Music / cheltenham jazz festival
Cheltenham Jazz fest springs into action
Buds on the branches? Check. Birds building nests? Check. Sunnier skies? Errr … Check-ish. Cheltenham Jazz Festival? Double check. Must be Spring, then. For 22 years now, come the May bank holiday weekend the smart Gloucestershire market town of Cheltenham has converted to Jazz Central, with what is recognised as one of the UK’s most prestigious festivals. Its longevity and continuing success is down to a winning combination of a shrewd ear for quality, a keen nose for the crowd-pleasing and a sharp eye to the future, with many young talents launching their ‘discovery’ at the festival over the years.
Van The Man goes to Cheltenham
So who’ve they got this year? Well the big names are suitably big, including showstoppers like Van Morrison, Nigel Kennedy, Randy Crawford, Caro Emerald and Rick Astley in big band mode (those last three are sold out). And there’s jazz royalty including funk legends Tower of Power, wayward guitar genius Bill Frisell in a simple duo, pyrotechnic saxophonist Courtney Pine teamed with singer Omar and our own Andy Sheppard’s glorious European quartet. Does relative newcomer Kamasi Washington (pictured at top) count as royalty yet? In three years he’s become such a global sensation that he probably should.
Zara McFarlane
There’s a real flock of soulful songbirds for 2018, with reformed rockabilly Imelda May always a sell-out and veteran R’n’B artist PP Arnold coming conveniently before jazzier newcomer Corinne Bailey Ray on Sunday. Top tips, however, might be Zara McFarlane’s stylish infusion of jazz with reggae and the ebullient US diva China Moses who brings a classic full-bodied warmth to tightly structured contemporary soul-jazz.
is needed now More than ever
Trumpeter Laura Jurd and her Dinosaurs
So far, so accessible, but what keeps Cheltenham’s good reputation in jazz circles is its strand of edgier contemporary stuff, largely picked by long-time advisor Tony Dudley-Evans. This year looks very promising from the outset when Friday’s double bill of fearless Swiss vocalist Lucia Cadotsch and remorseless piano trio ENEMY is followed by an electronic remix of the live performance and capped by Laura Jurd’s quirkily clever Dinosaur band (they’re another sell-out, sadly).
Innovative Estonian Kadri Voorand
There’s more unexpected vocalism from amazing Estonian innovator Kadi Voorand but even her individualism seems restrained compared with the free-flowing musicality of Elaine Mitchener in a quartet with the equally spontaneous pianist Alexander Hawkins.
Moses Boyd
Hipster-jazz guru Gilles Peterson also reliably picks the winners – Zara McFarlane’s one of his – but drummer Moses Boyd hardly needs his endorsement these days. His Exodus octet is a dazzling young supergroup from the London new wave pumped along by Theon Cross’ tireless tuba. More reflective but equally groovy, US drummer Jim Black’s Malamute quartet hinges on the dialogue between his often disruptive electro-acoustics with the implacable Icelandic tenor sax player Óskar Gudjónsson. It’s a strangely successful communion, as is the more understandable collaboration of Swiss modernist trio Vein with UK sax stalwart and bandleader Stan Sulzmann.
Bowie collaborator Donny McCaslin
Of course all this is just a selection of the festival programme – there’s plenty more good stuff like artistic curator Jamie Cullum’s favoured Jason Moran, a cool and clever Blue Note pianist with the awesome Nasheet Waits drumming behind him, Donny McCaslin whose band David Bowie picked to make his farewell Blackstar album or Afrobeat master musician Seun Kuti with Egypt 80. Full info, complete with sample clips, is available on the festival’s informative website.
Cheltenham Jazz Festival runs from Wednesday 2 to Monday 7 May.
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