MUSIC

There’s something funny about the mystery headliner at this year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Tony Benjamin reveals all.

To the sceptical many, the jazz scene is often perceived as a humourless world. In truth it’s not at all serious and there’s proof (if needed) at Cheltenham’s 2011 jazz festival with the appearance of UK comic actor turned US TV megastar Hugh Laurie in his new role as boogie-woogie pianist and blues singer. With the release of defiantly named debut CD ‘Let Them Talk’, Laurie’s embarked on a short European tour and Cheltenham has snagged him for their closing show – a closely kept secret finally announced in late March. The gig inevitably sold out in about four and a half minutes (rivalling sales for festival guest director Jamie Cullum’s solo set) but more accessible humour will still be available, however, when comedian Alex Horne brings The Horne Section (Fri 29), his successful semi-improvised Edinburgh Festival comedy-meets-jazz band. It is jazz and it is funny. Fact.

It’s another good year at Cheltenham, with nearly 50 gigs on the main programme covering the entire jazz spectrum from big band swing (Jazz Royalty, Fri 29) to the unbounded improv of the Freehouse (Fri 29-Sun 31), a nightly mayhem curated by The Guillemots collaborator Chris Cundy and yet another comedy titan – the free jazz-loving Stewart Lee. One member of the jazz royalty left out of Parky’s big band night is saxophonist Ferrel ‘Pharoah’ Sanders, the protégé of John Coltrane who was renamed by Sun Ra and outlived both to re-emerge as a classic straight-ahead player. His set on Sat 30 promises to be a highlight as does the appearance of Dave Holland’s Overtone Quartet the next day. Andy Sheppard is set to make waves, too, previewing the imminent ECM album of his new Trio Libero collaboration with uberdrummer Seb Rochford, virtuoso bass player Michel Benita (Sat 30), while younger local-born tenor player Josh Arcoleo comes back down the M4 with pianist Kit Downes’s Sextet (Sun 1). Downes has become one of the UK’s hottest jazz tickets of late with this larger group getting rave reviews. They’ll be kicking off a pianofest of an afternoon that also features the pyrotechnic Neil Cowley Trio, Nordic cool from Tord Gustavson and the exuberant Django Bates’s ‘Beloved Bird’ tribute to Charlie Parker.

As always the Cheltenham programme has its eye on the musically intelligent end of pop with a late-night set from electro-dance outfit Lamb (Sat 30), jazzily hip singer-songwriter Andreya Triyana (Sun 1) plus a powerhouse double bill of Roots Manuva and Bonobo’s big live band (Sun 1). Fans of female vocalists are particularly well served – there’s also the quirky harpism of the Lucinda Belle Orchestra (Mon 2), the chilling Norwegian ‘uncovers’ of Susanna (Sat 30) and original songsmith Gwynneth Herbert (Fri 29), plus the megavoice of Dame Cleo Laine (Wed 27) and soulful belter Liane Carroll with ‘Bare Feet and Beehives’ (Wed 27), a tribute to pop divas of the 60s.

Naturally there’s loads more to tickle a jazzer’s fancy on the bill but it’s a little trio of Scandinavian-flavoured acts that have particularly caught Venue’s eye. Firstly there’s the Outhouse Quartet’s prog-heavy collaboration with Icelandic guitarist Hilmar Jensen (Sat 30), and then the fantastic trumpet of Nils Petter Molvaer’s ambient soundclashes in the Spin Marvel quintet (Sat 30) and finally, the potentially deafening wall of electro-noise from Stian ‘count my pedals’ Westerhuis’s guitar (Sun 1). All three bands deliver punch (rather than punchlines) and result in smiles all round from those that get it.

CHELTENHAM JAZZ FESTIVAL 2011 RAN FROM WED 27 APR TO MON 2 MAY. SEE WWW.CHELTENHAMFESTIVALS.COM
 

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