Music / Jazz
The week in Jazz May 14 – 20
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that some of our best locally-based jazz players are in fact widely recognised beyond the BS postcodes. Bass player Will Harris is one such – having spent time at the Royal Academy in London he’s involved in many projects including the excellent Matt Anderson Quartet which comes to the Future Inn this week (Thursday 17). Saxophonist Matt is an award winning young composer and player whose folk-flavoured style clearly shows strong influences from the Scandinavian branch of European jazz as well as bright hard-bop energy. The band includes pianist John Turville, sometimes seen around here with Will in Moonlight Savings Time, and drummer Mark Whitlam and the gig will showcase new album Rambling.
Julie Saury in swinging mode
Among many other musicians who seem to enjoy visiting the scene here, fans of the Bristol International Jazz & Blues Festival will know French drummer Julie Saury for her regular appearances since the festival’s inception. She has the kind of swing energy that gives any big band a lift but it was her 2018 small band set with Pee Wee Ellis that really showed her versatility so it should be great to catch her in festival programmer Denny Ilett’s guitar-led quartet at The Fringe (Wednesday 16).
Kansas Smitty Houseband with Dave Archer on guitar
Time was when guitarist Dave Archer was a very familiar face around these parts, too, but he’s well ensconced in The Big Smoke as part of the Kansas Smitty collective in Hackney. The house band for their eponymous club also figured large at both Bristol and Cheltenham jazz festivals this year so it’s no surprise they’re popping up at the Bath Festival, too (Komedia, Thursday 17). Other jazz-friendly festival Bath events include hot young Afro-jazz sextet Maisha, Indo-fusion conceptualist Talvin Singh and a fine sax and trumpet collaboration from Tony Kofi & Jonny Bruce. The festival’s annual feast of freebies Party In The City will be all over the place on Friday (18).
is needed now More than ever
Cryptic Italians – Father Murphy
Looking for stuff on the wilder side? There’s an unfortunate clash of gigs on Friday (18) when Cafe Kino hosts an experimental film and free music evening headlined by multimedia collective Viridian at the same time as the fearless Cacophonous Sarcophagus bring intense Italians Father Murphy to join Japanese sound artist Miki Yui and others in the atmospheric Church of St John the Baptist. Fans of guitarist Matthew Grigg (who features at Kino) can catch him again at The Exchange’s regular Sunday lunchtime free music session.
Os Mutantes – Tropicalia lives on!
More exotic musical references abound, with Tropicalia legends Os Mutantes tour coming to The Lantern (Friday 18). The original trio were a big part of the musical revolution that turned over Brazilian music in the 60s and their fusion of psychedelic excess and Latin rhythmic intelligence remains an influence today. Reggae-jazz fusioneers Dojo (Canteen, Saturday 19) are a much younger generation ploughing their own furrow with fine brass playing and catchy conscious songs, while reggae and African influences run throughout the return of Ujima Radio’s diverse Sisters With Voices showcase (St George’s, Sunday 20). Meanwhile the Cube rounds off a busy week for old hippies by reviving another vintage jazz-rock memory in A Gong Inspired Tribute (Saturday 19).
The unique-sounding Spindle Ensemble
Finally, two more gentle-sounding acoustic fusion projects offer a calm Sunday’s listening that starts at the Canteen afternoon session with the North African flavoured jazz of Mr Dowlands Midnight blending oud, guitar and saxophone in music equally inspired by European Early Music. There should be time after that to wander over to The Wardrobe for the evening gig by Spindle Ensemble whose unique sound blends elements of classical music with jazz and folk into hypnotic soundscapes.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
