There was an almost tangible air of excitement before last night’s concert by the Nikki Iles Jazz Orchestra at the Royal Northern College of Music as part of the 29th Manchester Jazz Festival.
The concert had originally been scheduled to be in the program of the 25th Jazz Festival in 2020, but the Pandemic took over, and in the end the festival took place as a purely online event. Instead Nikki did an interview and masterclass online explaining how her piece ‘Wild Oak’ had evolved. Now, four years later, after a few attempts in the intervening years, the concert was to actually take place.
Although now based down south, Nikki is well known and loved by North West Jazz fans and musicians as she spent many years playing gigs and teaching in the area when establishing her career. She has close links with the Manchester Jazz Festival and has appeared many times over the years with groups of various sizes so every appearance is somewhat of a homecoming. Most recently she played last year in a duo with Stan Sulzmann in the lovely setting of St Ann’s Church.
Going back to 1996 Nikki’s band was part of the first ever Manchester Jazz Festival. Other members of her band on that occasion included Mike Walker and Andy Schofield, both in the band last night.At that time as well as playing in her band they were all members of the Creative Jazz Orchestra. That band worked with likes of Kenny Wheeler, Mike Gibbs, Vince Mendoza and Anthony Braxton. The band provided great opportunities for members to work with these great figures of the music.
That very first Jazz Festival was due to take place on 15 June, but then the IRA bomb went off which meant that the festival finally took place in the August, and as a one day event. The saying goes that from tiny acorns do mighty oaks grow and this applies to Manchester Jazz Festival.
So, in its present form, the festival now runs for 10 days with Jazz music taking place all over the city. The launch this year featured a welcome speech from Mayor Andy Burnham, who talked about how important music is, and that it shouldn’t be marginalised. He also gave the news that Manchester will be setting up a music export office so that musicians from the city and the region can get out to a wider audience abroad, and set about combating the marginalising effects of Brexit.
The personnel in Nikki’s Jazz orchestra are very diverse in age from Henry Lowther well into his 80s, a legend of British Jazz to Harry Maund who only recently left music college. The band reflects many different facets of the British Jazz scene. A few of the members of the band: Andy Schofield, Julian Siegel and Gareth Lockrane are big band directors in their own right.
The concert was an opportunity for Karen Sharp the band’s baritone sax and bass clarinet player to return to the RNCM where she studied Composition back in the 1990s.
An nice addition to the Jazz Orchestra for this Manchester concert was Dave Hassell, veteran drum and percussion guru. Dave is a well known expert on Latin American percussion and has run the band Apitos for 40 years. He is a well respected teacher who has taught at most music colleges in the U.K. at some point, as well as teaching private students and has played on many sessions and in all kinds of bands including those of Tony Christie and John Cooper Clarke.
The program consisted of a variety of material with some of the charts having been written perhaps as long as 10 years ago as well as some more recent pieces. A large number of the pieces are on the album ‘Face to Face’ which Nikki recently recorded with the NDR Big Band from Hamburg as part of her role as Composer In Residence.
Nikki’s influences are wide, from Kenny Wheeler, Jim McNeely, Bob Brookmeyer, Vince Mendoza and Thad Jones to Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers and other more Pop related artists. There’s also a folky lilt to some pieces and some more Classical type sounds. Woodwind doubling is key to her sound with flutes and clarinets being frequently used by the saxophone section. As a former saxophonist and clarinettist she knows how these instruments work together and I’m sure this contributes to the sounds that she creates. She definitely now has her own voice as a writer and arranger.
The concert started with ‘Wild Oak’ dedicated to the pianist Geri Allen, one of Nikki’s favourite players and originally commissioned by NYJO. This featured solos by Tori Freestone, Andy Schofield and Mike Walker. An older piece ‘Gray Is The Morning’ was written about Steve Gray the pianist-arranger. This had solos by Gareth Lockrane, Paul Jones and Harry Maund.
The ballad ‘Face to Face’ was written to feature the flugelhorn playing of Henry Lowther which he played with an achingly beautiful tone after Nikki’s reflective piano introduction showing her distinctive touch . This was the most moving part of the concert with the performance being dedicated to a Gerry and Carol, a local couple of stalwart Jazz fans. Carol has sadly recently passed away. Other pieces in the first half were ‘The Caged Bird’, a piece written during lockdown and ‘Misfits’ a rousing piece consisting of ill fitting musical intervals.
Amongst pieces in the second half was ‘Red Ellen’ which had originally been commissioned by Tim Garland for his Northern Underground Orchestra. The Red Ellen the piece is about is Ellen Wilkinson who was an MP and political activist in the days of the Jarrow marches. This piece has a great funky groove with bass, drums, percussion and guitar all interlocking. Each solo has an amazing altered chord as a send off played by the brass. Nikki had described this in the past to me as “a Thad type bluesy everything in send off !”. Miguel Gorodi and Mike Walker both featured as soloists on this.
A new piece ‘Home At Last’ was the last piece before the encore. This featured Mark Nightingale and Andy Schofield. The name of this reflected the homecoming nature of the concert.
‘Big Sky’ a piece written to evoke the skies of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire concluded the concert and this featured Mark Nightingale.
Worthy of note was the excellent sound by Paul Sparrow. Every instrument could be heard clearly when soloing and in context with the overall ensemble. In the past in the same venue the sound hasn’t always been so good but it’s something that tends to be taken for granted.
In summary, a great night of contemporary big band music with fabulous original compositions played by some of the best Jazz players in the country.
Band Line-up
Nikki Iles piano
Mike Walker guitar
Steve Watts bass
Ian Thomas drums
Dave Hassell percussion
Trumpets: Noel Langley, James Copus, Henry Lowther, Miguel Gorodi
Saxes: Andy Schofield alto/sop/flute, Julian Siegel tenor/clari, Tori Freestone tenor/flute, Paul Jones alto/sop/flute, Karen Sharp baritone, bass clarinet, Gareth Lockrane flute/alto flute/bass flute/piccolo
Trombones: Mark Nightingale, Harry Maund, Olli Martin, Richard Henry
