Tag: jazz swing

Pig Hill No More! Swindon’s Fantastic Jazz & Soul Festival

If a rare journey to Swindon usually lands me in the Vic or Beehive, today things were going to be different. A lack of beer tap options was made up, tenfold, by outstanding acoustics of a nineteenth century church, a second stage in the accompanying community centre, an impressive all-day selection of jazz and African music, a delicious Jamaican food stall, and a unique and upfront experience locally with happy hospitality; welcome to the second day of Swindon Jazz & Soul Festival….I took my favourite jazzy hat, but left it the car!

Having been listing the regular club events of Jazz Knights at Swindon’s Royal Oak, generally on Tuesday evenings, for a while on our event calendar, it was high time I poked my nose in, and their annual jazz and soul festival at Old Town’s Christ Church was the ideal opportunity. It’s in its fourth year, folk there told me it’s become an unmissable annual attraction.

Arriving a day late, Friday concentrated on the soul element, climaxing with a Stevie Wonder tribute; would’ve enjoyed this but duty called. Saturday, I’m informed, is all about jazz; I’m somewhat in the dark with jazz hands and technicalities, but more than okay with that. Also, though, the community centre adjacent offers various styles and interpretations of African music; double-whammy.

The initial impressive element hits you before entry, the place is amazeballs. And once in, the acoustics in this colossal spire church are stupendous. This was supplied, at the time, by Cheltenham’s leading saxophonist and composer Kim Cypher, with the archetypal red beret and overwhelming quartet; nice hat, see?!

If jazz in its heyday was considered outrageous and one wouldn’t find it in a church, times change, clearly; all the pews accounted for by large age and ethnic demographics, all taking in the beautiful sounds of traditional jazz, in harmony, with a hint of red wine, said equally as much as the once popular Marlborough Jazz Festival. But I must check the community centre too, as Two-Man-Ting are already playing, and I know and love these guys, from them having played the trusty Southgate back in Devizes.

This Bristol-based duo consisting of English guitarist Jon Lewis, who has a clear penchant for Two-Tone and punk inclinations of yore, and Jah-man Aggrey, a Sierra Leonean percussionist, make for an amazingly unique sound with wonderful audience participation. They made it obvious, as a world music lover, this mini-Womad is going to be my preferred base for the day; found myself a comfy chair.

With an African fusion dance workshop with Morilie Taiwo of Dance Roots Africa in the centre, my two left feet sought the Jamaica Me Crazy stall to fill my soul food appreciation, which they did, mouth-wateringly. And between acts I sauntered from there to the main stage. Though my knowledge of jazz can be written on a matchbox, I know what I like. Bristol’s The Ibou Tall Jazzmates are causing an incredible sound, contemporary yet bebop, like Charlie Parker… to my untrained ear!

When I did drop back to the centre, a crazy-haired saxophonist was wandering through dancing crowds, and I guessed this must be Rhythm Of Africa, an experimentally yet entertaining, and often comical trio, exceptionally skilled in creating a beguiling sound through just djembe drum, guitar and balafon, the latter taken up by said saxophonist.

Things were more traditional jazz in the church, with the aptly named It’s Trad Dad, a passionate orchestra of accomplished musicians. All very conventional, tad swing, and delivered with an astute passion you couldn’t ignore. Here is what I was expecting to see, I got it with bells on, anything else was a bonus ball.

The crème de la crème of The African music showcase, Suntou Susso made my night, though; a bonus ball indeed. Half Gambian half Senegalese, Suntou Susso introduced the audience to his instrument of choice, the Kora. It’s a lute-harp multi-string instrument made from cow skin covered pumpkin, with a mahogany bridge, and he truly is a virtuoso of it. I’ve heard this instrument before, through an old cassette of Dembo Konte and Kausu Kuyateh, but I’ve never seen it played. To add to the already sublime ambience, Suntou completes this enchanting effect with a full funky backing band, proficiently tight and uniformed. It was, in short, a jaw-dropping awe moment.

I arrived at Swindon Jazz & Soul Festival concerned it might all be rather insular, born from a regular jazz club in a town erroneously preconceived to be cultureless, hence leaving my jazzy hat in the car! Figuring it’s akin to Mickey Mouse ears at Disneyland, or an I ‘heart’ NY in New York, isn’t it? Jazzy hat might suggest I’m desperately trying to conform, when really, I look like a twat in it; it can stay on the backseat, I didn’t need a cliché to fit in!

To consider if Oxford has its university and Bath has its Roman Baths, Swindon has its Magic Roundabout, is picky, you know this, and think of Spitfires, Doris Day, Edith New and the GWR; I believe anyone in a nearby town critical of Swindon has infrastructure jealousy issues! Still, I pondered that I shouldn’t expect miracles. I left feeling precisely the opposite. This comfy, quirky and buoyant mini-festival was certainly communal, but friendly and welcoming, and what’s more, the musical professionalism was of top quality. The hat wouldn’t have ruined the effect after all; it was as unpretentious as you’d want a jazz festival to be; bloomin’ marvellous!

Let me be the Melinda Messenger in your Billie Pipeline, local jazz aficionados take note, Jazz Knights is well worth trekking to Swindon for, and any and everyone looking for a unique and sincere music appreciation festival should bookmark next year’s Swindon Jazz & Soul Festival; I had fun there, my hat didn’t!

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Introducing, Chai For All

Introducing Bristol jazzy Yiddish folk ensemble, Chai For All, who’ve got me reminiscing about how, pre-internet, we used to find new musical genres, much least, we tried!

Remember when record shops presented products alphabetically yet had separate sections for the more, shall we say, unusual genres? You know, for the peculiar customers?! Masses of rock and pop spread across the store, yet it was a quest to find tiny sections of blues, or reggae, even lesser so for jazz, and microscopes were essential to locate the “World Music” section. The remainder of the entire planet’s music stuffed into a five-inch gap and shoved carelessly in the corner with the worst dry rot!

Dare you even browse there, through fear of someone you know sauntering in and questioning your activities? Resistance is futile; conform to pop culture or be ridiculed!

Even Paul Simon’s attempts to make world music “cool” was unsustainable. Therefore, I’d sneak into the public library whereby I could hire cassettes from around the world, and that was my introduction to music from outside pop confounds; my DIY Womad! Praise the internet, where now you can virtually trek the earth, privately browsing and obtaining more information than sleeve notes could’ve ever provided.

But the net has drawbacks. This week some over-zealous nutjob blocked me on Twitter for calling a band “misfits,” when by dictionary definition they’re darn close, and it was far from the “hate speech,” of which they accused me. Meanwhile, I was listening to Chai For All, because I crave the unusual, consider the status quo often tedious, and besides, in my honest opinion, the word misfit was used as a term of endearment, even the band themselves approved; it’s good to be different.

Chai For All, chai being Hebrew for ‘life,’ are a Bristol-based multinational, multilingual ensemble, touring middle eastern and Jewish music sets, and music and spoken word performances both nationally and internationally. Through a tinge of jazz, they breath fresh air into Yiddish song, klezmer and middle eastern music. It’s about as far reached from aforementioned pop confounds as possible, and I love it for that very reason.

Can I even say Yiddish, if I can’t say misfit?! I’m certain someone somewhere will pull me up on it despite, aptly, it’s what the band use to describe their sound. You can’t please everyone; I’ve never felt the need to use the twisted trending word “woke” before, and refuse to start now!

© Claudio Ahlers

Exploration of burgeoning Balkan ska has prepped my ears for this sound, UK groups like Mr Tea & The Minions, The Boot Hill All Stars and the Bomo-Sapiens, inspired by the inclination yet fusing anything from West Country folk to Bavarian Oompah Bands into the melting pot. I don’t profess to be all-knowledgeable on the subject, but I know what I like.

Like, because it glides you to another place, or another time; good music transcends barriers, rather than pop blasé raising them. As a restaurant’s background music embraces its cuisine and creates a fitting ambiance, the emotive middle-eastern folk and powerful Yiddish song of Chai for Life’s repertoire transports you to lands afar. You can visualise rising synagogues above sandy market places bustling with Kaftan-robed, camel escorting, traders when they play their accomplished and wholly entertaining old ballads of soulful, yearning and rousing dance tunes.

© Gina Tratt at Vanilla Visuals 

Never has it been more appropriate to recite the phrase “also available for weddings or bar mitzvahs,” as Chai for All concerts celebrate the rich Yiddish song and klezmer wedding and dance traditions. Its two most recent music and storytelling shows explored the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which led to the creation of the State of Israel, the Palestinians’ loss of their homeland and the unleashing of one of the bitterest conflicts of modern times. Weaving together Jewish, Palestinian and British stories, this is a riveting study of the complexities of history. Such is the subject of their album Longing, Belonging & Balfour, available to download on their website.

Yet singer Marianna Moralis is keen to point out to me this past storytelling album project is not really representative of their upbeat Yiddish set, combining swing, which they perform at gigs, and that’s right up my beer-spilling street.

Overall, and to conclude, their beautiful sound is a magnificent musical journey from the haunted Eastern European shtetls, through the dimly-lit basement bars of tango-crazed Buenos Aires, to the vibrant neighbourhoods of swinging New York. Coupled with tongue-in-cheek banter and audience rapport, you have to admit, around these parts, it’s something completely different, and, I think, would suit a small-town arts festival…. this isn’t Prague or Warsaw, least last time I checked.

Unless, of course, you can locally think of another example of a music and spoken word performance, illuminating the many personal acts of Palestinian rebellion against Israeli repression, from reviving native seed stocks to preserving and promoting traditional music?

No, I thought not!

You can find Chai For All performing at:

 — Chai For All at the INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY celebrationThe Grapes, Bath BA1 1EQ
 — Mazl & Brokhe: Yiddish SongThe Hare on the Hill, Bristol BS2 8LX
 — Mazl & Brokhe: Yiddish SongNew Inn, Bath BA1 2AY

Find them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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