Music / Jazz
The week in jazz – July 18 – 24
It’s a good week to celebrate some of the best music in the country that just happens to come from our own back yard, with Future Inn welcoming Dakhla Brass (Thursday 21). The brass ’n beats outfit are fresh back from their triumphant trip to Canada with Jamie Cullum and will be heading in even more prestigious directions in the near future so catch their totally original blend of African, Middle Eastern and US brass music while you can.
After launching his new CD The Kid last week there’s a second chance to catch James Morton’s funk-driven jazz at The Fringe (Wednesday 20) with the mighty combination of Jonny Henderson’s powerful Hammond and the remorseless Ian Matthews behind the drums plus Jerry Crozier-Cole’s versatile jazz-rock guitar. Given James’ workrate over the years here in Bristol it’s amazing that The Kid is only his second album and it’s a celebration of the kind of smartly funky lessons he’s learned from the likes of Pee Wee Ellis and others. Brash young hip-hop saxophonist Andrew Neil Hayes brings his new improvising loop duo Run Logan Run to Canteen on the same night, with Liverpool’s unpredictably spontaneous Dead Hedge Trio sharing the bill.
The Canteen hosts another interesting bunch of visitors on Saturday (23): Leeds-based collective Mansion of Snakes apply their massive brass section to a crafty fusion of Afrobeat, Ethiopiques-style wonky funk and good old jazz to great effect. You can also catch them at No 1 Harbourside the night before (Friday 22), which would leave you free on Saturday to check out Camo Clavé at the Old Market Assembly. This relatively new Bristol-based quintet make Electro Tropical Latin jazz flavoured with cumbia, reggae and other dance-floor friendly grooves.
And then next day it’s all down to The Alma for their Summer Street Fayre (Sunday 24) with a jazz, funk, blues and swing party featuring favourites like The Zen Hussies, Elles Bailey, Slimline Shufflers and Nu Coalition bass playing vocalist Eric Mylod-Okafo as well as hot-shot trumpeter Jonny Bruce (pictured) with his latest quartet.
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