Jazz musician Chris Ingham and folk musician Chris Wilbraham cast their expert eyes over the local music scene
JAZZ with Chris Ingham: cjr.ingham@outlook.com/chrisingham.co.uk
Sunday, August 4
PAUL HIGGS’ PAVANE/TIM GARLAND & JASON REBELLO (Chelmsford Cathdral, 6.30pm, £30-£40, chelmsfordcathedral.org.uk/events) Writtle Jazz present a fundraiser for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and Parkinson’s UK with the unique classical/jazz crossover project Pavane, led by trumpeter/composer Paul Higgs and featuring cellist Natalie Rozario, plus a world-class duo performance with saxophonist Tim Garland and pianist Jason Rebello in the awe-inspiring surroundings of Chelmsford cathedral.
FOR THE DIARY
Sunday, August 11
CHRIS INGHAM QUARTET - GETZ: A MUSICAL PORTRAIT (Venue 16, Ipswich, 2.30pm, £15, ipswichjazzandblues.com) Fresh from their sell-out appearance at Ronnie Scott’s, the quartet’s show is a career-wide salute to the varied and delightful output of saxophonist Stan Getz featuring master reedsman Mark Crooks plus Chris Ingham (piano), Joe Pettitt (bass) and George Double (drums).
Tuesday, August 13
ALAN BARNES/DAVE NEWTON (Maddermarket Theatre Bar, Norwich, 8pm, £16/£8 u25, norwichjazzclub.co.uk) Long-established saxophone/piano duo, specialising in spontaneous, inspired treatments of favourite standards, replete with musical synergy and wit. Featuring cuts from their latest album ‘Tis Autumn.
Wednesday, August 14
ODDGEIR BERG TRIO (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £20, fleecejazz.org.uk, 01787 211865) Nordic electro-acoustic jazz in the Esbjorn Svensson/Tord Gustavson direction ie, moody, atmospheric and haunting - featuring Oddgeir Berg (piano), Audun Ramo (bass) and Lars Berntsen (drums).
Friday, August 23
STEELY JAZZ (Hunter Club, Bury, 7.30pm, £20, headhunterslive.org, 07799 650009, *WAITING LIST*) A fresh look at the songs of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, aka Steely Dan, lovingly arranged for jazz quintet. With Chris Ingham (piano/vocal), Harry Greene (sax/guitar), Paul Higgs (trumpet), Geoff Gascoyne (bass) and George Double (drums).
Wednesday, August 28
TONY KOFI & THE ORGANISATION (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £20, 01787 211865, fleecejazz.org.uk) A selection of hard-hitting tunes in the blues, jazz and funk idioms with award-winning saxophonist Kofi, plus Liam Dunachie (organ), Simon Fernsby (guitar) and Pete Cater (drums).
Sunday, September 8
BLUE TOWN TRIO (Venue 16, Ipswich, 2.30pm, £15, ipswichjazzandblues.com) Grooving standards with a blues tinge fronted by Zoe Francis (vocals) with the legendary Jim Mullen (guitar) and ever-resourceful Ross Stanley (organ).
Wednesday, September 11
VISILIS XENOPOULOS/PAUL EDIS QUARTET (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £20, 01787 211865, fleecejazz.org.uk) Classy group co-led by Greek tenorist Xenopoulos and British pianist, the quartet specialise in eclectic, groove-based, melodic sounds blending hard bop, Latin jazz, gospel and even folk. With John Williamson (bass) and Billy Pod (drums).
Friday, September 13
FLANAGAN (Diss Corn Hall, 7.30pm, £18, thecornhall.co.uk, 01379 652241) Mark Flanagan is a blues guitarist who has played with Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra since 1988. Tonight he fronts his acclaimed blues/folk/roots trio Flanagan spotlighting his own heartfelt original songs and featuring Adam Double (bass) and George Double (drums).
Friday, September 27
ART THEMEN (Hunter Club, Bury, 7.30pm, £18, headhunterslive.org, 07799 650009) Long-awaited return to Bury St Edmunds of the indestructible and legendary tenor saxophonist Art Themen with Chris Ingham (piano), Malcolm Creese (bass) and George Double (drums).
FOLK with Chris Wilbraham: chris.wilbraham@tinyonline.co.uk
My musical adventures continued last week as I travelled to Wembley to see Bruce Springsteen, and then to Scarborough to see James.
Bruce’s performance at Wembley was simply epic. He played a 33-song set that lasted over three hours, barely leaving the stage even before an encore that included a blistering performance of Born to Run. The love for him in the stadium was palpable. The audience almost drowned out the band singing back to him word perfect, sometimes for songs I barely knew. He joyfully reflected this love onto his band, with each member getting time in the spotlight, and back onto his audience, which he frequently got close to. . . on one occasion facilitating an engagement when he saw a sign saying: “My boyfriend will propose to me if you give him your harmonica.” We’ll never know if that’s a good start to a marriage, but at least they’re over the start line now!
Some might wonder what a review of a Bruce Springsteen gig is doing in this folk column, but I would argue that his songs about the working lives, desires and disappointments of normal people are pertinent, even if they are often delivered by a huge band, packed with lifetime colleagues and massive talent that even the main stage at Cambridge Folk Festival would struggle to accommodate.
If you doubt me, read the lyrics of Youngstown, a song he played from the album The Ghost of Tom Joad, which gives a steelworker’s point of view of the rise and fall of the fortunes of the town’s foundries. They forged cannon balls for the Civil War and provided steel for tanks and bombs through the 20th century before being closed down in the 1970s, leaving thousands without work. If that’s not enough, check out the album Nebraska, a series of recordings so simple that Bruce would be able to recreate them in your living room, armed only with his guitar and harmonica.
He is candid about the irony of his status as the musical voice of blue collar working people and their yearning to get away from their industrial surroundings. He has confessed to not having done a “real” day’s work in his life and lives within a mile of his childhood New Jersey home. I can, however, tell you that he put in a heroic shift on Thursday night.
And if there are still folky doubters out there, I witnessed a violin and a piano accordion on stage and can email a photograph of Little Steven, Springsteen’s guitar wielding side man for over 50 years, playing a mandolin if required.
James, performing in a relatively compact outdoor venue in Scarborough, were less folky, although a violin did make it on stage and their parting shot was a version of Laid that began with a simple acoustic arrangement which my folk duo might have played, before bursting into a full band wall of sound that delighted a devoted word perfect crowd, who had already sang Sit Down with the band barely having to play or sing a note.
Here are some local gigs that are definitely mostly folky:
Friday, August 2
Beer Café, Bury St Edmunds, 2pm, An Afternoon of Folk/Acoustic Music.
The Walnut, Stowmarket, 8.30pm, The Larks.
Wednesday, August 7
Risbygate Sports Club, Bury St Edmunds, 8pm, Bury Folk Collective Contemporary Night: Stuart and Derek, Peter and Jane, Robin Torbitt, East Coast Collective, Hipidi, The Larks. £2.
John Peel Centre, Stowmarket, 7.30pm, Liz Jones, £5 in advance.
The Bell Hotel, Thetford, 7.30pm, Open Music House, all welcome.
Banham Barrel, 8pm, Later with James Veira.
