Glasgow Jazz Festival: Variety the spice of opening night

Published on Sunday 21 June 2009 23:14

McALMONT AND DUFFY *** GET THE BLESSING *** BUGGE WESSELTOFT **** STRATHCLYDE SUITE AND THE ARCHES, GLASGOW

THE opening night of the Glasgow Jazz Festival provided ample illustration of how diverse a range of music is currently squeezed under the umbrella label of jazz.

In the Strathclyde Suite of the Royal Concert Hall, soul singer David McAlmont and jazz vocalist Stephen Duffy took contrasting approaches to the rich legacy of songwriter Harold Arlen, while in the booming acoustic of The Arches, Bristol iconoclasts Get The Blessing rolled out an array of influences in their genre-bending music, from trip hop to prog rock and free jazz.

McAlmont's move into the standard repertoire had been heralded in his last album. His subtle vocal control and range of over three octaves left no doubt he was technically equipped for the job, and he had clearly taken the assignment seriously – his introductions revealed painstaking research into Harold Arlen's life and work.

His vocal approach constantly evoked his soul roots, in alternation with Duffy's more conventional mainstream jazz approach to his chosen songs. McAlmont sang the most famous songs, including Over The Rainbow, while Duffy tended to focus on Arlen's less well known work. With a trio of pianist Tom Gibbs, bassist Andrew Sharkey and drummer Stu Brown to oil the wheels, it provided an enjoyable glimpse into Arlen's often melancholic, blues-tinged world.

I arrived at The Arches in time to hear a portion of drummer Alyn Cosker's powerful opening set with guitarist David Dunsmuir and electric bassist Ross Hamilton. The boomy acoustic did them few favours, but musically they were more impressive than the much-vaunted Bristol-based outfit Get The Blessing, whose headline set ultimately lacked real sparkle.

The two horns of saxophonist Jake McMurchie and trumpeter Pete Judge wailed in free-wheeling fashion over Jim Barr's simple but insistent bass lines, with stand-in drummer Paul Wiggins completing the line-up. The music was pleasantly melodic, quirky and wildly abstract by turns. I suspect, though, that this wasn't the band at their best.

Bugge Wesseltoft was one of the leading progenitors of the Oslo-based nu jazz scene of the late 90s, with its fusion of jazz with funk, soul and electronic dance music. His recent work has focused more on solo piano with electronics.

His set gathered momentum after a slow start, and blossomed into a fascinating combination of elements, with subtle and evocative acoustic piano intermixed with real time sampling, looping and manipulation of the piano and also some small percussion instruments (including encore handclaps), and his own voice. His jazz roots were always in evidence, culminating in an absorbing exploration of Take Five, the Brubeck-Desmond classic .