(Review & outdoor photos by Steve T/Indoor photos courtesy of John Ristway)
I first came across
the Malta Jazz Festival last time I visited the island and found - if memory
serves - I'd narrowly missed (former Yes, King Crimson, Genesis and UK) drummer
Bill Bruford, with his jazz group Earthworks, and local band Noir, who I've never
managed to find anything about, though for anyone of my age or older, that's
one seriously cool name for a band. The festival has been on my radar ever
since, but this is the first time our financial situation and the festival line-up
have aligned.
It's on for six
days but builds up to the weekend so we were able to miss the Monday and Tuesday
without sacrificing too much.
Lunchtime gigs were
at the Parliament Building in the capital Valletta, where all the gigs were,
and I already knew where this was until - quite by accident - I found out
there's now also a New Parliament Building. Investigations of the old one found
no signs of a band setting up, but we did locate a 'you are here' map and
further investigation revealed a 'you need to be here' listing.
However, throughout
the festival, I never saw a map of the venues - at least six of them - or a
signpost for any gig, and directions from festival staff were of the 'if you
already know where you're going, these directions should get you there'
variety. There is much to love about Malta but attention to detail and urgency
are not among them.
Wednesday lunchtime
brought the Anthony Saliba Quartet
featuring sax, keyboard, drums and the leader playing bass guitar; later in the
week we'd see him playing double bass with the Hot Club of Valletta. They
opened with a couple of well-known jazz pieces (so well known I couldn't
remember the titles) followed by some originals, including a bass led trio
piece going along nicely, which I felt sure would bring in the sax for a
rousing climax, but didn't. Maybe next time.
For these sessions,
a group of regulars would converge in a cafe opposite for coffee or Campari and
I heard one describe it as lift jazz, which I thought unfair and I think it's
unhelpful for purists to delineate anything with a bass guitar and a Fender Rhodes
sound as musak, elevator music or smooth jazz.
Were they
transposed to the North East of England - and County Durham alone has an area
seven times the size of Malta - they would be one of the bands worth seeing
again and again.
I started the
festival with an ambition to see thirteen events and managed twelve. Enquiries
about the Wednesday night jam session recommended an early arrival because of
the size of the venue but also that there was unlikely to be an available
guitar or trumpet, so we agreed to forfeit it. As it happened a guitar did turn
up so northeast born Francis Tulip
and his pianist friend and fellow Birmingham Conservatoire student Will Markham got to play and I have it
on British, Maltese, Polish and Northern Irish authority that they tore it
up. 
Thursday lunchtime
was the turn of the Francesca Galea Trio,
featuring the singer accompanied by guitar and double bass for some bossa. Francesca
has the effortless style of the islanders and gave an assured performance and,
as she announced her final piece, I told Mrs T she'd finish with Girl from Ipanema and when she didn't I
assured her they'd play an encore but they didn't. Good for them.
Friday was our
final lunchtime gig and featured the Hot
Club of Valletta. With the northeast punching above its weight in gypsy jazz
I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see how the world leaders in punching
above their weight would fair.
Unsurprisingly
well, as double bass, two gypsy guitars, accordion and violin sound-checked All of Me. They did it again as the
singer turned up fashionably late though they didn't include it in their set.
They did include Pennies from Heaven, It
Don't Mean a Thing, The Bare Necessities and a take on Mark Ronson's Valerie I was lucky enough to miss,
interspersed with a number of instrumentals, though no Minor Swing.
It came as no
surprise when she announced that the band are led by the violinist, who compares
with the northeast's very own Emma Fisk. Apparently he also plays clarinet,
increasing his Gypsy Jazz credentials exponentially, though I didn't spot him
playing it, unless he did so on Valerie.
Steve T
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