Bristol’s week in jazz October 29 – November 4

For better or worse it’s all about pianos this week, with the good news being the Bristol Keyboard Festival at St George’s. It’s an eclectic programme of ten gigs that features Norwegian jazz pianist Tord Gustavsen and local art-popster Will ‘Goldfrapp’ Gregory’s Moog Ensemble. The bad news, however, is that issues about keeping their hard-won grand piano at the venue means that Jazzata promoter Ian Storrer will no longer be able to use the Hen & Chicken for his highly successful jazz events. Ian’s remarkable connections in the UK jazz world (and beyond) have provided some truly memorable nights of top quality music in the Bedminster pub’s comedy club room and it is to be hoped that a suitable alternative venue emerges as soon as possible.

St George’s Hall, of course, boasts no less than two grand pianos and one of them will be put to great use when the Tord Gustavsen Trio  play there (Tuesday 30). Tord has evolved a distinctive European style that has roots in both stately Nordic hymn tunes and baroque classical music, with results ranging from  austere and majestic anthems to lush reflective ambience. His latest ECM album features a number of adaptations of J.S.Bach as well as his own compositions and marks the arrival of a new bass player Sigurd Hole.

Bach will also feature in the Will Gregory Moog Ensemble performance (St George’s, Saturday 3) when ten performers will wrestle with vintage Moog synthesisers for a programme that will include original work alongside seminal analogue synth pieces by John Carpenter and a replication of Wendy Carlos’ legendary Switched On Bach arrangements.

As well as keyboards there’s some interesting  jazz vocal gigs coming up, with El Rincon featuring the duo of soul-jazz singer Michaela Fedeczko with Dale Hambridge’s keyboards (Friday 2) and velvet-voiced singer/songwriter Lady Nade appearing at the Spike Island Cafe (Saturday 3). Those with longer jazz memories, however, may well be specially pleased to hear that the sometime Diva of Bath Joan Davis is making an appearance (St James Wine Vaults, Thursday 1). A multi-talented singer, poet, performance artist and teacher Joan’s powerful and expressive vocals were a familiar and popular part of the Bristol and Bath scene until pressures of academic work diverted her attention. As well as her own performance skills she has always been able to call on top players from the London scene and for this gig she will have ace trumpeter Byron Wallen alongside her.

Another vocal legend of a quite different stripe returns to The Exchange this week in the indomitable shape of Damo Suzuki (Friday 2). For some years the one-time vocal frontman of Krautrock uberband Can has toured the world as a solo performer using his Network to pick up local musicians for each fully improvised gig. Expect his trademark howling and ranting and the emergence of crushing grooves in a flux of fun. Expect the unexpected, too, at the Sound Cupboard Halloween session (Crofter’s Rights, Wednesday 31) with Viridian Ensemble’s multi-media improvisations and the Domestic Sound Cupboard collective welcoming those ‘special guests’. For more ‘performance art terrors’ you might want to check the RRS’ Sweet 16 party at the Old England (Saturday 3).

As a member of the house band at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club award-winning guitarist Nigel Price is a busy bloke, but he’s still got time to pop into the Bebop Club (Friday 2) with the Nigel Price Organ Trio. This hard-bopping threesome also includes the formidable rhythm section  of Anders Olinder (keys) and Andy Tween (drums). Grooves aplenty feature in the funky repertoire of the Nick Dewhurst Band, a Birmingham-based 5-piece coming to Future Inn (Thursday 1) with a big reputation in the Midlands. But don’t expect to get into either Sons of Kemet (Fleece, Monday 29) or Moscow Drug Club (Fringe Jazz, Wednesday 31) as both gigs are sold out.

A few more goodtime jazz-based music gigs are not, at time of going to press, sold out: Les Fanflures Brass Band (The Lanes,Thursday 1) are a lively bunch from Toulouse giving that hip-hop meets New Orleans brass thing a decidedly French flavour, while Colombian vocalist Rafael Berrio’s Pollito Boogaloo (Canteen, Friday 2) swoops through cumbia, vallenato and other classic Latin styles to highly danceable effect. Unfortunately it’s the same night as Glasgow’s quaintly named Tom McGuire & The Brassholes touch down at LeftBank with their big sounding ‘modern-soul-funk’ so a tricky choice to be made there.

And finally a couple of socially conscious jazz-themed events pop up this week, the first being an afternoon event at The Fringe (Thursday 1) called Jazz for Seniors, with vocalist Elly offering a sociable day-time jazz session for older people. The second is Context (Colston Hall, Friday 2), a dance-friendly fund-raiser for the British Heart Foundation featuring funk/dance producer Harvey Sutherland and Pigbag bassist Sven Atterton.