REPORT London Jazz Festival 2012 Written by Cathie Rae on 22nd November 2012 Congratulations to John Cumming and Serious on a very successful London Jazz Festival. All concerts I attended were either sold out or packed with people. On speaking to Serious Director John Cumming, this seemed to be the case across the whole festival this year. He put this down to pure hard work by his team and increased attention to digital media, amongst many other things of course. There was a real buzz about the festival and something for everyone. The variety and amount of performances was phenomenal. Of course funding and sponsorship is also a crucial factor and London Jazz Festival do a fantastic job at securing this. The SJF thank Serious for the guest tickets and invites to networking events. They were very much appreciated. The SJF arrived in London on Wednesday 14th November to attend the Jazz Section meeting of the Musicians Union, which Cathie Rae is a panel member. We are pleased to report that a motion to request that the MU commission Nationwide research into “women in music” will be presented by Kathy Dyson to the Executive Committee at their next meeting in December. Unfortunately I was not in London for our Young Scottish Jazz Musician, Ruaridh Pattison’s gig, which was part of his 2011 prize. Ruaridh opened for the Michael Janisch & Aruan Oritz Quintet (with Greg Osby) to a sold out Purcell Room in the Southbank. The SJF received a text from Ruaridh directly after his performance to say that it was “a really nice gig”. We’d like to thank Serious for giving this wonderful experience to Ruaridh and look forward to pianist Peter Johnstone, our 2012 winner, next year. On the evening of 14th November the SJF attended a very special double bill concert featuring the legendary Sheila Jordan and Kurt Elling. See review HERE. Sheila was backed by a trio of Scotland’s best: Brian Kellock on piano, Kenny Ellis bass and Stu Ritchie drums. At 84 years young, Sheila is still producing the goods and continues to win over new audiences. She’s a true improviser. The fact that she chose to work with Brian Kellock’s trio is testament to his talent and reputation. Sheila has said on a number of occasions that she hasn’t worked with a pianist of Brian’s quality since Bill Evans! She sends her love to Fionna Duncan and to all her former students in Scotland. The 2nd set featured the wonderful Kurt Elling who received a Scottish Jazz Award 2012 in our International category. He performed songs from his new CD “1619 Broadway” The Brill Building Project, celebrating the song writing tenants of the legendary Manhattan building that at various times housed Burt Bacharach, Paul Simon, Lieber & Stroller and Carole King. You can buy this latest CD via Kurt’s website. Kurt’s voice is incredible and he has an amazing instrument covering four octaves. He’s also very generous with his time. Cathie Rae was invited backstage to meet the great man and he sends his best wishes to Scotland. This concert can be heard on BBC Radio 3’s Jazz Line- Up on Sunday 6th January 2013 HERE. Scottish Jazz Federation, 7 High Street, Belhaven, Dunbar EH42 1NP Tel: 01368 866895 Email: admin@scottishjazzfederation.com Website: www.scottishjazzfederation.com
Friday evening featured the Julian Arguelles quartet gig at the Con Cellar Bar. Julian is, of course, our Scottish Jazz Award 2012 musician of the year. The venue was very small, around 80 capacity, and it reminded the SJF of the old Henry’s Cellar Bar in Edinburgh. SJF can report that it was completely sold out and packed to the gunnels and had a great vibe. The group were: Kit Downes piano, James Maddren drums, Calum Gourlay bass and Julian Arguelles sax. Review can be found HERE. The concert was first class and, although the venue was really great, this should have been a concert for the Purcell Room or bigger. Julian also played with Henri Texier and Kenny Wheeler during the festival After a long day of networking and more music at the Jazz on 3 stage in the Royal Festival Hall, Saturday evening Cathie Rae treated myself to tickets for a solo performance from Egberto Gismonti. Brazilian guitar and piano player...which she reported was amazing. Click here for some YouTube footage. The final day of the SJF London Jazz Festival visit featured a special performance to end the 20 year anniversary of NYJOS with music written and produced by trombonist and composer / arranger Rick Taylor. The band did Scotland proud under his leadership and the music and standard of playing was fantastic. The SJF thought that NYJOS far outshone Ronnie Scot’s “band in a day” and the National Youth Jazz Collective. There were many stand out performances from NYJOS players. Young Scottish Jazz Musician finalist Helena Kay, now studying at the Royal Academy in London, was one of the featured soloist. Well done to Corinna and the team for their hard work in putting this together. We hope they will record this music. It was inspiring. Sunday evening, the last night of the festival, was yet another treat with the Kenny Wheeler big band performing music from the latest CD celebrating Kenny’s 80th birthday “The Long Waiting”. Our director, Cathie Rae, was privileged to be at that recording session back in 2010. The Big band featured Norma Winston on Vocals and a who’s who of UK Jazz: Henry Lowther , Evan Parker, Scotland’s own Duncan Lamont, Gwilym Simcock, Ray Warleigh, Stan Salzmann, Derek Watkins, John Barclay, Nick Smart, Mark Nightingale, Gordon Campbell, Barnaby Dickenson, Dave Stewart, John Parricelli, Chris Laurence, Martin France and of course Kenny Wheeler. The band’s musical director was Pete Churchill. Thank you to Serious for the guest tickets for the SJF and young musician Helena Kay (YSJM Finalist 2012). Helena is a massive fan of Kenny Wheeler. We didn’t get to meet him but we did manage to introduce Helena to the legendary Duncan Lamont. Kenny Wheeler was followed by world renowned octogenarian, guitarist, Jim Hall and his trio. This guitar legend, who featured with Jimmy Giuffre’s trio in the iconic Jazz on a Summer’s day film, has also worked regularly with the likes of Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald and Sonny Rollins (Click on Sonny for an old Jim Hall / Sonny Rollins YouTube clip). He still has a great sense of humour and rapport with the audience and his playing is wonderful. A fabulous way to end the festival and a great experience for our young jazz musician Helena. Scottish Jazz Federation, 7 High Street, Belhaven, Dunbar EH42 1NP Tel: 01368 866895 Email: admin@scottishjazzfederation.com Website: www.scottishjazzfederation.com
NETWORKING The SJF attended three networking events during the visit, organised by Serious and the British Council. Contacts are available HERE to download and use. We met with representatives from all around the world, through the British Council, as well as British and European promoters and all of the Take 5 musicians past and present. Fraser Fifield is one of the lucky Take 5 Europe participants this year and Serious announced their intake for this year includes our very own Paul Towndrow. Past Take five participants from Scotland include: Laura Macdonald and Graeme Stephen. Unfortunately they could not attend. The Write Stuff This continues to be the stand out project of the festival. An inspiring scheme that should be rolled out across the UK! It’s been in existence for 10 years now. The Write Stuff is an innovative scheme run by Serious in collaboration with Jazzwise, the UK’s biggest selling jazz publication. Each year since 2003, The Write Stuff has brought together a group of aspiring journalists, from complete beginners to semi-professionals, for an intensive weeklong course, held on London’s South Bank and during the London Jazz Festival. They are given a unique introduction to the art of writing about jazz by the UK’s most experienced journalists such as Kevin Le Gendre, Jon Newey, Mike Flynn and Alyn Shipton. More information on this scheme can be found HERE. Our own festivals could benefit from running a similar scheme. We are seriously lacking in jazz journalists in Scotland. Other Projects LondonJazz provided journalists and reviews for every concert across the festival. Go to their website to read them all HERE. Festivals in Scotland may want to team up with popular blogs such as Byas’d opinion and any others for future. Conclusion: It is very important that the SJF continue have a presence at important events such as London Jazz Festival and to support our musicians by attending their concerts. The contacts made at the networking events are useful for the SJF, musicians and in making connections with musicians and festivals internationally. We should encourage more Scottish jazz festivals and venues to attend this event in future and build on our good relationship with Serious. The festival was absolutely buzzing with people, concerts and journalists reporting daily. It was a great experience as an audience member and inspired ideas for the future. It was disappointing to note that no-one from Creative Scotland was present at London Jazz Festival this year. Ian Smith, our lead officer, was in Australia. Scottish Jazz Federation, 7 High Street, Belhaven, Dunbar EH42 1NP Tel: 01368 866895 Email: admin@scottishjazzfederation.com Website: www.scottishjazzfederation.com