noods Radio. The Cube, of course, is well established in the leftest of fields and this month kicks off with Improv’s Greatest Hits hosting Sweden’s Eye Make The Horizon for ‘trippy audio overload’. Then there’s the En Masse Festival launch with Bethany Ley (Wed 13) preceding the multi-venue feast of electronica (Thur 14 – Sat 16). The Cube also has Margin Forever’s all-dayer of experimental music (Sat 23) including Jo Heller’s remarkable operatic performance art. Frenzied physical musician Evicshen from San Francisco – famed for installing record playing styluses in her fingernails – headlines Tough Sell #8 at Moor Beer (Tue 12). It’s been a while since Chris Cundy’s improvised bass clarinet and electronics came to Bristol but happily he tops a fine improv bill at Cafe Kino (Mon 18) and it’s equally good to see drum and trumpet duo Eyebrow reappear after a hiatus (El Rincon, Thur 28). If all of that seems a bit too frantic, saxophonist Whilst brings his trio with harp and piano to Cloak (Fri 8) promising to send you home relaxed.

On which note … Samana (The Mount Without, Mon 11) combine slow core music, shamanic values and ‘the soft embracing ambience of a living room” for an immersive experience. There’s a similar commitment to slowness in the jazz-noir of Bohren & der Club of Gore (St George’s, Sun 10). Floating World Pictures (Louisiana, Fri 15) use field recordings, drones and ambient sounds to build up ‘Fourth World’ soundscapes, but that’s an unfortunate clash with Sön’s tripped-up live soundtracking for their film Maen Mawr, headlining a triple bill at Cube (Fri 15). Sound artist (and beat boxer) Jason Singh also provides live soundtracking to the film Drifters, a 1929 documentary about herring fishing in the North Sea. There’s a BBC Day of Dance at Arnolfini (Fri 8) amongst which pianist Julius Asal will offer an improvised performance.

A remarkable collaboration between Western contemporary classical music, European jazz and African classical traditions comes to the Beacon (Sat 9) in the quartet Sissoko, Segal, Peirani, Parisien. Formed in Paris the group brings together Malian master of the kora Ballaké Sissoko with versatile cellist Vincent Segal and the jazz duo of accordionist Vincent Peirani and saxophonist Émile Parisien. Debut album Les Égarés showcases a real fusion of style, comfortably crafted, and boasting a host of beautiful themes. And the Beacon also has contemporary classical behemoth Max Richter (Wed 6) … but that’s well sold out, of course.

So: jams – spread a bit more thinly this month. The aforementioned JFS jam sessions are at Mr Wolf’s on Tuesdays (but no mention of their usual Donut Filler sessions) and the Stag & Hounds Sunday sessions continue. The Old England has their Tuesday night Community Jam Collective. Canteen has the Beat Cleaver hip-hop jam (Mon 4), Stone Cold Funk Jam (Tue 5 & 19), Canteen Jazz Session (Wed 6) and Canteen Latin Session (Wed 20). The Fringe has the Hot Club Jam (Mon 4)