The idea of heading to the hills in the aftermath of the four days of urban unrest in England at the start of August was certainly an attractive one and this year's Brecon jazz festival offered a dazzlingly diverse set of musical distractions. Yet there was a sense of catharsis running through several opening night shows, following the tragic death of trumpeter Richard Turner both pianist Sam Leak and trumpeter Rory Simmons dedicated songs and sets to their sorely missed friend. Rocking Norwegian post-boppers The Core also evoked Coltrane's angst fuelled fire on an emotionally charged set bristling with a simmering energy and raging improvisations, perhaps a soul searching response to the awful events just weeks earlier in their homeland. It was apt then that the emphatically bombastic Matthew Herbert big band delivered a quizzically crowd pleasing set, and Alice Russell proved that anything Adele can do she and her fine band can do better with molten set of jazzified soul and funk delivered to rafter raising effect. By contrast the aforementioned Simmons and his Fringe Magnetic nonet impressed with crisp and complex thematic layers that suffered from a lack of definition in the mix, blurring the finer points of the strings, horns and rhythm section arrangements.

Saturday's packed schedule kicked off with some gutsy sax, bass, drums trio sorties from Londoners Partikel who draw a surprisingly melodic, varied and dynamic range of music in spite of lacking a chordal fourth instrument. Tenorist Duncan Eagles is an increasingly compelling soloist and bassist Max Luthert and drummer Eric Ford added plenty of urban grooveology to an engaging set of punchy post-bop. Sax Appeal provided some smoother funk, Latin and updated swing textures but fell, albeit at times impressively, into safer mainstream jazz territory, to the approval of the core Brecon punters. Something far more off the beaten track came from Courtney Pine and his stunning Europa band. The ever luminous Zoe Rahman played a great warm up set, in spite of the bass being mixed way too high, though her presence in Pine's band alongside violinist Omar Puente, guitarist Cameron Pierre and his regular rhythm section completed a classy combination of international voices. Yet it was Pine's stunning tonal explorations on the bass clarinet that were the centrepiece of this show - its Bosendorfer piano style range allowing sub octave grunts to mingle with upper range multiphonic circular breathing. All of which suited Pine’s pan global suite perfectly and extracted some of his freshest playing to date, let's hope he keeps exploring this undervalued instrument’s potential further still. Another Jamaican jazz master brightening up the grey afternoon was an energised Monty Alexander and his immaculately virtuosic trio. Their effusive set was a masterclass in gently adventurous genre hopping, expertly taking in bop, bossa and reggae all at the drop of a hat or in this case a finger snap. Effortless, unfussy and just plain good Monty maybe a showman but he's one who knows the lexicon of modern jazz inside out, and the crowd loved every second of it.

Yet the wildcard in Brecon’s pack this year was almost certainly Phronesis’ ‘Pitch Black’ show that promised almost an entire performance a total darkness. Hardly a band that requires a novelty USP to grab headlines, seeing as they’ve just been blazing new trails in the US and Canada to huge acclaim and standing ovations, this ‘concept’ performance was an audacious and ultimately triumphant creative masterstroke.

The idea of travelling to the heart of Wales to sit in a darkened room with 250-strangers listening to a band is a hard sell on paper, but in reality as darkness descended on the second tune, entitled ‘Love Song’, there was a frisson of excitement, albeit one you might experience on a ghost train. Bassist/bandleader Jasper Høiby had settled both his and the audience’s nerves with some jokey banter – with the band of superb pianist Ivo Neame and gregarious drummer Anton Eger both settling in on the first tune with the lights up – yet there’s a serious reason for this sightless audio experiment. Drawing inspiration from witnessing his sister going blind and how she had bravely dealt with it, Høiby made his point by prefacing the music with, “we’re all going to be blind for a while tonight.” And so as the lights dimmed the band struck up an intricate tune, spritely bass and piano unison lines darting against Eger’s boiling beats, striking the listener with the thought; not seeing is not all about a ‘lack’ of vision, it’s more about a heightened sense of hearing and feeling.



Indeed this exciting entrée was followed by a set of breathtaking music, and yet instead of listening, or rather observing the codified ticks that accompany every jazz performance, the band’s interaction took on more playful qualities. Cheeky drum breaks made one chuckle, beguiling layers of piano immersed the listener in a shower of melodic and harmonic waves, bass lines guiding us all through the inviting darkness. In a world where we increasingly need to listen more – be it to each other or to high quality music – the absence of visual stimulus was to create a unique bond between artist and audience. As the lights faded up on a burning version of  ‘Abraham’s New Gift’ the music maintained its intensity but the temptation was to keep one’s eyes closed and remain submerged in this new space created by one of the most exciting band’s on the planet today who had just taken jazz into uncharted conceptual territory.

After this inner-body experience Sunday’s equally busy bill was certainly a more light-hearted affair with young Turks World Service Project waking up the sleepy Brecon crowd with some unabashed yet often brilliant post-prog funk. Pianist Sam Leak performed again with his promising Aquarium quartet that has tunes and players of excellent quality, with saxophonist James Allsopp blowing up a storm out front. Likewise fellow pianist/composer Sam Crowe drew a great crowd to hear some of his new pieces, that are packed with memorable melodies and intricate yet free flowing structures, the star-studded band including saxophonist Adam Waldmann and bassist Høiby once again (on his fourth gig of the weekend) all delivering fine performances. Italian saxophonist Tommasso Starace also played to appreciative crowd in the Christ College Hall, his sparkling band moving with assurance through his elegant post-bop pieces, with star turns from dexterous pianist Frank Harrison and some stunning bass guitar playing from Laurence Cottle. The latter had a busy afternoon dashing from this gig to perform bass duties with funk-master altoist Maceo Parker and the bombastic BBC Big Band, while Femi Kuti brought what has been another vibrant and extremely enjoyable Brecon jazz festival to an adrenalin-soaked crescendo. With a winning combination of fresh UK talent, heavyweight international jazz names and some credible crossover headliners Brecon continues to go from strength to strength.    

– Mike Flynn – Phronesis photos taken by Cat Munro used with kind permission