Music / Jazz
The week in jazz – July 4-10
Well it isn’t often that we get jazz visitors from Australia passing through our city and it’s a tribute to the ever-growing reach of the Future Inns jazz programme that vocalist Janet Seidel (above) has included them in her UK tour (Thursday 7). A classic jazz vocalist with an easy tone and subtle phrasing she’s greatly inspired by Blossom Dearie, Doris Day and others and she comes with a regular trio that includes deft guitarist Chuck Morgan and veteran drummer Cyril Bevan.
By contrast it’s tempting to see Floridian tenor sax man Craig Crofton (above) as a more home-grown talent, so busily embedded has he long been in Bristol’s scene,and it’s always revealing to see him step away from the groove thing into jazzier territory. The Andy Sheppard and Craig Crofton Quartet (Fringe, Wednesday 6) will let him do just that, with Andy’s Pushy Doctors trio welcoming Craig’s second horn for a ‘saxophone summit’ that should be highly charged from the off. If you don’t manage to squeeze into that famously compact gig, however, there’s bona fide New Orleans street jazz from Roamin’ Jasmine at Canteen on the same night.
Guitar buffs will no doubt be flocking to see Joe Bonamassa at Colston Hall – the gig’s well sold out, however, so anyone seeking a fretwork fix might like to check The Hobo Flats (Grain Barge, Thursday 7). It’s a new project built around Sefrial guitarist Joe Wilkins exploring jazz and funk classics with a very groovy rhythm section. Failing that there’s enduring Bristol blues legend Innes Sibun at Alma Tavern (Sunday 10).
And then there’s a leap into the unknown at Canteen on Sunday afternoon (10) with Orchestra Élastique, a London-based improvisation collective whose name reflects both their membership and their music. Their core is a multi-instrumental sextet combining unexpected sounds from theremin, delta harp and musical toys with more conventional instruments into a spontaneously improvised soundscape. Think an ambient extension of The Necks and you might be in the zone for this lot.
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