Music / Jazz
The week in Jazz May 28 – June 3
Tigran Hamasyan was barely 15 when he won his first prizes as a jazz pianist, an early success which led to his moving from Armenia to the US and the beginning of a remarkable international career. His music combines techniques from the classical and jazz heritage as well as being steeped in the distinctive Armenian music traditions, often working through elaborate variations of folk tunes. As a solo performer he holds your attention like few others and his return to St George’s (Sunday 3) will be eagerly awaited by anyone who saw his 2012 debut there.
Adam Betts having a laugh
Possible equally riveting, however, might be the visit of Adam Betts to the regular Waldo’s Gift session at Gallimaufry (Wednesday 30). As drummer for the fearlessly intense Three Trapped Tigers as well as Squarepusher’s Shobaleader One Adam straddles both prog-jazz and electronic dance music and his electro-acoustic Colossal Squid solo project is a feast of ideas and dazzling style.
Lee Goodall (far left) and Ben Thomas (far right)
Not everyone plays solo, of course, and there’s an excellent pairing at the front of the Ben Thomas & Lee Goodall Quintet (Bebop Club, Friday 1). Saxophonist Lee has been seen alongside pianist Mike Collins but has a longstanding partnership with trumpeter Ben, whose contemporary compositions the quintet play. A past trip to The Fringe which also featured Jim Blomfield on piano and Pasquale Votino’s bass was a fine display of light touch improvisation and carefully constructed moods. The band is completed by drummer Roberto Nappi.
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Sophie Stockham
With the continuing success of Dakhla Brass and her band Sefrial it has been good to see alto saxophonist Sophie Stockham experimenting with a variety of duos and trio settings. She visits the Tobacco Factory (Sunday 3) with infinitely versatile guitarist Denny Ilett for an exploration of jazz standards and the chance to stretch out and play. There’s a similar mood about Andy Hague’s Double Standards quartet, which – as the name implies – takes some less over-used classic jazz numbers for an airing with Jim Blomfield’s piano a long-established foil for Andy’s trumpet.
Dali de Saint Paul fronting Ep/64
The beautifully named Improv’s Greatest Hits session returns to the Old England (Tuesday 29) with some predictably wild improvisation including Ava Osbiston’s loopscapes, a headline from ‘bonsai sound sculpture’ outfit Ens Ekt and the irrepressible vocalist Dali de Saint Paul with Ep/64. That’s followed by the Sound Cupboard triple-bill at Crofter’s Rights (Wednesday 29) which features ‘psychosexual tape slinging’ from Bad Tracking and is in turn followed by Unity Trio headlining an improvisational night at The Exchange (Thursday 31). Unity’s Paul Anstey and Mark Langford then join drummer Roger Telford as Alt Trio for the Exchange’s Sunday matinee of free music (Sunday 3).
French folk-jazzers Djaami
It’s always worth keeping an eye on El Rincon and this week Southville’s tiniest venue has a couple of intriguingly contrasting acts, namely lively French folk-jazzers Djaami (Thursday 31) and atmospheric electronicists LONA (Friday 1). The latter is the work of Bristol brothers Lorcan and Naoise Thompson and you can hear their hometown clearly in the mix of rhythmic surprise, grounded bass and a slightly doom-laden turn of melody.
And, finally, this week’s “Is it jazz? Does it matter?” event is the visit of Jamaican/American multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Micah Davis aka Masego to Trinity (Saturday 2). Much associated with Jazzy Jeff, Masego calls his style TrapHouseJazz, a cool fusion of hip-hop, jazz and bass-driven dance music delivered (by all accounts) with engaging energy.
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