http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/2011/index.php en alissa@oxfordjazzfestival.com Copyright 2012 2012-05-17T12:55:55+00:00 http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/departure_of_paul_jefferies/ http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/departure_of_paul_jefferies/#When:12:55:55Z “Change is always happening. That’s one of the wonderful things about Jazz Music,” Maynard Ferguson It is with sadness that we announce that founding partner Paul Jefferies will be resigning from his post as director of the Oxford Jazz Festival. Paul has contributed greatly to the growth and success of the Festival over the past four years, helping us to create an exciting and balanced programme of performances, and contributing to the overall structure and 'feel' of the festival. We wish Paul the best as he leaves to focus more on his musical performance career. He will be missed! Max Mason and Alissa Robinson, the remaining directors of the Oxford Jazz Festival, intend to keep things going! With continued creativity and innovation, it is our quest to grow Oxford’s most exciting festival, building on its increasing success. The Festival is due to return for the fifth year during the week of Easter 2013, which is the last week in March. Keep an eye on the website for official dates and announcements, which will be made over the coming months. Going forward, all contact regarding tech, sound, venues, and artist submissions should be sent to info@oxfordjazzfestival.com. We look forward to seeing you in 2013! -Max and Alissa General News 2012-05-17T12:55:55+00:00 http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_new_york_standards_quartet_oxjazz/ http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_new_york_standards_quartet_oxjazz/#When:06:29:23Z Michael Janisch and the New York Standards Quartet (Oxford Playhouse, part of Oxford Jazz Festival, 7th April 2012. Review by Alison Bentley for LondonJazz) The iconic Oxford Playhouse was home to several Jazz Festivals in the early 90s. This time the Jazz Festival (which receives no subsidy) co-hosted this extraordinary band with the theatre itself. Charlie Parker and the be-boppers wrote new tunes to the chord sequences of well-known popular songs. The New York Standards Quartet put new chord sequences behind the melodies of well-known jazz standards. Part of the pleasure was hearing fragments of the melodies emerging: the chords made perfect sense but took the melodies to unexpected places. Instead of using more conventional cadences, the music moved between tense modes and bright reassuring ones. From the start we were swept up by the breathtaking virtuosity of these musicians. How High the Moon was unusually in a minor mode, and I Love You moved from a funky 7/4 riff into David Berkman‘s beautiful piano solo, cushioned on effortless swing. The patterns of his solos were not just abstract but emotional too. In Blue in Green‘s dreamy mood and in Tim Armacost‘s sweet soprano solo, Herbie Hancock’s album River came to mind. Ornette Coleman’s Turnaround began with everyone playing the last 4 bars of the melody, overlapping and riffing freely in Prime Time-style, moving into a slowish blues that Tim Armacost later called an ‘adult tempo!’ Tim Armacost’s warm tenor tone here reminded me of Joe Henderson (and a hint of Phil Woods’ throatiness?) His solos were modal and chromatic , but with something of Sonny Rollins in the rhythm. Giant Steps shifted between 4/4 and 7/4, showing the amazing rapport between all the musicians . In Secret Love, the interplay between Michael Janisch‘s strong bass and Gene Jackson‘s drums was magical- when the shifting freeform grooves settled into swing, it was mesmerising. The bass solo was like a dramatic, rhythmic partita. Desafinado’s changing keys and Tim Armacost’s exquisite flute recalled Toninho Horta’s music. All the Things You Are and Summer Night had exciting polyrhythms from Gene Jackson’s drumming, erupting into driving drum rolls- we were in the presence of a master. The evening ended with a groovy gospel rock version of Old Folks recalling Keith Jarrett, with Tim Armacost playing bluesy growls. The band had charmed and engaged us all with their total focus on their art- and their sense of humour! It was a wonderful start to their major UK tour. Reviews & Wrap-Ups 2012-04-10T06:29:23+00:00 http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_cecilia_stalin_at_oxjazz/ http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_cecilia_stalin_at_oxjazz/#When:14:15:43Z Cecilia Stalin (Ashmolean Dining Room, Oxford, part of the Oxford Jazz Festival. 5th April 2012. Review by Catherine Marks for LondonJazz) Swedish jazz singer Cecilia Stalin practically glowed under the red lights in her red polka dot jumpsuit on Thursday evening in the Ashmolean’s Dining Room. Performing with a trio of Rod Youngs - drums, Esben Tjalve - piano and Ben Hazelton - double bass, Cecilia created a very intimate gig through her interactions with the band and her chatty musings in between songs with the audience. Stalin has impressive range and flexibility and timbre, from sustained vibrato to percussive almost beat boxing sounds. She was presenting her new album Step Like a Giant based on John Coltrane’s music, with her own lyrics, although admittting that the project felt like stepping on holy ground. She sang a beautiful version of ‘Naima’, with one of those wonderful bass lines that’s well on its way before you’re even realised it’s begun. And her version of ’Central Park West’ was perhaps one of the loveliest moments of the night for the band, with unhurried, brushed drum-strokes and seamless shifts between tonalities. Cecilia took her time, being confident enough to leave large pauses where they were needed. The very last song of the evening was based on Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps’, the title track of her latest release. Cecilia coaxed the Ashmolean audience to take part in singing along with the main theme slowed right down to a really easy-going pace. The melodic sequence didn’t come easily to us, but I know for a fact that I wasn’t the only one humming it all the way home. Reviews & Wrap-Ups 2012-04-09T14:15:43+00:00 http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_abram_wilson_at_oxjazz/ http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_abram_wilson_at_oxjazz/#When:14:12:43Z Abram Wilson (Randolph Hotel 6th April 2012, part of Oxford Jazz Festival. Review by Alison Bentley for LondonJazz) Trumpeter Abram Wilson brought a little bit of New Orleans to Oxfords’s very English Randolph Hotel. By the end of the show, the audience were on their feet cheering as Abram walked out still soloing and the band carried on playing the blues. In the foyer you could tell who’d been to the gig by the smiles on their faces. Abram had taken us through the life of mixed-race New Orleans piano prodigy and political journalist Philippa Duke Schuyler- his original tunes were linked together by the narrative. Different scenes from Philippa’s life inspired various moods, and the audience was drawn in to the story from the start. Some tunes expressed her childhood innocence and passion for life. Adventures in Black and White opened the set, with its modal chord sequence, propulsive bass and sensitive drum fills. Abram communicated warmly and passionately in both his narration and playing. The lyrical playing of fellow New Orleans trumpeter Terence Blanchard sprang to mind, and the bluesy keening and musical humour of Jack Walrath. Abrams plays like a singer, with beautiful phrasing that never loses the listener’s attention. He plays as if he means every note. In Goldfish and the Wolf, with its sense of childhood wonder, we heard Abram singing in his soft tone with a Stevie Wonder-like sweet vibrato. The Harlemites celebrated Harlem’s cultural richness. Abram promised the bright chords would be uplifting, and indeed they were. Reuben James’ strong motivic piano soloing stood out, with its swaggering McCoy Tyner-ish chords, rhythmic stabs and cross-rhythms. Other tunes expressed Philippa’s ambivalence about her racial identity: the Naima-ish ballad Longing for Love (beautifully sung and played from the heart by Abram) and the fast swing of Lord Have Mercy. In Trouble on the Home Front Abram played exciting high trills and squeals over its afro-latin grooves and almost rock piano riffs. Philippa became disillusioned by white treatment of black musicians. In Find a New Soul, her move into journalism was portrayed by the clattering urgency of a TV news theme, 60s afro-latin grooves and Debussyesque piano chords to depict her journalism in the far east. The audience especially loved this one. The dark thrum of The Cogdells recalled the Texan racism of Philippa’s maternal family. Its edgy broken rhythms atonal melody moved into a dark minor groove in 5/4. Dave Hamblett’s drum solo had lots of energy, sparkling cymbals and a big sound As the audience yelled for more, Hidden Blues started like a Jelly Roll Morton stomp with an Armstrongy trumpet feel, a fine rootsy bass solo by Alex Davis, swinging blues and huge sense of fun. This young British band is in the middle of a tour to celebrate 10 years of Abram Wilson living in the UK, but he has New Orleans in his soul. Reviews & Wrap-Ups 2012-04-09T14:12:43+00:00 http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_larkins_jazz_at_oxjazz/ http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_larkins_jazz_at_oxjazz/#When:12:50:24Z Larkin’s Jazz - (Afternoon Tea at the Randolph Hotel, Fri 6th April, 2012, part of Oxford Jazz Festival. Review by Alison Bentley for LondonJazz) The magnificent Randolph Hotel (where Larkin took tea with friends, and - some people fantasize - Alice in Wonderland could have murdered Inspector Morse) was the perfect setting for ‘Larkin’s Jazz ’ and afternoon tea. Some of the musicians even recalled forming their own band in that very room, 24 years ago. Indeed, one of the great things about the Oxford Jazz Festival is that audiences get to see those unfamiliar places which, in this case - why not? - bring back a “reminder of the strength and pain of being young.” Jazz gave meaning to Philip Larkin’s life and work, and the afternoon was a musical commentary on this: his favourite tunes by Bix Beiderbeke, Count Basie, (Jive at Five, 9.20 Special) Billie Holiday (This Year’s Kisses), Lester Young (Lester Leaps In, You Can Depend on Me), Duke Ellington, (Just Squeeze Me, Mood Indigo) Johnny Hodges and Teddy Wilson, Louis Armstrong, and more from the pre-bebop era. But the real star of the afternoon was the late poet himself. There were extracts from Larkin’s jazz criticism, interspersed with poems read (by David Thurston) over specially composed jazz themes. Ian Smith’s fine muted trumpet arpeggios soared over Dave Gelly’s Lester Young-like tenor sax, Colin Good’s sparkling stride piano and Alyn Shipton and Euan Stewart’s swinging bass and drums. Ian Smith is also an academic and he led us through Larkin’s life from early days in Oxford, keeping the audience entertained with fascinating stories. Lines from Larkin’s poems have entered the mainstream- ‘They f**k you up, your mum and dad..’, ‘..sexual intercourse began in 1963…’ and so on, and his persona is at best grumpy. A different side to Larkin emerged: one that cared deeply and romantically about jazz. Larkin identified with the self-destructive trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke, almost worshipped Sidney Bechet, and discussed his jazz heroes in the same terms as the literary greats . His poems were influenced by lyricists such as Cole Porter . He loved Billie Holiday’s bitter-sweet way with words, and thought all musicians should play as if they knew the lyrics. Larkin distinguished between the ‘hot jazz’ played through most of the afternoon and ‘the blues’ which was ultimately the only truly satisfying music for him. At one point he even played blues piano in an Oxford pub. The band played Centerpiece and an elegiac slow blues behind a reading of the late poem The Winter Palace , where Larkin lamented his waning faculties. I think Larkin would’ve loved the afternoon- although he needed gin to get him dancing, he would’ve raised a teacup to toast this wonderful band and the Festival’s imaginative organisers. Reviews & Wrap-Ups 2012-04-08T12:50:24+00:00 http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_moonlight_saving_time_at_oxjazz/ http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_moonlight_saving_time_at_oxjazz/#When:12:47:04Z Moonlight Saving Time - (Oxford Jazz Festival-The Tree Hotel, Iffley Village, 4th April 2012. Review by Alison Bentley for LondonJazz) Cycling up the hill in the rain (in Oxford style) to the gig, I was thinking about the band’s name- it suggested something eccentric and English, like a Django Bates album title, and wasn’t sure what to expect. I arrived to find this Bristol-based band - whose name, it appears, is derived from a kookie Blossom Dearie song - playing a moody 5/4 version of Afro Blue, with Emily Wright’s deep-toned vocals in unison and harmony with Nick Malcolm ‘s trumpet. There was a real band sound, not just soloists with backing- improvising all together over their loose, understated latin and funk grooves. Emily has a beautiful voice, strong and clear with just an undertone of breathiness, and very accurate on the tricky intervals of tunes like Black Narcissus and Corea’s Morning Sprite. At times it reminded me of Flora Purim’s wordless improvising, with a dash of Julie Tippetts and even soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae. Emily named particular influences as Kurt Elling and Gretchen Parlato. Her duet with double bassist Will Harris on You Must Believe in Spring was a highlight - and the audience were quiet for the fine bass soloing and lovely vocal solos. Will Harris ‘s strong rhythmic double bass pulse underpinned Mark Whitlam’s rich drum textures, particularly strong in the latin and funk grooves of Spain and the Isley Bros’ Footsteps in the Dark. It was good to hear the voice as a front line instrument with trumpet. Nick’s energetic flurries of chromatic notes, cool tone and playful squeals made me think of Freddie Hubbard and Tom Harrell at times. Jon Hyde, on guitar, was at different times melodic and angular with a beautiful harp-like intro to Spain. Hints of Herbie Hancock’s Fender Rhodes style were in Dale Hambridge’s keyboard playing, both virtuosic and expressive, Not quite Difficult Listening Hour, as the thoughtful arrangements led the audience through unusual timings (Chick Corea’s Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly in 7/4) and spiky chromatic improvisation. It was a full house, and the audience was with them right from the start. The choice of tunes was refreshingly imaginativeness - it would be great to hear some originals and a recording too. This is music for the heart and the head, and on the strength of their sell-out performances at Brecon (where they had to be moved to a larger space) and Glastonbury, Moonlight Saving Time are ready - and surely deserve - to play at bigger venues soon. Reviews & Wrap-Ups 2012-04-08T12:47:04+00:00 http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_ben_holder_quartet_at_oxjazz/ http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/review_ben_holder_quartet_at_oxjazz/#When:12:46:28Z Ben Holder Quartet - (Cibo! Oxford Jazz Festival, 3rd April 2012. Review by Catherine Marks for LondonJazz) Finding a seat or even space to stand in Summertown’s Cibo! restaurant on Tuesday night was quite a challenge. This was only the second evening of the 2012 Oxford Jazz Festival, and technically part of their ‘fringe’ festival before the big names at the weekend, but the festival already felt in full flow. The Ben Holder Quartet attracted by a really enthusiastic crowd, who cheered and clapped at every opportunity, even though half were eating. At just 22 years old, jazz violinist Ben Holder is a really confident band leader, playing with a talented group consisting of Jez Cook on guitar, Frank Hockney on drums and Paul Jefferies on double bass. The repertoire of the quartet focused on jazz standards. Ben Holder has the warmth and flexibility of a sax player, and all the extra possibilities of a string instrument - lightning speed harmonics, col legno, glissando and double stopping. Chilled and confident, he also has the capaciy to switch seamlessly within the same bar from virtuosic violin to vocals, bringing warm tone to numbers such as ‘It Don’t Mean A Thing’. It all felt very natural, and an improvised duet between Jez Cook’s electric guitar and violin in the middle of a piece showed that he could switch from soloist to being part of a dialogue just as easily. Ben said that he always tries to play something for everyone’s taste. And slipping some classical quotes into the music, such as Vivaldi’s ‘Spring’, made a lovely contrast. Ben is much more playful than this classical heritage might imply. He puts on a hugely enjoyable show, really involving the crowd from start to finish. The staff were dancing behind the bar to this incredibly chilled virtuoso, and I can certainly see big things ahead. Reviews & Wrap-Ups 2012-04-08T12:46:28+00:00 http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/an_interview_with_alyn_shipton_about_larkins_jazz/ http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/an_interview_with_alyn_shipton_about_larkins_jazz/#When:08:57:12Z Sandra Marcy talks to Alyn Shipton about his upcoming performance, Larkin’s Jazz, at the Oxford Jazz Festival. What can we look forward to hearing at Larkin’s Jazz? A quintet of mainstream players exploring the music that Philip Larkin loved and which he wrote about in his poems, letters and Daily Telegraph column. With special permission from his publisher Faber, we will also be doing three settings of his poems that were commissioned by Radio 3’s “The Verb” from our trumpeter Ian Smith. Larkin was a great fan of jazz from the period before the bebop revolution of the late Forties.  How does this influence the music you’ll be performing? We’ll be doing a few numbers that look back to his love of traditional jazz - Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke, and we’ll also be exploring the repertoire of some of the small swing groups he so loved such as the Kansas City Six. This was a small group from the Count Basie band and we have Basie and Lester Young expert Dave Gelly on hand to give us a hint of that very special sound. What are your thoughts on the connections between jazz and poetry? Ever since the 1920s there have been strong connections between jazz and poetry, with the Harlem Renaissance writers like James Weldon Johnson and Langston Hughes writing poems inspired by jazz. In Britain the tradition has been very strong since the war, especially in the 60s with Stan Tracey and Mike Garrick creating jazz inspired by poetry. Larkin was such a jazz fan that its rhythms inspired some of his writing, and we aim to show some of this connection in our settings of his work. But he was also a perceptive (if opinionated) jazz critic and we want to reflect the range of his listening and his very colourful writing about the jazz he loved. As the music editor at Continuum, I was responsible for publishing a book of his criticism edited by jazz scholars Richard Palmer and John White. Larkin famously disliked modern jazz although he occasionally found a piece from Davis or Coltrane that he warmed to.  Who, in the current jazz world, do you think he would have enjoyed listening to and why? Wynton Marsalis, because of the depth of appreciation he has of the jazz tradition; Scott Hamilton, Ken Peplowski and Harry Allen, who keep the great tenor sax tradition alive, and very likely stride pianists like my good friend Martin Litton, who plays with me in the Buck Clayton Legacy Band which I run. Larkin listened to his jazz on scratchy vinyl recordings which are being collected and listened to by today’s young jazz musicians.  Do you prefer your jazz listening to be on vinyl, CD or digital? My BBC Radio 3 show Jazz Library has been about jazz on CD in the main, although we do also recommend downloads, and also occasionally hard to find items on LP. I like CDs and own several thousand of them, much to my family’s disapproval in terms of the space they occupy, although I am still a fan of old records and only a day or two ago went out to my garage to gloat over my collection of vintage jazz on 78! I am not a fan of iPods as I think they are the enemy of polite social interaction and I suspect we are breeding generations of deaf adults, as being plugged into headphones at high volume on trains and buses cannot but be bad for the hearing. I value my hearing too much to put it at risk, and prefer to listen to music live (and preferably unamplified) or on speakers, where I can control the volume. In an interview given in 1982, Larkin declared “Jazz is dead now” and this discussion continues today.  What’s your view? I disagree with Larkin a lot in terms of his critical writing on jazz, and most particularly on this. The latest (2007) edition of my New History of Jazz has over 60,000 words on the period following what Larkin regarded as the death of jazz. I think it is very happy, alive and well, and the Oxford Festival proves it! Is there any other artist appearing at Oxford Jazz Festival that you’d like to hear and if so who, and why? I am particularly looking forward to hearing my old friend Abram Wilson, whose concert follows ours, and who I think is one of the finest trumpeters to come out of the United States in recent years. He’s also a great bandleader and his quartet is one of the best bands on today’s UK scene. General News 2012-04-05T08:57:12+00:00 http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/a_message_from_tim_armacost_of_the_new_york_standards_quartet/ http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/a_message_from_tim_armacost_of_the_new_york_standards_quartet/#When:06:59:04Z Tim Armacost of the New York Standards Quartet talks about his upcoming gig at the Oxford Jazz Festival. To our Jazz Brethren and Sisters in the UK! Hey from Tim Armacost, saxophonist for NY Standards Quartet. I'm writing to say how much we are looking forward to our first tour in your glorious land. I have a large extended family in London, by marriage, so I've managed to spend a reasonable amount of time there, and love it. I've been to the Fringe Festival (In Edinburgh) to perform a few times in the last few years, but it's been a minute since I was in London, and there are a bunch of new places for me on the tour - can't wait. I've never been to Oxford - and am particularly excited to be kicking off our tour there, at the Oxford Jazz Festival. We're proud to be performing on the stage of the Oxford Playhouse on Saturday the 7th. From what I've heard, this is a great new festival run by an ambitious team who care deeply about supporting the music. Having toured the world for years, I can say that it's very refreshing to see the good work being done at the OJF, and I can't think of a better way to kick off the tour than with our performance there. The band has been busy lately, we've just finished a tour in the southeast of the US, and we'll be in Japan in June. We're working on tours in the coming year in the US, Spain, Poland, and Northern Europe. I met Michael Janisch about 18 months ago in Edinburgh - I heard his band, and thought they sounded great - very contemporary without sacrificing deep swing. Sitting in with them later confirmed that they also felt good from inside the music - and we started talking about doing something together right away. We considered putting something together from scratch, but happy coincidence made it possible for us to work together in the context of the NYSQ. NYSQ has been together for 7 years, and we're really looking forward to adding Michael to the family. We'll be performing music from our second CD, Unstandard, and we're pretty far along on the new repertoire for the next recording this summer, so we'll be trying out new tunes, and will also include some material from Michael's fertile mind. We're really grateful to have heard that Michael received major support from the Arts Council England for our tour. This helps us get our music out there and made the entire trip possible. It ain't no picnic out here on the road the last few years - and having organizations around that are willing to help keep live music going strong is a blessing. In the last decade, the business of jazz has undergone a large scale change, often to the detriment of musicians looking for opportunities to hone their craft. Organizations like ACE have helped keep the flame burning - and we all know that we can't live without the warmth of that flame! Really excited to share our music, make a bunch of new friends, and raise multiple pints......see you in a couple of weeks. Tim Armacost General News 2012-04-03T06:59:04+00:00 http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/preview_new_york_standards_quartet_-_tour_kicks_off_at_oxford_jazz_festival/ http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/index.php?/site/preview_new_york_standards_quartet_-_tour_kicks_off_at_oxford_jazz_festival/#When:08:29:29Z Pianist David Berkman ( he has played with EVERYBODY and has a great BLOG !) writes about the forthcoming UK tour of Michael Janisch’s New York Standards Quartet which kicks off at the Oxford Jazz Festival this Friday April 7th Sometimes things come together in fortuitous ways. A chance meeting leads to a love affair, a passing comment leads to an idea for a brilliant life-saving invention—an email from a dying Nigerian prince gives you 40 million pounds and all you have to do is mail your credit card information and wait! (Although I would have thought I’d have heard SOMETHING by now…) Anyway, just such a fortuitous coming together of elements is occurring. Michael Janisch, a phenomenal young talented bassist is joining forces with the New York Standards Quartet for an English tour of unprecedented proportions. I’m really thrilled to be a part of all of this. I’ve been quite close in recent years, performing in Edinburgh at the Jazz and Blues Festival, the Dundee festival, the Glasgow International Jazz Festival, the Brecon Festival, the Belfast Festival, the Islay Festival, the Guinness Festival (Cork)—although the details of those last two are a bit fuzzy due to a rather unabashed consumption of spirits— but England has eluded my grasp. No more. As Joyce says quoting someone or other: “No more turn aside and brood upon love’s bitter memory” and I intend to take up that good advice and run with it, whatever the heck it means. Read the rest of this article on londonjazz.blogspot.co.uk General News 2012-04-02T08:29:29+00:00