Music / festival
Review: Bristol Jazz Festival opening night
Locking up my bike outside it was immediately apparent things were happening at the Colston Hall, with the full tones of Andy Hague’s Silverado wafting through the door and a busy throng coming and going. The Bristol International Jazz and Blues Festival has a well-established reputation for animating the Hall and the Foyer entertainments made a vibrant hub through the evening, with Emily Wright & The Royals later providing fine music for a mob of vintage-clad swing dancers and even some electro-swing circus antics running later into the night.
The big opening push, however, came from the Partisans in the Lantern with a power-packed set of intricate prog-jazz numbers that seemed to flow out go the four musicians as effortlessly as breathing. After two decades the band’s level of collective empathy is awesome and while Phil Robson’s rock-influenced guitar and Julian Siegal’s energetic reeds playing were impressive on the cross-cutting rhythms of Thin Man or the freer jazz of Swamp it was the well-judged relentless ingenuity of Gene Calderazzo on drums that kept my attention, always on the front foot yet never stomping on things.
By contrast in the main hall Melody Gardot’s set was an easier ride, her accomplished band providing a chameleon backdrop to her songs. Hidden as ever by dark shades and a big hat hers was nevertheless an open and welcoming performance, working the audience gently along through coolly jazz-infused material including a set of French numbers. The musical context was reminiscent of Van Morrison, magpie pilfering carefully used, but her pitch-perfect smooth vocals made a more welcoming prospect than his surliness would have.
After that it was the Big Swing, indeed, with jive dancing aplenty in the Foyer and in the main hall, first with jump-jivers King Pleasure – “It’s Jackie Wilson time!” – and then the Bruce Ilett Big Band’s classy line-up drawn from Bristol’s finest jazzers with a couple of Parisian imports. Inspired by Harry James’ punchy arrangements the band hurtled through numbers like Don’t Be That Way with aplomb, and bandleader Jonny Bruce’s trumpet was only one of many sparkling soloists. If you’re into that dancing thing then there can be few finer moments than to have such quality live renditions of the music while you show off your moves and the faces on the dance floor (when not knotted in concentration) shone with evident approval.
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