The London Jazz Festival, which at last begins on Friday after one of the biggest and longest trails in its 20-year history, is not so much a snapshot of jazz in the capital, more a lingeringly long wide shot of the music. Think the famous Art Kane photograph A Great Day in Harlem magnify it from its brownstone building setting in New York, populate the shot with hundreds more musicians, and let the photographer go click on the widest pavement in London, with the widest lens imaginable, and you’ll not even get close to what’s about to take place.
Under the radar and away from the big names this year who include Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Esperanza Spalding, Robert Glasper, the Brad Mehldau Trio, Jan Garbarek, Jack DeJohnette, and so many more, there are dozens of musicians, some appearing for the first time at the festival, who have significant profile in the UK or the countries they are based. You might have to put on your hiking gear and consult the fine print of the festival programme to track them down, but there’s considerable kudos in just doing that, particularly if your friends are sticking to the tried and tested and you just want to broaden your horizons that bit more.
One of the artists who falls firmly in the worth taking the trouble category is French trumpeter and flugelhorn player Stéphane Belmondo who earlier this year, just properly available here now, released his latest typically accomplished disarmingly refreshing album The Same as it Never Was Before, a neat absurdity on the title as playfully cynical as the understated but steely playing on the album. Belmondo is playing on the Barbican free stage, a platform where during the build up to a range of evening concerts you’ll discover some similar artists either too little known in this country yet to mount concerts in bigger spaces, or being promoted as the Finns are doing, to swell interest in national scenes only concerted showcase promotion can achieve. Belmondo was an important element on Jacky Terrasson’s vibrant Gouache released earlier in the autumn and in France he has a significant following. He’s with Kirk Lightsey, Sylvain Romano and the great Billy Hart on the album with all but Hart making the trip for the LJF. Billing is relative after all, but for such a distinguished name from the French scene to appear unheralded indicates the strength in depth at the festival this year. Bojan Z at Artsdepot is another top drawer act coming in among many. This year may just be the discovery show writ large.
Stephen Graham
Stéphane Belmondo above