Music / Jazz
Review: Dr Chonk and The Nature Injection/JFS Jam, Mr Wolf’s
Ten o’clock on a cold Tuesday night and the queue for Mr Wolf’s stretched back down the road. Were they late opening? No – it was already rammed inside. It seems that one piece of street wisdom quickly gathered by Bristol University’s new arrivals is that the fortnightly Jazz Funk and Soul Society (aka JFS) sessions are a must-do thing. Massive credit must go to the student volunteers that have built up the JFS over the years – you could see the current committee working hard throughout the evening keeping things moving: respect is due! And for a jazz veteran like your reviewer few things are more heartening than a roomful of happy young people getting down with jazzy grooves, as well as catching some of the fresh playing talent taking the stage throughout the opening jam session.
The JFS Jam brass section (pic: Tony Benjamin)
Few of those session players and vocalists got a name check, sadly, but the brass players were particularly impressive both for technique and self-discipline. The latter was well shown in a coolly Latinised version of Watermelon Man with elegantly understated trumpet and sax solos. Those players came together again in a lively version of Superstition, stabbing out the tight unison lines. What helped everything was the solid rhythm playing and in deference to some otherwise very fine vocal performances I’ll pass over the one diabolical sub-karaoke incident, an inevitable risk at any jam.
Dr Chonk & The Nature Injection (pic: Tony Benjamin)
Dr Chonk and the Nature Injection have been around for a year or so and their sound has settled into a breezy, retro-referencing jazz-funk, tightly written and coolly delivered. It was very danceable, smooth running, at times slipping into dreamy ambience. Cousin Kula’s Will Wells shaped much of the sound from behind his bank of keyboards, his occasionally shift to fulsome trombone breaking the spell of electronica. In combination with Snazzback percussionist Myke Vince’s congas they gave a Latin sheen to some numbers – the band cite Brazilian jazz-funk band Azymuth as one of their influences. At other, more electronic times you could catch echoes of moody instrumental rockers Khruangbin’s level-headed drift.
is needed now More than ever
Dr Chonk & The Nature Injection (pic: Tony Benjamin)
The band had clearly paid great attention to the sounds they deployed, whether Tom Peterson’s warm-toned Hofner bass guitar, the crisp clarity of guitarist Eli Jitsuto (another Snazzbacker) or the precise vocabulary of Will Wells’ synth/keys settings. As a result there was an impressive ‘studio’ quality to the music that obviously delivered for an enthusiastic dance floor. It was all warmly received and there’s no doubt the band have their foot firmly in the JFS door – a very good place for any contemporary jazz groove combo to find themselves.
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