Music / jazz singer
Review: Yunmi Kang & Sangyeon Park/BEJE, Fringe Jazz
Well the definition of Europe might be in a bit of flux right now but few would agree it could stretch to include Korea. But the inclusion of pianist and singer Yunmi Kang and guitarist Sangyeon Park in this evolution of British trumpeter David Mowatt’s flexible Bristol European Jazz Ensemble (aka BEJE) is a very smooth fit, no doubt eased by the decade each of the Korean musicians spent learning and working in Germany and the Netherlands. And, of course, there is no doubting the Eurocredentials of Federico Leonori and Paolo Adami, two Italians on bass and drums respectively.
Paolo Adami, Sangyeon Park, Federico Leonori, David Mowatt
The Korean duo set out their stall nicely in the opener, Prayer, a meditative piano and guitar duet with melodic wordless vocals reminiscent of Norma Winstone. The music unfolded easily, with the others gradually finding a place in the spacious arrangement and the tune led into the brisker, gospel-feeling groove of Sangyeon’s Tell Me Why I’m Here. This bluesy number gave Dave Mowatt the chance for a classy old-school solo over Yunmi’s Nina Simone piano styling, followed by a delightfully economic light-touch guitar break and ending with Yunmi’s unison piano/vocal payout.
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It was soon apparent that the singer had an impressive range of tones and style, all delivered with precision of pitch and timing. Thus the jaunty nursery rhyme lyrics of David Mowatt’s pastoral Walled Garden came over like Blossom Dearie, while Sangyeon’s Smile To Go brought out a full-throated scat in the Ella Fitzgerald mode and the guitarist’s elegiac The Unreturned developed into a free jazz workout led by her liquid vocal lines. The purity of her tone was especially ear-catching, effortlessly ringing through the music even at it’s most frenetic.
With such an impressive performance on stage it would have been easy to overlook Sangyeon’s more diffident contribution, though he did let rip with a fine Grant Green impression in David Mowatt’s Blue Note-nodding Autumn in Easton and his excellent evocation of the titular Church Bells led into some snappy hard-bop chordings. It was Your Portrait, Yunmi’s tribute to Van Gogh, that properly showcased his style of easily rolled melodic variations closely focused on the tune, helped by a sketchy Bill Evans underpinning from the piano and all complementing the vocal part without crowding it. It was a splendidly judged ensemble piece that fell together perfectly.
In such company trumpeter Dave Mowatt’s own vocals on Take Back Control and The Strange Rebirth of Europe were inevitably more rough-hewn – though the latter’s evocation of a Gil Scott Heron rant-rap suited things well enough – and it was wise to revisit Yunmi’s Thought About You After Coffee for the closing encore, her chiming electric piano and husky almost-Brazilian vocal timbre riding Federico’s unfussy bass line and Paolo’s hushed cymbals with a tone of elegant regret. It left us reminded of the magic that sparked this collaboration which, hopefully, will continue to develop.
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