Concert date: 15 February 2025
1st Set: Cavanouche – Erin Stephens (guitar); Dan Bolam (rhythm guitar); Geoff Higginson (double bass)
2nd Set: Will Barnes Quartet – Will Barnes (guitar); Jack Gonsalez (piano); Clovis Phillips (double bass); James Batten (drums) with Erin Hughes (live visuals)
The second concert for me in a little flurry of top jazz in Cumbria over the next couple of months, and this time it was the turn of the Will Barnes Quartet presenting music from their acclaimed album Source of the Severn playing to an attentive audience in the theatre at the Brewery Arts in Kendal. The theatre boasts a fine piano and a friendly ambience which is ideal for an intimate evening of music making, and the quartet certainly seemed to enjoy playing for us on a chilly Saturday evening.
In this most convivial setting, we were first treated to a set of gypsy jazz from the trio known as Caravanouche. A local band based in Kendal, the three highly accomplished musicians delivered a swinging set of Django Reinhardt inspired music that also had a contemporary edge that gave the music a fresh feel and in no way derivative of the original music of the Belgian gypsy guitarist.
Opening with ‘Lulu’s Swing’ the trio certainly did swing, and continued to do so in an all to brief set that also featured Reinhardt classics ‘Hungaria’ and ‘Minor Swing’ in addition to fine renditions of ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ and ‘Autumn Leaves’ that segued into Jimmy Rosenberg’s ‘Made For Wesley’.
After a short interval, the Will Barnes Quartet took to the stage and delivered over an hour and half of joyous contemporary jazz. Based in Mid Wales, as one would expect the music is influenced by the lovely landscape that is a feature of the area and is beautifully captured by Barnes in his thoughtfully conceived compositions.
When releasing the music on a double LP in 2023, Barnes commissioned landscape artist Erin Hughes to provide paintings for each of the compositions, and in an added aspect to the concert, Erin was in attendance providing live visuals as the quartet played.
Talking of the quartet, while young in years the four musicians have shared considerable experience in making music together. The group is a longstanding unit and this is immediately heard in their playing, and in this live context, even more so than on the recording, their empathy and trust in each other brought some unexpected and delightful twists to the music.
In a programme that encompassed Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Can’t Help It’, Dizzy Gillespie’s bebop standard ‘Groovin’ High’ and from Disney’s Snow White, ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ Will Barnes laid out his roots in jazz and the music that has influenced him. However, not tied by what some may perceive as the constraints of bebop, the most interesting music came from the guitarist’s original compositions, playing all but one of the pieces from the album.
‘The Dragon’s Tail’ brought forth a flowing and lyrical solo from pianist Gonsalez and one of many fine solos from Clovis Phillips on bass, while ‘Passing Time’ inspired by Joe Pass finds Barnes in impressive form before passing the baton seamlessly to Gonsalez at the end of his solo.
If ‘Up On The Hill’ is a place of reflection, the quartet move easily from ballad to an effortless groove before ‘The Mad March Hare’ comes loping out of the starting gates with a great swinging melody, and clean lithe lines from Barnes as he spins out his solo. This is followed by another smart solo from the pianist who is anything but predictable, with even his comping throwing up constant surprises.
In what was possibly one of the most moving compositions of the evening, and only overshadowed by the story that accompanied it, was ‘Kathleen’s Bass’. Kathleen is Clovis’s grandmother who was a fine musician in her own right playing not just double bass, but also violin, viola and cello. Her bass was made around 1880, as she grew older Kathleen sadly lost her hearing. Gifting her bass to her grandson, Barnes explains how at the age of 90 she came to a gig to see Clovis perform, and stood next to him with her hand on the bass so she could feel the vibrations.
It is this power of music and how it can move an audience that I came away with from this concert. The band clearly enjoyed themselves, and judging from the response and request for an encore, so did the rest of the audience. This is a young band with a clear identity, and an engaging way in which to present their original music that links directly to their Welsh heritage, and a love of the landscape of their home encapsulated beautifully in the artwork and live visuals from Erin Hughes.
