The Cheltenham Jazz Festival has always had a wide mix of styles, from big name Americans, to jazz influenced pop artists to soul singers. Alongside all those the Parabola Arts Centre (PAC) is a longstanding part of the festival that offers a more adventurous style of jazz.
FRIDAY
Photo credit John Watson/ jazzcamera.co.uk
This year the Friday was a bit more conventional than usual. It opened with a Blue Note influenced set from The Banger Factory led by some sparkling trumpet from Mark Kavuma to a packed venue.
This was then followed by the vocal trio Flight Call with a set of Great American Songbook and scat singing. (this is covered in separate post by John Watson)
SATURDAY
Saturday started with the regular student exchange project – this year involving students from Birmingham, Siena and Hamburg (see separate review by Peter Slavid)
This was followed by the mesmerising duo Musho – Alexander Hawkins and Sofia Jernberg. Hawkins’ percussive piano combining brilliantly with Jernberg’s soaring multi-octave voice and sounds. My personal favourite of the 11 gigs I attended this year
Next came Brown Penny – the new band led by Cassie Kinoshi. With heavy rock rhythms fronted by two alto saxes and vibes this was powerful and dramatic stuff.
This was followed by the discovery of the weekend. Marco Mezquida is a pianist from Minorca who is little known over here. He played the tunes from his album Tornado which is very aptly named. Mezquida plays the whole piano pulverising the keyboard, strumming and plucking the strings inside, plus a small finger cymbal tree and few other percussion devices. With Masa Kamaguchi on bass and Ramon Prats on drums, this is a band we should definitely be hearing more of.
Saturday finished off with the massive Daniel Casimir big band. Unfortunately when you put together a band with over 20 of the UK’s finest young soloists, none of them gets more than one or two solos, so I was left wanting more.
SUNDAY
As a fan of James Baldwin’s writing I was interested to see the NYJO project The Fire Inside. This used recordings of Baldwin’s own voice as the starting point for songs and music arranged by Peter Edwards. There was a bluesy and gospel feel to some of the music making an enjoyable Sunday lunchtime gig.
Next up was young trumpeter Poppy Daniels. She has a terrific technique, but was a bit overwhelmed by thunderous drumming and heavy rock beats and this might have been better in one of the standing venues.
This was followed by Byron Wallen’s Hurricane Bells, a special commission built around five bells created in the shape of hurricane Katrina. The sounds of New Orleans were never far from the surface in this music (Jon Turney’s review published separately)
Photo copyright John Watson/jazzcamera.co.uk
The final gig of the evening was the special commission from Tony Dudley Evans, until recently the PAC programmer. This year Tony had selected the Olivia Murphy Orchestra. This was an absorbing hour called “Siren Cycle” an operatic performance of a poem based on an invented myth. Sirens, Sorceresses, Muses and Gods weave through the saga to deliver a unique composition.
Over the weekend the Parabola mini-festival under new programmer Alex Carr still retains its ability to take risks. Not all of them work, that’s impossible, but that’s how it manages to deliver the most interesting and exciting jazz anywhere in the festival. Long may it continue.
Peter Slavid broadcasts a programme of European Jazz on mixcloud.com/ukjazz and various internet stations and podcast sites
