Bassist Cameron Saint was in the band for a major celebration of Iain Ballamy’s 60th year, held at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama last weekend. He tells the story…
Iain Ballamy, at the forefront of British Jazz since the 80s, has been a tutor on the Jazz Course at RWCMD since its inception. And the College celebrated his career in style with a concert of his music arranged for Jazz Orchestra to mark his 60th birthday.
When the scores arrived, it was clear the gig was going to be special. The music was mostly from Iain’s early career, in arrangements by Malcom Edmonstone, and when we had our first play-through with Iain, everything slotted neatly into place. His pieces, highlighting quite spiritual and thoughtfully composed music, sounded lush and full of life.
The audience was captivated. When we opened with ‘Chantries’ on the gig, a lull fell over the concert hall and did not lift until the that piece’s reprise at the very end. Iain, throughout, breathed life into everything, commanding a whole jazz orchestra, pushing the melodies around and taking awe-inspiring solos. At one point Iain moved closer the to piano for an intimate introductory duet with Will Pearce on ‘Emmaline’. Their duet wove through the song, ebbing and flowing, building and diffusing tension right until the band and vocalists came in: a beautiful moment.
Another came when we cut down to a quartet for Ballamy favourite ‘Strawberries’, featuring Nick Davydenko on guitar, myself on bass and Izzy Nichols on drums. Iain took a playful solo intro before the band kicked up for a twenties ‘Freddie Green’ take of this tune.
This concert was a brilliant nod to Iain and an honour and privilege to be part of. It was a fitting opener for the RWCMD Big Jazz Weekend, which also featured the Tim Garland Lighthouse Trio and his Underground Orchestra.
With thanks to Andrew Bain
Iain Ballamy’s duo album with pianist Gareth Williams, “Green in Blue”, will be released in 2025 on the Babel label.
BAND LIST:
Trumpets: Tom Evans (lead); James Garland; Ethan Murray; Alex Linton; Daisy Starnes
Trombones: Callum Parkes; Emily Collet; Liam Belford; Gwen Howe
Saxes/flute: Daisy Anderson (fl); Rhys Ponting;Tommy Lawther; Alex Bingham; Sofiia Bilovil; Josh Green
Piano: Will Pearce
Guitar: Nick Davydenko
Bass: Cameron Saint
Drums: Izzy Nicholls
Percussion: Giorgio Fabrizio
Jazz Choir
Jennie Beard; Zara Britain; Shi Chen; Isla Croll; Anu Phadke; Kat Rees
FULL SET LIST WITH IAIN BALLAMY’S PROGRAMME NOTES
Chantries
Along the ancient route known as the Pilgrims Way, which runs between Canterbury and Winchester, is a place near Guildford known as the Chantries. This is near the river Wey, not far from where I grew up.
Wind through trees that whisper songs of voices past
Bracken chalk and flint
Outline an ancient path
From St Martha’s Church and onwards to St Catherine’s spring
Pilgrims pause to drink the holy water from the stream
Through the chantries
You can hear them
Sing this song that
Takes you there too
(words by Iain Ballamy)
All Men Amen
This is the title track from my second album (c.1992). It has a hymn-like quality, reflecting my early musical influences rooted in church music. It begins with a sombre looping chantlike introduction, out of which comes a big melody played with unbridled expression. The title itself is word play and a call for humanity and equality.
Serendipity
The opening motif to this piece was discovered quite by chance hence the title. There is something about this piece that in my mind evokes the music and personality of Sir John Dankworth. It also resonates strongly with my life-long passion for metal detecting where everything is somehow a lucky chance discovery.
Emmeline
A love song from An Ape’s Progress, a large piece co-commissioned by the Manchester Jazz and Literature Festivals in 2015. This song is about the forlorn love felt by a monkey who has developed a crush on the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. He wishes he could travel back in time on a bus to Moss Side and meet her for tea to talk about her life, but realises it is a foolish dream that can never be…
Emmeline, Emmeline, you were some lady
I took the bus to Moss Side but you were gone.
I looked for a bus that could take me back to 1903
But it didn’t run anymore
I wondered if we might meet for coffee
To talk about the things you’ve seen and done
Oh we could pass the time of day so well!
But it’s just a silly dream, never mind
I just want you to know that if we could have met
I know that I would fall in love with
You you you you you
(Words taken from a poem by Matthew Sweeney)
Cockles & Mussels
Also known as ‘Molly Malone’ this lovely and seemingly now rarely heard folk song is sometimes called the unofficial anthem of Dublin city. Again, the arrangement of the piece has stretched and deviates greatly from the original, with odd bar lengths altering the scan and phrasing and interesting re-harmonisations throughout. This is a song I always wanted to play!
Lavender eyes
An unashamedly calm and romantic piece and word play inspired by the way dogs sometimes look at their owners with “love in their eyes”
Tamil Devotional Song (Varkala)and The Chant
These are two personal interpretations of the Tamil devotional chants I heard drifting through the woods late at night whilst in Kerala, South India, during festival season in Varkala. Varkala, the opening folk song, is introduced by the choir and becomes increasingly uplifting as the music grows. The Chant, in contrast, has a mesmeric effect as the bar lengths gradually decrease and the pace quickens, with the repeated motif building to a climax with more horns added and rising energy to a peak before trailing away.
Strawberries
I wrote this in summer 1985 at Guildford lido!, this is a very flexible and lyrical piece, full of joy and playful harmony. It was supposed to be part of a soft fruit suite, as yet not written…
Floater
This melody was written in Oslo in 2000. As I walked through the city late at night this song started playing in my head so strongly that I wondered if it had been simply floating in the air for centuries just waiting for anyone who could tune into it to hear and enjoy.
It is like a folk song – timeless, simple and hard to forget once heard.
Not In The Mood
The only thing this piece has in common with Glen Miller’s classic is a repetitive looping phrase at the beginning. The rest of the piece is a tipping of the hat to one of my favourite musicians and composers of all time – Hermeto Pascoal – the great Brazilian multi-instrumentalist. There are some tricky melody passages and groovy blowing in this piece, which sums up everything I love about Hermeto’s music.
Chantries Reprise
