Birthday bash, jazz-style

When it comes to one of those Special Birthdays (the kind with an 0 at the end) it can be handy to have an address book full of top jazz musicians and a drawer full of original big band arrangements. Put the two together, book a venue and you can expect to celebrate in style. After some three decades as a Bristol-based jazz musician and bandleader, Bebop Club promoter Andy Hague has decided to celebrate ‘the big 5-0’ with a star-studded 16-piece jazz orchestra playing his own tunes and arrangements. We asked him what was the inspiration for the project?

AH: Well I’ve dabbled in writing for big bands since I was at school, and then when I was in (late 90s contemporary big band) Ultrasound. Eventually I pulled a big band together for my fortieth birthday and wrote a lot of stuff for that. It went on do several gigs, including Swanage Jazz festival, and got well reviewed. But it’s a complicated thing to keep together and other things got in the way so I had to mothball the project – until now.

So was it just a case of dusting things down for another run?

AH: Oh no – in many ways I’m viewing this as a new band, a new project. I’ve been writing original music and rearranging other small band pieces specially. And players have come and gone from the Bristol scene over the last ten years. What I’d written for the original line-up had ideas for specific players, playing to their strengths, the new material reflects the new line-up.

Is it important to showcase Bristol-based musicians?

AH: I’ve deliberately used the local pool of players because I want to show how strong the jazz scene is around here. There’s well-established names like Ben (Waghorn), Jake (McMurchie), Kevin (Figes) and Jim (Blomfield) as well as others that weren’t around ten years ago like Jonny Bruce, Nick Malcolm and Nick Dover. The only outsider is Riaan (Vosloo, bass player) but he’s played around here lots, especially at the Bebop, and we all know him.

Ah yes – the Bebop Club. How long have you been involved?

AH: I’ve been booking the bands for over 20 years now. My original motivation was to have somewhere to play! The Bristol scene has gone through patches where there was almost no other regular venues. It’s important to have a place where jazz musicians can play their own music to a listening audience – the free gigs are often noisier. We’ve always been tied in with local musicians who do their own compositions but we do get touring people coming through, too, even though we don’t have the funding at present to guarantee a fee so it’s down to what we take on the door. We have Joel Harrison coming back from the States on October 16 – he’s been before and they were two of the best gigs we’ve ever had. He really likes the vibe at the club. His band are all really top US players, amazing stuff.

After 30 years at the heart of it how do you feel the Bristol jazz scene is doing right now?

AH: Oh it’s very healthy – we have lots of good players and loads of venues and gigs. There’s plenty of new projects and good stuff. I took my Latin band Conjunto Gringo down to the JFS (University Jazz Funk and Soul society) and it was great to see loads of young people having a really good time. I hope some of them come to my birthday party!

Andy Hague’s Big 5-0 Band appears at The Cresswell Theatre, Bristol Cathedral School on Friday October 9. For more info and to book tickets click here

Joel Harrison’s Spirit House plays at the Bebop Club on October 16. Advance tickets are available from the club.