Music / Jazz
The week in Jazz April 16-22
It’s a mighty week for musical free-thinkers, even for Bristol’s vigorous improvised music scene, with four of the UK’s greatest improv jazz heroes coming to town. This is partly thanks to the Bristol New Music festival (various venues, Friday 20 – Sunday 22) whose splendidly varied programme of musical mavericks includes the great saxophonist Evan Parker’s Trance Map (Arnolfini, Friday 20) and a Keith Tippett double bill (Colston Hall, Sat 21) featuring the Keith Tippett Octet as well as his improvising piano duo with sparky youngster Matthew Bourne. The latter event is particularly significant as an opportunity to celebrate Keith’s return to performance after an alarming health scare earlier in the year, and it showcases both his compositional mastery and his unrivalled skills as an interactive creator of improvised music.
Evan Parker and Matt Wright consult the map
Trance Map is a typically groundbreaking project from Evan Parker, the original founding duo with electronics whizz Matt Wright now enlarged to a trio by Halftone cellist Hannah Marshall. Parker and Wright’s 2011 debut album was an intensely droning weave of sound samples and live playing that more than lived up to the project’s name.
Paul Dunmall
The fourth big name from the free jazz world (alongside Messrs Tippett, Bourne and Parker) is the mighty Paul Dunmall, for many years a member of Mujician alongside Keith Tippett and before that part of 80s Bristol legends Spirit Level with drummer Tony Orrell who rejoined Paul and the multi-instrumental Percy Pursglove to make up the Paul Dunmall Trio (Fringe, Wednesday 18). Though Mr Dunmall no longer lives in the city this is very much a Bristol-based project as it was formed for a gig at the Fringe in 2016 and this latest event is the launch of a live CD recorded at the club last September.
is needed now More than ever
And there’s plenty more boundary-busting music on offer as well, including the Fringe’s monthly free jazz night which features Konik, a trio of familiar faces under a new name, while the ever-busy Harry ‘Iceman’ Furniss crops up twice: first in his own quintet supporting Promiscuous Bugse at HyBrasil (Tuesday 17) and then as promoter for Italian experimentalists Mechanical Tales headlining a fine and strange bill at the Old England (Wednesday 18). The New Music fest has another couple of treats on Saturday in a rare outing for the electro-acoustic experience BULO (aka Bristol University Loudspeaker Orchestra) at the Victoria Rooms while revered Berlin electronic duo Fathom play in The Cube. Finally, fearless sax wielder Rebecca Sneddon will lead an improvisatory alternative to Sunday lunch at The Exchange (Sunday 22).
Hot jazz – Stefan Zeniuk demonstrates the Flameophone
Happily for those less inclined to the avant garde there’s interesting stuff of a less radical nature on offer, too, such as the guest visit of New York sax player (and notorious Flameophonist) Stefan Zenuik’s Green Mambo Latin-lounge project to the Canteen Jazz Session (Monday 16) or the Andy Christie Trio’s cinematic piano jazz at the same venue on Wednesday (18). Bath-based pianist Mike Collins strips down his original contemporary jazz to a duo context with excellent bass player Ashley John Long to squeeze into the intimate El Rincon (Thursday 19) while the threesome of Hopkins Hammond Hammond (Bebop, Friday 20) brings guitarist Matt Hopkins together with Ruth Hammond’s keyboards and Scott Hammond’s drumming for some grooving contemporary tunes from John Scofield, Larry Goldings and their ilk.
Dan Waldman
On Saturday (21) the Attic bar hosts this year’s Spring Ting Festival, a lively all-dayer put together by the tireless JazzFunkSoul Bristol in aid of Bristol homeless charity See Change and featuring, among others, the upbeat Hammond organ of John-paul Gard: good jazz-related fun in an equally good cause. And, finally, Leftbank has the ever-adventurous Dan Waldman’s Beats 3io project on Friday (20). Though usually seen as a guitarist in bands like Duval Project Dan brings sax and bass to this beats-driven, JDilla inspired collaboration with Anders Olinder on keyboards and LBJB drummer Mig Andrews.
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