Talent from home and abroad is ready to spring into action
Aguitar prodigy, progjazz aeronautics and a Scots bestiary all find their idiosyncratic way into the jazz mix for the second half of this month, which sees a strikingly diverse range of performers taking the stage in and around Edinburgh.
In the case of the capital’s no-sleep Jazz Bar, the stage is a nice new one, if pretty much like the old one, which was succumbing to wear and tear, and it hosts a clutch of notable guitar-led acts over the next couple of weeks, not least tomorrow night, when the gifted young guitarist Andreas Varady makes a sole Scottish appearance.
Now 21, Varady became the youngest ever musician to headline at Ronnie Scott’s when just 13, and, with two albums to his name, has since shown that he is much more than a youthful novelty act. Of Hungarian gypsy descent but based in Ireland, where he honed his chops busking with his father, Varady is a protégé of Quincy Jones, who now produces and manages him, and he plays Edinburgh with his father, Bandi Varady, on bass and brother Adrian on drums.
Another new generation European guitarist plays the same venue this Thursday when the Glasgowbased Lithuanian, Mindaugas Stumbras appears with his quartet of saxophonist Mateusz Sobieski, bassist Mark Hendry and Greg Irons on drums.
There are rather different guitar sounds, again at the Jazz Bar, on the 26th (and at Aberdeen’s Blue Lamp the previous night), from the jazz-prog-rock of Flying Machines. The band’s name was inspired by guitarist Alex Munk’s late father, Roger Munk, a leader in the field of modern airships, and, yes, the band’s music really lifts off.
Another notable Jazz Bar gig is on the 17th when the young Scottish bassist Brodie Jarvie celebrates the music of Charlie Hayden with a formidable line-up of Martin Kershaw and Adam Jackson on alto
saxes, Chris Greive on trombone, Matthew Gough on trumpet, guitarist Graeme Stephen and drummer Tom Bancroft.
Kershaw, a highly creative reedsman, returns to the Jazz Bar on the 24th with his own quartet of pianist Paul Harrison, bassist David Bowden and drummer Doug Hough, while another fine saxophonist, Brian Molley, brings his quartet to a Soundhouse gig at the Traverse Bar on Monday 15th.
Graeme Stephen, in the meantime, will bring his eloquent Letters for
Peace for guitar and string trio, inspired by letters written by conscientious objectors during the First World War, to St Peter’s Church in Linlithgow on the 26th, when he’s joined by Aidan O’rourke and Laura Jane Wilkie on violins and Mario Caribe on double bass.
Back in Edinburgh on the 18th, a contemporary Scottish jazz classic is revisited at the Queen’s Hall when saxophonist Tommy Smith performs his Beasts of Scotland sequence, commissioned by Glasgow Jazz Festival more than two decades ago, and inspired by the poetry of the late Edwin Morgan. Smith will perform these vivid evocations with fellow saxophonist Andy Panayi, trumpeter James Copus, pianist Pete Johnston, bassist Calum Gourlay and drummer Tom Gordon, while Morgan’s poetry will be read by Tam Dean Burn, who excelled as narrator in the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s recent inspired reworking of Peter and
the Wolf. In support is the awardwinning young Glasgow quartet, Square One.
And, stretching our gaze into early May, Smith leads the SNJO in a tribute to two stellar jazz names, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Fats Waller, featuring singer Irini Arabatzi, bassist Caribe and pianist Brian Kellock. They play Perth Concert Hall on 3 May, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall New Auditorium the following night, and Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on the 5th.
From live jazz to big screen, following the excellent film about saxophonist Jim Galloway during February’s Glasgow Film Festival, Edinburgh audiences can now enjoy two jazz documentaries – It Must Schwing: the Blue Notes Story and Pure Love: the Voice of Ella Fitzgerald
at the Cameo, where the music documentary festival Doc’n Roll makes its Scottish debut from 25-28 April.
Now 21, gifted guitarist Andreas Varady headlined at Ronnie Scott’s when he was 13