Cheltenham Musings 3 - Sunday May 4

Thinking back to visits to the Jazz Arena in previous years I remembered the malicious horror of the least comfortable seating I had ever encountered in all my years of gig going. Perhaps there was a way that, like in an unwritten episode of Black Mirror, I could have my body replaced with Meccano with enough hinges to allow for it to fold in such a way that I could fit between the rows. I also remember the wafer thin layers of foam on the seats, a lack of comfort that I would not encounter again until the next day’s trip home on Cross Country.

Wandering into the Arena for the first, and only, time this year to see the James Brandon Lewis Trio and celebrating on finding that it was, in fact, a standy up gig I took out my note book to record some first impressions and noticed another guy doing the same. We looked at each other and the conversation confirmed that we were both writing reviews. This was Ian 'The Jazzmann' Mann, another blogger on whose patch, geographically, the festival was being held. Further agreement about how difficult it was to write standing up took us up to lights down and paths didn’t cross at the end as we were both rushing off to other gigs. If you reach the point where you have exhausted everything that Bebop Spoken Here has to offer, you could do worse than popping over to Ian’s site for a looksee.

Sunday was, for Steve and me, the big day with five gigs booked in three different places. We had our trainers on and our pockets full of energy drinks and emergency rations. That sounds a lot more exciting and perilous than it actually was; we still managed to fit in a tea break and a more than adequate dinner. Frequent visits to the Jazz Lounge in futile attempts to buy some CDs by artists that were actually on at the festival led to me folding my money away. I would quite happily dropped all of my pocket money on James Brandon Lewis albums. (I prefer to buy CDs with cash; it says so much less than a credit card statement). On the theme of not being able to find anyone to take our money it seems reasonable to end with a shout out to Prezzo Pizza, or the Great Cheltenham Empty Table Museum, who didn’t have enough staff on. On a Bank Holiday weekend. During Festival season in Cheltenham.

My Top Ten Gigs at the Festival were:

1 Billy Cobham

2 James Brandon Lewis

3 Olivia Murphy Orchestra

4 In no particular order but alphabetical, Brown Penny, Daniel Casimir Big Band, Nubya Garcia, Mark Kavuma, Kokoroko, Claire Martin, Byron Wallen.