Music / Jazz
Bristol’s week in jazz, July 1-7 2019
As the city washes out all that dust-encrusted festival gear in preparation for St Paul’s Carnival on Saturday it’s a quiet week on the jazz front, enriched with a few compelling vocal treats and a tribute to an overlooked Canadian piano legend (who isn’t Oscar Peterson).
The pianist in question is Paul Bley whose career began in the forties and continued until his death in 2016 and whose music and improvising approach are the inspiration for Bley School (Fringe, Wednesday 3).
From the mid-50s on Bley was a leading figure in the US avant garde scene, working with an astonishing range of great players. He was an early star of ECM records and became known for his compositions, collaborations and solo playing. Pianist Pat Thomas (pictured at top of page) has been a mainstay of the European free music world since the late 70s and the trio also features Dominic Lash (bass) and Tony Orrell (drums) with Percy Pursglove guesting on trumpet.
is needed now More than ever
Bristol’s We Are Leif (Future Inn, Thursday 4) have been getting widely (and rightly) praised across the country (and the BBC) for the combination of Louise Victoria’s compelling vocals and the assured Nu Soul jazzery of their music.
They are preceded by Melbourne’s highly funky 30/70 (The Lanes, Wednesday 3) with vocalist Allysha Joy adding an urban edge to their hip-hop influenced funk. And then there’s Priscilla Andersohn, Kenyan born jazz singer sometimes known as Bastion, posessor of an eclectic voice that sits well in African, jazz and soul contexts. She’s billed as Priscilla and ‘er Tones (Leftbank, Saturday 6) and should add some class to the post-Carnival celebrations.
Ubiquitous drummer Emma Holbrook pops up twice this week, firstly with Hegemono (Canteen, Thursday 4), a psychedelic funk trio from the World Government collective. Fronted by guitarist Chris Powell with Zak Ranyard on bass their debut waxing Manifesto ranges from heavy duty jazz rock and psych wig-outs to brisk electro-funk.
Then Emma moves in a more Latinwards direction for Starlings (No 1 Harbourside, Friday 5), a funk and swing quartet that also includes Sophie Stockham on sax. The band is still evolving their repertoire, with new tunes joining covers of numbers by Lettuce and St Vincent (among others).
The uncategorisably creative Cosmo Sheldrake appears at Trinity (Thursday 4) with the equally pioneering Murmuration Choir and their director Isolde. Expect an eclectic exploration of vocal music with smart electronic embellishments.
And then on the same night there’s Bath Phil (St George’s, Thursday 4). Who he? Actually it’s the Bath Philharmonia revisiting Simon Rattle’s album of jazz inspired classical music with that conductor’s son Sacha leading on clarinet, joined by pianist Peter Donohoe. It’s a rich collection of Gershwin, Bernstein, Stravinsky and Shostakovich with Mr Rattle getting to play that famous glissando at the beginning of Rhapsody in Blue as a likely highlight.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
