Review: Bristol Jazz Festival, Tobacco Factory

Well that worked, didn’t it? After surviving the financial body blow of Covid and the logistical difficulties of the Beacon’s reconstruction the Bristol Jazz Festival joyfully reclaimed its annual mid-March slot in a new home. Yes, it was smaller scale than before the pandemic but it’s fair to say the musical quality remained high. There was a satisfying variety of styles and genre and the combination of ticketed and free events saw both pretty much packed out.

The Good Stuff (pic: Tim Dickeson)

Things opened in New Orleans style with the ever-funky Brass Junkies leading a procession down a crowd-lined North Street to the Tobacco Factory. Once there they provided the first set for the weekend’s free programme on the cafe/bar stage. The room crowded out at once and pretty much stayed rammed throughout the weekend. Other highlight café sets included the old-school Boogaloo grooving trio of Dan Moore, Matt Brown and Eli Jitsuto, the raw electric blues of the Will Edmunds Band and Tammy Payne’s supercool vocals. Special mention must go to The Good Stuff’s powerful contemporary Gospel, appropriately lighting up Sunday afternoon with a tight and energetic performance.

Clare Teal (pic: Tim Dickeson)

Upstairs in the ticketed venues four very different musical styles were presented by accomplished women vocalists, each combining fine singing with highly personable presentation. Alice Zawadzki’s eclectic plundering of European languages (musical, verbal and non-verbal) was held together by her remarkable vocal range. The same could be said for Vimala Rowe who managed to present a Swahili groover, a Billy Holiday cover and an Indian classical devotional song with equal conviction. She also managed some fine bickering with guitarist John Etheridge who diffidently provided predictably dazzling accompaniment. Bristol’s Elles Bailey  is pretty much top of the UK blues tree and she showed why with her powerful set and then there was Clare Teal … Fans of Clare’s homely Yorkshire charisma, complete with dour wit, as well as her perfect way with a swing classic got the Full Monty on Saturday night. With great moments like Annie Ross’ rapid-fire My Analyst Told Me, a cool rendition of Tainted Love and – yes – some fine bickering with guitarist Dave Archer (formerly of this parish) it was as entertaining as it was accomplished.

Hippo: Doug Cave (Keyboards, Sax), Henry Binning (Keyboards), Toby Perry (Drums) (pic: Tim Dickeson)

Three saxophone performances stood out, again in contrasting styles. Emma Rawicz brought a classy quartet and an amazing fund of ideas to her contemporary jazz set. Though barely into her twenties her capacity to use an extensive playing vocabulary in fluent streams of consciousness was truly amazing and explains how she can get the likes of Ivo Neame’s piano and Asaf Sirkis drumming to flesh out her compositions. It was poised and sophisticated stuff, unlike Doug Cave’s raw-toned demagoguery in electro-jazz trio Hippo. The band’s sound was drenched in glorious synth tones and driving off-kilter beats with Doug’s saxes adding their impassioned voice to proceedings.

Andy Sheppard (pic: Tim Dickeson)

And then there was Andy … Andy who? Ha! Returning hero Andy Sheppard’s trio met a packed roomful of loving appreciation and they did not disappoint. Having left Bristol for Portugal some five years ago, maybe it was his own feelings about being back or maybe it was feeling all that love that gave an added dimension to his music. Whatever, even by his own internationally admired standards, he effortlessly delivered something spellbindingly special with pianist Rita Marcotulli and Michel Benita’s bass. Then again, maybe he’s just that good …

Jazz Defenders: Jake McMurchie (Sax), Nick Malcolm (Trumpet), George Cooper (Piano), Will Harris (Bass), Ian Matthews (Drums) (pic: Tim Dickeson)

It was interesting to finally see Ezra Collective trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi’s solo outing. It proved to be rooted in assured Afro-jazz grooves, with solid rhythm playing and Ife’s strong-toned trumpet displaying his wide range of influences. Trumpeter Nick Malcolm was pursuing a very hard-bop focused course in the Jazz Defenders who not only provided a cracking set of original tunes in the Blue Note style but also were the engine behind the highly successful jam sessions that rounded off each night in the café bar downstairs. All great work, but they must have been exhausted by Monday.

Renegade Brass Band (pic: Tim Dickeson)

And then there were the party groovers, starting with Friday’s blockbuster set from the Electric Lady Big Band, guitarist Denny Ilett’s 16-headed tribute to Jimi Hendrix. Chock full of splendid performances special mention must go to the exuberant powerhouse drumming of Daisy Palmer (also formerly of this parish). Saturday saw local favourites Snazzback combining their contemporary grooves with a kind of Weather Report production integrity and Sunday finished things off with the hip-hop energised Renegade Brass Band, their fine contemporary New Orleans flavour bookending the weekend.

The Tobacco Factory café bar in full swing (pic: Tim Dickeson)

Throughout the weekend there was a really nice vibe around the Tobacco Factory, even when things got seriously crowded in the downstairs bar, and amazingly few grumps – even from the habitually grumpy. Credit is due to the organisers and volunteers, and especially director Katya Gorrie for re-estabishing what will hopefully continue to be a highlight of the Bristol jazz year.