Press Clippings

JazzYorkshire is a funding and development body covering Yorkshire and Humberside. Last Monday 27 March three bands, chosen from 35 which applied, took part in a showcase gig promoted by JazzYorkshire at the Leeds Wardrobe Club.

First up was an unorthodox trio of bass guitar, drums and tenor saxophone, Minghe Morte. “We are about to explore the filthy, unseen, back passages of the jazz genre,” announced Colin Sutton (bass). The band embarked upon a dizzying, headlong, helter-skelter of instrumental virtuosity, both acoustic and electronic, to exciting and emotional ends. Eye liner on jazz musos is not always normally expected, but it was a positive contribution to the studied theatricality and on-stage excitement of Minghe Morte. Saxophonist Chris de Bezenec has mastered circular breathing to produce breakneck post-Coltrane sheets-of-sound and drummer Chris Bussey is capable of delicate percussion or speed-freak drumming in Seb Roachford-style. Plus, he has a black thatch of hair, goateed chin and teeth that Tom Cruise would die for. Watch out, girls.

The audience was totally transfixed, with only the occasional dropped, unbelieving, jaw among the older members, who should know better. Jazz at the Wardrobe is seldom merely nostalgia music, but aims to showcase what is happening now. Go to www.myspace.com/minghemorte to sample Mingue Morte`s ability to move from gentle acoustic melody to frantic thrash, often within just one track, and be amazed.

By contrast, the niftily-suited Matt Ball Quintet were right in the Blue Note/Herman Leonard pocket, opening with an immaculate boppish unison intro to the standard I Love You. Sean Hollis was well featured on flugelhorn on John Surman`s Moonlighter and the band gave Easy To Love a brisk up-tempo work-out. Pianist Richard Weatherall was a little under-used, but not above giving the piano a percussive forearm smash on the rousing Street Beat Blues.

A new generation of young players has embraced the challenge of the double bass (check out Paul Baxter at the jam sessions at the Balck Swan, York – details below). Like Baxter, bothGarry Jackson of the Matt Ball Band and Richard Hammond of We Free Kings, the final band of the night, fingered the big fiddle with flourish, fortitude and formidable expertise.

Saxophonist/leader Toby Greenwood of the Kings tips his cap to Michael Brecker, with a beautifully clear and expressive tone and a talent for composing and arranging. The opening number, Persia, shared Brecker`s ease with complex time signatures, as did the follow-up to feature pianist Jamil Sheriff in a Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage-style tune, Fuego de Cubos. On Delicious Irony, Toby employed Richard Hammond`s virtuoso double bass intro, joined by Jamil`s unison left-hand figure, leading to a challenging, angular melody played by the band. We Free Kings operate a reflective and restrained dynamic as totally controlled as Mingue Morte`s hyperactive delivery. My personal judgement: Man of the Match: Toby Greenwood, with a tie for second place between drummers Bussey (Mingue Morte) and Luke Flowers (We Free Kings).

All hail JazzYorkshire for putting its wellie behind a bunch of talented up-and-coming young musicians. On the strength of this showcase, the diverse future of jazz is assured in the hands of the fourteen young musicians who performed at the Leeds Wardrobe last Monday night.