Music / Jazz
The week in jazz – May 16-22
Given the audience that hip US big band Snarky Puppy can always pull in Bristol there may well be a bit of a clamour for two of this week’s jazz gigs when SP keyboard player Cory Henry and guitarist Andrew Bailie hit town. The funky Mr Bailie appears in an unlikely duo with jazzy Cornish singer/songwriter Saskia Maxwell at Canteen (Tuesday 17) then returns to The Lantern (Wednesday 18) with Cory Henry’s Revival Project – an ebullient jazz exploration of the Hammond organ’s roots in gospel and blues that seems to have whipped up a (deserved) storm of fan-frenzy.
In an unfortunate clash Wednesday also sees the return of the occasional ‘Guess The Bleating’ to The Fringe and the Andy Hague Quintet to Canteen. This version of the former includes three members of Get the Blessing (pictured above) as well as a brace of Pushy Doctors, thus bringing two of Bristol’s finest combos together for a night of highly skilled mayhem and a lot of fun, while Mr Hague’s fivesome have long been regarded as the supergroup of their generation of local modern jazz musicians.
And, regrettably, Thursday 19 presents some hard jazz choices, too. Fans of classic straight ahead modern jazz will no doubt head for St George’s where the superb Norwegian bass star Arild Andersen (pictured) is in his trio with Tommy Smith (saxophone) and Paolo Vinaccia (percussion). Andersen’s unmistakeable tone and meticulous rhythm is always a joy, especially in this ECM-recorded outfit. If you want something more contemporary, though, you should probably check Canteen for World Service Project, the smart and witty quintet from London whose music manages to sound both familiar and strange at the same time. And, somewhere between those two, and definitely in a class of his own, you’ll find inventive local trumpeter Nick Malcolm in a new quartet at Future Inn with George Cooper (piano), Will Harris (bass) and Ric Yarborough (drums) that sees Nick bring his free-thinking approach to a more standard repertoire.
Happily, Friday 20 is less of a stress as you could catch the funky New Orleans marching outfit Brass Junkies party (pictured) at No 1 Harbourside on your way home from watching the Julian Costello Quartet at the Bebop Club. They’re a London-based combo with a distinctly New York feel and boasting stylish playing especially from saxophonist Costello and Patrick Naylor on guitar. For a similar sax/guitar interplay, albeit with a more European flavour, catch Julien Alenda’s alto and Dan Waldman’s fretwork in the Empyreal 4tet at the Alma Tavern on Sunday 22, and there’s also yet more brass-bound action on Saturday 21 when Canteen hosts the 12-strong Neon Saints Brass Band and another New Orleans party ensues.
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