Review: Snowpoet/Pee Wee Ellis/Lee Konitz, Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival

Avoiding cheap jokes about the weather … a decent sized crowd managed the chilly trudge to the Lantern to catch opening act Snowpoet and the day built from that to a packed hall for the closing combination of cool school legend Lee Konitz, Dockside Latin Orchestra’s hot Cuban salsa and the good-time funk pumping Brass Junkies. For a fourth and final day the Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival certainly had the Colston Hall’s joints jumping.

Snowpoetry in action – Lauren Kinsella and Josh Arcoleo

Snowpoet’s music framed Lauren Kinsella’s clear and unforced vocals with closely arranged instrumental embellishment to make a kind of ideal pop music. The literate lyrics and clever musical interplay were a finely balanced portal into an often intimate space – as in The Therapist – or simply a celebration of Lauren’s voice as in the self-harmonised cover of Gillian Welch’s doo-wop pastiche My Dear Someone. It was nice to see Josh Arcoleo back in town, too, albeit in the role of backing vocalist as much as sax player.

Ian Shaw and Cartoon Jazz filling the stage

Over in the main hall things were big, though sadly not as big as planned because snow had prevented some choirs and their fans from getting to Cartoon Jazz, the festival’s traditional community participation showcase. That still left an impressive number of singers however and they made a truly impressive sound, especially on the Stingray/Aqua Marina medley when their vocal sweeps blended nicely with engaging guest Ian Shaw’s vocals and the accompanying Big Buzzard Boogie Band into a mighty unity of sound.

Ivo Neame at the piano behind George Crowley’s sax

Constructed disunity figured in pianist Ivo Neame’s showcase of imminent Edition album Moksha, with his tunes assembled and deconstructed in a collective quartet process around themes that ranged from simple three note progressions to long narrative lines. George Crowley’s sax was important, often seizing the tune and running away with it, while Ivo’s exploratory use of electronic keyboards gave atmospheric direction. Ivo’s playing was full of surprising ideas and devices but well matched by a band that also included Dinosaur bass player Conor Chapman and tireless drummer James Maddren. It was pretty serious stuff, mind, as it needed to be, and the quirky satire of Vegetarians was an interesting moment of comic relief.

Denny Ilett’s guitar at the heart of the all-star Electric Lady Big Band

Big bands have loomed (inevitably) large over this year’s BIJBF programme, mostly drawn from the abundance of jazz talent in Bristol itself, but the Electric Lady Big Band was a standout combination of local stars and big names from the UK scene. As the name suggests it was a Hendrix-themed project from festival director Denny Ilett that played through the whole of Jimi’s Electric Ladyland double album, the music re-arranged through a jazz perspective. With twelve horn players surrounding a four piece rock band the music preserved the basic pace and structure of the original (with Denny’s impressively accurate replication of guitar tones and riffs) while working in ensemble and solo brass contributions. Clearly a project that the players all enjoyed tremendously, the mood of tracks like Voodoo Chile (with a scorching solo from Ben Waghorn) and 1983 truly gained from the reinterpretation. Star turns from trumpeters Laura Jurd and Yazz Ahmed and pumping energy from trombonist Ashley Slater all stood out, but big credit must go to indefatigable stick-slamming drummer Ralph Salmins whose by-the-rules rock style was absolutely vital throughout. It was a great achievement for Denny and one that will be seen way beyond this festival.

Jason Rebello, Alec Dankworth and Pee Wee Ellis

When tickets went on sale for this event it was Pee Wee Ellis and his Jazz Quartet that sold out almost immediately, his combination of international success and adopted ‘local’ status having long established him as a much loved favourite. Aged 77, he made a slow and dignified entrance to join in a jaunty rendition of St Thomas that referenced his early learning from the great Sonny Rollins as a beginning to a kind of ‘evening with’ set combining relaxed repartee and a tuneful walk through his long and varied career.

James Morton (left) joining the band for some of Pee Wee’s Chicken

Highlights included pianist Jason Rebello’s Errol Garner-inspired accompaniment on Slow Boat to China and Pee Wee’s richly lyrical reading of There Is No Greater Love, subtly ushered along by Julie Saury’s drumming. Bassist Alec Dankworth drove through a stately version of Mercy Mercy Mercy that had the feel of a South African anthem and former Pee Wee protegé James Morton joined in the swaggeringly funky Chicken that Pee Wee cooked up for James Brown back in the day. The great man may have looked a little frail at his first entrance but after 90 minutes he seemed ready to go on all night and his delighted audience would surely not have minded.

Lee Konitz – deceptively easy-going

He had to make way, however, for an even more elderly statesman of the jazz world. At 91 Lee Konitz has had a glittering career that stretches back to Miles Davis and The Birth of the Cool, recorded in 1949. Latterly his performances have acquired an endearingly individual style, offering a deceptively easy-going run through of classic ballads as if he’s trying to call them to mind. A celebrated improviser, his fluent and elegant playing mixed with vocalised versions and periods of listening to his band, the collective effort being to somehow evoke the tune without ever properly playing it.

It felt sketchy, the other musicians almost tentative around his unamplified playing, yet in truth it was a carefully constructed business both acoustically and musically, and most tunes finished with long and intricate harmolodic melody lines played in unison with Andreas Schmidt’s piano to prove the point. What was most evident was the caring respect his sidemen had for him, as if always aware that they were tending the soil for a rare and endangered jazz orchid still splendidly in bloom.

Dockside Latin Orchestra does razzamatazz Cuban-style

Lee Konitz’ quiet cool subtlety closed The Lantern’s programme with just time to catch the final half of the Cuban Dance Party in the main hall – and what a contrast. Trumpeter Joe Longridge’s Dockside Latin Orchestra has all the musical firepower and extravagant razzamatazz needed to ignite a salsa inferno and the heaving dance floor proved the point. With crowd-pleasing regular guest vocalist Elpidio Alegria and special guest Colombian superstar percussionist Roberto Pla the sound was even tighter than on past performances, no doubt inspired by the energetic response from their audience, and it all added up to a proper party finale with a real Cuban flavour that could (should?) become a festival fixture.

After four days it was clear that the Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival has a real following prepared to brave the weather for the music they like. Obviously it is to be hoped that the event can finds new homes when the Colston Hall closes for refurbishment next year.