Defending the faith

Throughout 2023 the Jazz Defenders and Hannah Williams and the Affirmations seemed to be playing at many of the same UK jazz festivals. Then, in the spring of ’24, Defenders pianist and main man George Cooper and Affirmations musical director James Graham found themselves having a beer together in an Alpine ski resort. Jet-set stuff, apparently, albeit that both were there for musical jobs. “We were sunning ourselves up on a mountain having a pint,” George recalls, “and I just said I thought our music complemented each other and we should do something together. I half knew Hannah’s music already and also (Defenders and Kasabian drummer) Ian Matthews had been doing a few gigs with them.” Happily, James agreed and a plan began that would culminate in a joint gig at St George’s on November 22.

So far, so straightforward – but there was more. “I’d been wanting to do something with strings for a while.” George adds, explaining how his idea became for the two bands to merge onstage and play new arrangements of their material with an added string section. It sounds ambitious but actually George’s past career proves surprisingly relevant. “It’s a muscle I haven’t used for a while but I’ve done string arrangements before. I worked a lot with Nigel Kennedy, maybe 14-15 years ago. I’ve rearranged Vivaldi’s Four Seasons twice and some really old Duke Ellington wax recordings for him and the London Philharmonic. Weirdly, I also did a load of Herb Alpert material for him and a Polish Orchestra and that led to several pop arrangements for Radio 2 and loads of funk and soul for Lack of Afro and others.”

The project became focused on a collaborative single – Hold On To People, released November 8 on Haggis Records. It’s a fine laid back soul number with Hannah fronting the Defenders and some powerhouse string work from violinist John Pearce. George wrote it last year while living on a farm in Wales. “The hook – Hold On To People – seemed poignant at the time and it’s even more relevant today.  It’s a huge sound, one of my proudest tracks so far because of the good positive message, but also it’s a good crossover of genres, kind of gospel/soul/jazz/pop … It’s got a bit of everything in there. Mainly there’s that Muscle Shoals studio vibe, Wilson Picket or Aretha Franklin.”

It’s already been a good year for the Jazz Defenders, with latest album Memory In Motion garnering a three star review from the Guardian’s Neil Spencer who said it ‘crackles with energy and glistens with skill’. The band have also grown a big following across the Channel, which explains why we don’t see so much of them. “We don’t work as much in Bristol any more, it’s generally up country or in Europe.” George observes and while the rest of the band are still Bristol-based he has himself moved up to London. But Bristol is still their home which is why George picked St George’s Hall as the right place to unveil the Defenders/Affirmation collaboration. The launch gig will see both bands set up and play together, plus those strings, with hosting duties from rapper Doc Brown whose Rolling On A High was an ear catching contribution to the album.

Whether as player, bandleader or composer George is a busy man – after we spoke he had to go and join the Abstract Orchestra on tour while squeezing in a weekend recording session in Thailand. Nonetheless he hopes to pursue this Jazz Defenders’ collaborative journey even further. “Hopefully in a couple of years we can expand to a full orchestra, with tympani and stuff. What I’d really like to do is get some funding to record a big band orchestral thing and also work on the late 60s pulp soundtrack stuff that I’ve started introducing to the Jazz Defenders sound. I’m going to refocus on singles and collaborations, do a little bit of a Spotify campaign, releasing once a month.” It all sounds very ambitious but, as ever with George Cooper, the proof of the pudding will certainly be in the music.

Hannah Williams & the Affirmations + The Jazz Defenders – An Evening With Strings is at St George’s Hall on Friday 22.