Major boost for jazz in Belfast
With crowds basking in the afternoon sunshine on the lawn outside the City Hall in Belfast yesterday watching Andy Murray's match at Wimbledon on a big screen, there was an air of euphoria in the city streets. Coinciding with the welcome burst of sunshine and the Wimbledon heroics the first Jazz Day was held a short walk away in Hill Street venue the Black Box in the Cathedral Quarter. The biggest one-day jazz gathering under one roof Belfast has seen in many years, Jazz Day was presented by the musicians themselves, with trumpeter Linley Hamilton in the lead, organising the bands, making stage announcements, and even selling tickets on the door. The Black Box besides promoting occasional jazz (it is a venue for the excellent springtime Brilliant Corners festival), also puts on indie rock and comedy, and the night before had been “rammed”, according to one of the bar tenders, for Belfast Pride.
Flugelhorn player Michael Barkley opened Jazz Day with his Organ Quartet joined by hard gigging Scott Flanigan on organ; Meilana Gillard, tenor saxophone; and drummer Steve Davis, who Hamilton mentioned in his introduction has just been awarded a Ph.d. Better known for avant garde improv trio Bourne-Davis-Kane, who will be making waves next year with a raft of concerts as part of the New Music Biennial, the Bangor man was in hard bop mode here. Kicking off with Woody Shaw’s ‘Beyond All Limits’ (the last track on Larry Young’s album Unity) followed by Wayne Shorter’s ‘Back Stage Sally’ (from 1963 Blue Note album Buhaina's Delight), the band conjured the sound and spirit of classic Art Blakey, also adding an authentic take on Horace Silver’s ‘Nutville’ from 1965 album The Cape Verdean Blues for good measure. Later in the set the band updated their material in a seamless fit by adding a Kenny Wheeler number ‘For Jan’ from 1990s album Music For Large & Small Ensembles.
After this solid start newcomer Italian guitarist Emanuele Armaforte came on with his trio of bassist Rohan Armstrong and very promising drummer James Anderson. Highlight of the set was their nuanced take on the Schwartz/Dietz song ‘Alone Together’ although the band lost some momentum as the set progressed even if Anderson, who is a student at the Birmingham Conservatoire, showed plenty of guts at the kit with good dynamics and a certain much needed physicality.
Jazz Day continued until late in the evening after the mid-afternoon start. Some bands that were not previously announced were added, and I enjoyed the Keith McVeigh piano trio who opened with an original tune of McVeigh's that recalled the experiments in time championed by the late Dave Brubeck. Later trombonist James Docherty, who’s a student at Magee in Derry, really made his soulful set count and in his band it was good to catch keyboardist Neil Burns, definitely a name to watch out for. Recently Burns, whose influences include Bill Evans and Steely Dan, took part in the Neil Cowley masterclass in Derry at the Henderson piano showroom during this year’s jazz festival, and since then has been performing in the Netherlands with a gospel choir, he told me before the set. Docherty, in the JJ Johnson bag, sounds a bit like Alastair White at times, the trombonist in Van Morrison’s band (who also kills it in the horn section on José James' monster track, 'Trouble'). The band’s raw feel captured the spirit of the day perfectly.
Singer Sinéad Conway from Sligo was a characterful presence I would like to hear more of in the future, and her Sligo band had a great rhythm section featuring Sligo Jazz Festival director Eddie Lee on bass. The Ronnie Greer Almost Big Band provided one of the big highlights of the day, with a three-tenor saxophone take on ‘Tenor Madness’ with David Howell superb exhibiting a natural flow, joined by the classy tenorist Meilana Gillard and another saxophonist to watch Dubliner Alex Mathias who has a beautifully honeyed tone in the Brecker mould. Singer Ken Haddock provided another significant highlight of the afternoon by reprising ‘Autumn in New York’, and later at the Empire on Botanic Avenue at his weekly supper club delighted revellers with his take on Van Morrison’s ‘Sweet Thing’, and ‘Into the Mystic’. Back at the Black Box, Jazz Day climaxed with the headline appearance of American Derry-based trumpeter Scott Cowan and his Band, a player who has been part of the resurgent Northern Ireland scene for a while.
Jazz Day overall provided a sample of all that’s best on the new mainstream, hard bop, and post-bop jazz scene in Belfast with a good pinch of the blues thrown in for good measure. Let’s hope it returns again and that the scene, with this shot in the arm, moves from strength to strength. Hamilton says: “In the last 12 months jazz has really taken off in Belfast”. Jazz Day proved his optimism is right, and clears the way for further nurturing as audiences build.
Stephen Graham
UPDATED 9 July with correct spelling of Emanuele Armaforte, apologies