Mike Durham’s Classic Jazz Party - Sunday October 29

(Review by Russell)

Another jam session, another late night. The clocks went back at 2am, so, an extra hour in bed…

for some. Day three of the Mike Durham Classic Jazz Party, twelve noon, the finishing straight in sight, just another fifteen hours or so to go.

As noon approached, Jonathan and Brigitte rehearsed their steps ahead of accompanying Josh Duffee’s opening set. Four Bright Sparks took to the stage; Duffee playing xylophone (!), Michael McQuaid, reeds, Martin Wheatley, guitar, and pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen. In 1920s Britain the Columbia record label recorded the Four Bright Sparks with American Rudy Starita on xylophone. It was fitting, therefore, that our man from Iowa, Josh Duffee, should help recreate a slice of jazz (British jazz) history. For this half-hour set Duffee played the xylophone on the floor of the hall with his fellow Bright Sparks sitting on the stage behind him. The focal point of the set featured music and dance as Jonathan and Brigitte took to the floor to demonstrate the ‘Kerb Step’ with cameras flashing, the (sepia-tinted?) moment instantly filed in the Classic Jazz Party’s archive.

Nicolle Rochelle sang with French trumpeter Malo Mazurié’s Alternative Hot Five and half an hour later Britain’s trumpet star Jamie Brownfield took on the role of Jabbo Smith. The 1929 Brunswick sides provided the core of the programme and JB did more than simply interpret Smith with a fiery display. The 2017 Classic Jazz Party certainly came up trumps when invitations went out to Malo and Jamie. And to think that the Americans – Messrs Davis, Heitger and Schumm – were in town!

Malo Mazurié took up the trumpet at seven, and now, at 26, the Frenchman fronted a set – Malo - Boy meets Horn which illustrated his command of a breadth of styles through to swing and beyond. He was in good company working with fellow countryman Jean-François Bonnel, Jacob Ullberger, guitar, and Malcolm Sked, double bass.

Local stars Emma Fisk (pictured) and Phil Rutherford featured in a one hour set titled Hot Dance Music. The senior men on the platform – Keith Nichols and Claus Jacobi – assembled a mid-20s conventional eleven-piece band to play the ‘hot’ arrangements of the day. Malo Mazurié, playing cornet on this session, was having a busy afternoon and his fellow frontline horns – Jacobi, Lars Frank, and Jean François Bonnel – revelled in friendly, but hot, exchanges.

100 years of ODJB marked the centenary of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s first recordings. In an all too short half-hour set it was fascinating to hear Andy Schumm and Michael McQuaid talk in reverential tones about their near-obsessive efforts to literally walk in the footsteps of their heroes. Teddy Brown & His Band – Elstree Calling took its cue from the British made 1930 musical revue film Elstree Calling (Alfred Hitchcock was one of the film’s four directors). Teddy Brown starred in 1930, Josh Duffee, playing xylophone, starred in 2017.

Bennie Moten – Get Goin’ surveyed the early days (circa 1929) of the swing bands which would go on to dominate during the 1930s. Keith Nichols, resplendent in red braces, played piano-accordion on this set with Morten Gunnar Larsen at the piano. Royal College of Music graduate Richard Exall sat in an all-star, all-European reeds’ section and more than held his own. The Basie influence was evident in another marvellous set which closed the afternoon’s programme.

The final session, Sunday evening, had an end-of-term feel about it. Morten Gunnar Larsen began his ‘The Professor’ piano set without fanfare as festival goers made their way into the hall. Chicago born, British resident, Joan Viskant sang with Keith Nichol’s Meat Packin’ Mama ten piece band. A fine set of stockyard, stevedore-era Chicago jazz entertained a fresh-as-a-daisy audience.

A couple of short but sweet sets – Jacob Gershovitz Got Rhythm and Duke Heitger’s Jazz – set up a grand finale to this year’s Classic Jazz Party. The Gershwin set served to further illustrate the US émigré songwriters’ contribution to the jazz world as Keith Nichols earlier so eloquently commented upon. Duke Heitger’s thirty minutes’ worth of small group jazz provided some of the hottest material heard during the weekend – and that’s saying something! Flanked by Ewan Bleach, reeds and Kris Kompen, trombone, Duke’s boys had a blast.

The closing concert of the 2017 Mike Durham Classic Jazz Party presented the now traditional big band ensemble led by Keith Nichols and Josh Duffee. The Nichols-Duffee All-Star Orchestra took to the stage in regulation penguin suits and they were to be joined by the fabulous Nicolle Rochelle to sing a few numbers. The packed room hung on every note knowing that this was it until the next time. Next year, 2018, the all important dates for the diary are November 2-4.

Russell