Music / Jazz
Review: Jingu Bang, Bebop Club
I suspect I was not the only member of the Bebop’s near-capacity audience that needed the interweb to inform me that Jingu Bang is an ‘epic pickaxe skin’ from the online game Fortnight. Quite what that means, or how it related to the 1970s jazz-funk heyday inspiring the eponymous quintet is hard to fathom but that hardly matters. Having got together in 2019 to play a selection of classic tunes from Herbie Hancock, Jaco Pastorius and other luminaries the band’s gigging plans were of course cut short in early 2020. A one-off gig at the 2021 Brecon Jazz Festival notwithstanding it’s probably fair to say that this gig marked a relaunch of the project.
Jingu Bang: Dale Hambridge (keys), Greig Robinson (bass) (pic: Tony Benjamin)
Given the line-up of mostly familiar faces it was unsurprising to find Jingu Bang was a well-oiled machine delivering the impeccable grooves their repertoire demanded. The dominance of Herbie Hancock numbers meant that keyboard player Dale Hambridge could have a lot of fun, whether percussively chopping out classic flanged wah-wah chords or letting his right hand run riot with Fender Rhodes solos. Alongside him bass player Greig Robinson offered absolute reliability on numbers like the Hancock classic Chameleon, with Ruth Hammond’s tenor sax stretching out the melodic ideas to usher in an emphatic solo from drummer Scott Hammond.
JIngu Bang: SCott Hammond (drums), Ruth Hammond (tenor sax), Lisa Cherian (percussion) (pic: Tony Benjamin)
For Scott’s tune Bristol Banzai Ruth opened on bass clarinet, an unfamiliar tone in this sort of context but thoroughly appropriate here over a pulsing hi-hat from the drummer and Lisa Cherian’s hand percussion. As the number gathered momentum the bass locked into a tight three bar riff, the keys came in and the drumming took off and, by the time it reached a climactic coda Ruth was back on tenor sax. It was a moment of jazz fusion, almost prog-like in structure, and it is surely no coincidence that the inspirational Headhunters album dates from prog rock’s finest hour. Thus Heartbeat, from Hancock’s 1975 Man-Child release, ran its course through thematic sections each with clear melodic hooks yet switching discontinuously between ideas. It needed tight playing through unison lines and the band had the precision to deliver.
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Jingu Bang (pic: Tony Benjamin)
The inclusion of Jaco Pastorius’ Opus Pocus was bound to be a showcase for Greig Robinson’s bass and he seemed very at ease with its complexities. His own funk credentials – honed with Dennis Rollins’ Badbone – came to the fore, combining rhythmic discipline with super-fluent indulgences that seamlessly ran through locked-tight unison passages with tenor sax and keyboards. Set against atmospherically textured percussion the number was a high point and at its close Ruth’s smile reflected a sense of how good it had been. The evening closed with Charlotte United, a ballad from local musician Gary Bamford with a more dreamy pace and loping bass rhythm that brought a smoothly expressive Michael Brecker-ish tone from the tenor sax and smart jazz exploration on keys. Underpinning it, Lisa Cherian’s congas provided the atmospheric undertow that had been adding an Afro-Latin flavour throughout the evening, giving the whole sound some real distinction.
Jingu Bang (pic: Tony Benjamin)
There’s no doubt Jingu Bang are very at home with their material and, given what a potentially rich seam that ‘70s jazz-rock period offers, we can – finally – expect to be seeing them on a regular basis hereabouts.
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