Music / Jazz
Review: James Morton & Friends, Exchange
It’s been a while, though looking at him on stage James Morton seems to have avoided any signs of ageing and still radiates his trademark energy and enthusiasm. Appropriately enough Bristol’s Ambassador for Music (as George Ferguson dubbed him back in the day) has been away on tours and, for the last couple of years, you’d have been more likely to catch him in Poland than South West England. But here he was, back in town, and the Exchange was seriously rammed as a consequence – not least because of the illustrious friends he was bringing with him.
Things started smoothly enough with a coolly gospel flavoured blues that let guitarist Charlie Allen off the leash. His stylish solo was the first of many, on this occasion matched by Anders Olinder’s Hammond-style keyboards while James played it cool on alto sax. By contrast, a subsequent jazz funk workout started in smooth jazz territory, the ultra-tight rhythm section driven by Ian Matthews’ strict tempo drumming and Flash’s precision bass playing by the book until a call-and-response section between James and Anders escalated into something incendiary. The drumming intensified, the sax grew more frenzied and the whole thing exploded before falling back into place and quietly ending. The more soulful Steps that followed slipped easily into a cover of Ain’t Nobody by which time there was some serious dancing in the house.
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It was the right time, therefore, to introduce the ‘architect of funk’ as James described former James Brown bandleader Pee Wee Ellis. Their first number – Make It Funky – was a model of the economy of those JBs arrangements, with understated solos from the two saxophonists riding the beat. It was followed by Cold Sweat, the Pee Wee composition generally recognised as the first ever proper funk tune, and again a tight and spare arrangement, this time embroidered by cosmic interjections from DJ Suv, off-stage and out of sight. By the time they reached a version of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On the dialogue between the two sax players was well-established, with Pee Wee’s passionate tenor solo encapsulating a life’s work learning his trade.
After Pee Wee left the stage guitarist Angelo Bruschini joined the band for Eternal Finale, a loosely rolling hip-hop number fronted by US rapper Shondel The Kamikaze with Angelo’s ethereal solo style a good balance to Charlie Allen’s crisp rhythm playing. There was more acerbic guitar from him during the ambitious Raiders, a longer programmatic instrumental piece about bank robbers. That tune was the cue for Ian Matthews to really let rip on drums in a thunderous outburst that saw sticks fly from his grasp while James stoked a scorching solo and the band came together in a grinding rock riff to close the piece.
Sadly it marked the end of the live music, with Suv taking things away on the decks in his own style. With young jazz in the UK increasingly referring to more recent dance music cultures, James Morton’s roots in classic funk and soul as well as rock music still make for a very Bristolian fusion that retains its ability to give an audience a great Saturday night out.
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