Review: Errol Linton + Kate Shortt

 

Jazz has often been a rich vein for comedy but more often than not, the comedy finds its target by poking fun at the cliches of the genre and its pretensions. Tonight's support act, the marvellous Kate Shortt, did the opposite, treating the jazz with immense affection and letting the funny flow through character, witty observation and a confident rapport with the audience.

Her main instrument was the cello which she played in all sorts of weird and bendy fashions, not just bowing and plucking but bashing the wood to create percussive sounds as well. She made extensive use of looping which allowed her to layer up the sound and create rich musical tracks in front of our very eyes. She even did an improvised song with suggestions from the audience which made me think of a game from Whose Line Is It Anyway. Somebody shouted out Marmite (which she loved), another person sardines, and finally somebody shouted Snickers from the very back. All of them ended up in her song in perfect rhythm and harmony, and with tongue firmly in cheek.

Shortt was really clear in her diction which was important because her comedy jazz songs relied not just on musical references and quotes but also on clever lyrics which took jazz into previously unexplored terrain including broken down cars, the challenges of the menopause and Arts Council funding for songwriting workshops in primary schools where the kids are taught the hallucinogenic delights of magic mushrooms.

A highlight was her self confessed moment of indulgence: a sweet and scat-heavy rendition of Dream A Little Dream Of Me. The entire set was an unexpected delight.

Next up was Errol Linton and his blues band, a show which completely sold out weeks in advance. This Brixton born harmonica player now has the reputation of being Britain's foremost Bluesman, having started out busking on the London Underground he now plays to appreciative packed houses internationally.

The prevailing mood of his set was pure, unadulterated fun. He, the band, the whole room lost track of time as we bounced from one great blues number to the next. Linton switched from harmonica to vocals and back as if they were one and the same action. Gary Williams on drums and Lance Rose on double bass kept the beat heavy and thumping. Petar Zivkovic on piano provided colour and mood, especially when giving New Orleans swing, and Richey Green on guitar strutted and preened his way through soaring solos like a rock star. Highlights included Stressed Out, Around the World, The Boogie Disease and perennial classic Ain’t Nobody's Business If I Do. Top notch blues played with love for a highly appreciative crowd.

Review: Mark Kavuma Quartet and Watford Writers Jazz Track Titles

Tonight began with a jazz event that focused on words rather than music as the Watford Writers, a local group that welcomes, inspires, and encourages all writers and poets to share their work, gathered to present a series of competition winning poems and short stories on the theme of Jazz Track Titles. Here I must declare an interest, as I was honoured to be invited to judge the submissions and pick my four favourite poems and short stories, most of which we were lucky enough to hear read aloud by the authors.
Pieces ranged from the whimsical and comic to the touching and chilling, with copious playful interpretations and reimaginings of both jazz titles and familiar lyrics. The whole event was jovially hosted by Ian Welland. To enjoy the writing for yourself please do visit the Watford Writer's page here.

Two years ago, I saw Oscar Lyons and his band play at the Pump House Colne River Room as part of Watford Jazz Junction festival. This year he has graduated to the Pump House main stage and it’s a graduation that is well deserved. All of the songs played were his own original compositions and each was imbued with a strong emotional core. I felt he was a very careful piano player, never wasteful with notes and preferring to leave space and gaps then to fill the air with distracting frills and trills.

His band comprised George Johnson on tenor sax, Zaki Osahn on double bass and Ananda Brandão on drums. I especially enjoyed watching Johnson play as his changing facial expressions were a barometer of the performance, ranging from blank neutrality as he let the sound of the band just wash over him, to broad toothy grins as he revelled in the inventive improvisation of his bandmates. Brandao provided a showstopping solo which used every part of the drum kit with ingenuity and originality, and it's worth noting Osahn is a local player who studied at the Purcell School.

The main act was the Mark Kavuma Quartet, which became a quintet with the unexpected addition of saxophonist Ruben Fox. The rest of the band were Jack Garside on bass, Jack Thomas on drums, Deschanel Gordon on piano.

Sophisticated, mature, confident and charismatic, this band has everything you want from contemporary jazz. Even sartorial style, which seems in some quarters to be going out of fashion. When you looked at them, you could see they were every inch the jazz band who meant business: sharp shirts, pork pie hats, statement glasses; they were brimming with personality.

My highlight moment, as a lover of the Great American Songbook, was their sharp and spiky interpretation of Almost Like Being In Love, a Lerner and Lowe classic originally from the 1957 musical Brigadoon. They brought the tune right up to date with wild beebop improvisation, spiky rhythmic changes and soaring solos, while never losing the heart and romance of the original song. I especially enjoyed Gordon's piano improvisation, racing chromatic scales juxtaposed with syncopated splashes of notes. A class act all round.

Review: Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock

The night began with the Nico Widdowson Trio (Nico on piano, Joe MacLaren on double bass, Jordan Hadfield on drums), an energetic young band who immediately captured our attention with a clever bit of stage deception. A languid count in was abruptly followed by a ferociously paced first piece, and the tempestuous speed barely slowed for the entire set.

The band played with such urgency and passion that I feared for the safety of the instrumentsI It was spellbinding to see such attack in their performance, at times it almost bordered on the aggressive. Nico jerked violently in his seat whilst ascending and descending the piano keyboard with such force that I worried he might pull a muscle. When leaning back during bass or drum solos, he often glared into the audience with a devilish grin. And he even introduced one of his pieces as a warning to landlords that they shouldn’t raise rent unexpectedly on their young tenants or they might expect an avante-garde jazz piece to be written about them in retaliation. There were moments of traditional jazz sounds, stride piano, quotes from Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Thelonius Monk. But at it's core this was jazz that was fearless, fighting and inspired by the world today from a young person's perspective. Electrifying.

It was utterly disarming therefore when Nico chose to end the set on a beautifully lyrical ode to his mother. Waves of gentle romantic sound which spoke intimately of love, tenderness and connection. A touching close to the set.

If Nico and his band were the upstart firebrands, then Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock represented the Old Masters. Tim Garland may be an international star but he's also a Watford local and so it was delightful to hear that this was his first performance on the Pump House stage, and he remarked how perfect a setting it was for a night of jazz.

They’re both masters of their instruments. They play with such felicity and precision, such extravagance and control. It’s an absolute joy to see them communicate through music both with one another (their long standing friendship is immediately apparent) and also with us, sharing their musical ideas.

Tim Garland shared the Spike Milligan quotation: A jazz musician is somebody who never plays a piece the same way once! And that was true of their set tonight. Cole Porter's How Deep Is The Ocean was stretched and reshaped in splendid contortions. Tim Garland shared a wonderful piece inspired by a dream he had of being surrounded by underwater creatures. At first he felt them to be threatening him but as they approached and came closer he realised they were imploring him for their help. When he woke, he rushed to composition to produce a piece that was ecological in theme, all about how we can help preserve natural life and improve the current climate disaster's impact on aquatic biodiversity. Gwilym Simcock shared a piece which he wrote that very day on his journey from Berlin to Watford, having dropped his kid off at school that morning and not having been able to sleep the night before because of a cold that woke him up at 4 am. A world premiere!

Overall, a magical night. Genius not at work, but at play.

Review: Janet Evra + Ilario Ferrai Trio

Janet Evra is an international jazz vocalist, bassist, and bandleader, originally from England and now based in St. Louis in the USA. 

Janet has collaborated with jazz superstars Randy Brecker, Taylor Eigsti, Marcus Miller, Veronica Swift, Wycliffe Gordon, Sara Gazarek, Mohini Dey, Dave Weckl, Eric Marienthal, and Diego Figueiredo, amongst others.  She sings in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French, blending traditional American, French and Latin jazz flavours with a modern twist and a dash of pop to produce a charming performance.

The night began with Janet Evra, an international jazz vocalist, bassist, and bandleader, originally from England and now based in St. Louis. She was supported by her husband on guitar and a drummer from Essex, now based in Wales. It was in all regards a truly international set as their song choices also took us globetrotting through the USA, Latin America and Europe, she even sang in French and Spanish! Language is a passion of her, and she shared a beautiful anecdote about how she used to practice French with her mother. Moments like that made the show incredibly warm and intimate as she brought us not just into the world of her music, but her life entirely. She spoke about her delight in expecting twins, and her excitement at working with Grammy winning artists on her latest album - her 'musical crushes'. It was a joy being in her company.

The majority of the songs were originals, playful and cheeky numbers like It's Late... But Not Too Late... were beautifully crafted and could have easily slipped into The Great American Songbook.

Evra's playful, light voice which is consistently precise and clear. I especially enjoyed the fact that she sings with an English accent which is ever so gently tempered by her years living across the pond. Her husband‘s guitar playing was relaxed and laid-back, while the drummer provided a sturdy spine to the evenings proceedings.

Overall, a beautiful hour of easy listening café style jazz. I have never heard a sweeter, more pared back version of Bye Bye Blackbird; just her on voice and her husband on guitar. Perfection.

Next up was the Ilario Ferrari Trio featuring Ilario on piano, Charlie Pyne on bass and Katie Patterson on drums. They have long been Watford favourites. Although Ilario hails from Italy, he has made Watford his home and the town has taken him to its heart. The audience was filled with local fans who couldn’t wait to hear him perform some of their old favourites as well as some new work from his recently released album Above The Clouds.

His work can be quite conceptual, exploring ideas and emotions in a meditative and reflective way. He’s very good at bringing the audience into his confidence and into his mindset so that we have an understanding of what it was he was trying to achieve with each piece of music. Above The Clouds is a perfect example of that, a theme which allows him to explore ideas of perspective. He explained he was very interested in looking at what it means to see yourself as belonging but from different angles. He spoke about belonging at a local, national and international level, but beyond that at a cosmic level, exploring the theme of space travel, in particular the first journey to the moon and the opportunity it gave for human beings to look back at the earth for the first time, to see the earth rise, and to see ourselves as Earthians.

The music was captivating, full of interesting interesting harmonic choices and strange rhythmic shifts, moments of pauses and surprising movements between lyrical and angular sections of sound. He even began one of his songs with a thirty silence in which we will reflected on the importance of and hope for world peace before he began his piano playing.

The use of technology was impressive. The projector (once switched on!) provided a wonderful backdrop, firstly of a image of mountains poking through above the clouds in a dreamy heaven-scape, but also a sweet animation of an old man who releases a caged dove into the wild. 

Ilario encouraged audience participation, praising us for clapping on the 2 and 4 (we were a jazz audience after all!) and bringing on a local choir of children and adults to add colour to a couple of tunes. He closed on the ever popular Walking The Yellow Line, the closest he gets to a pop song, cheerful, optimistic and a wonderful end to another great evening of jazz from the Watford Jazz Junction festival.

Review: Vanessa Haynes presents Aretha Franklin + Harry T Pope

VANESSA HAYNES PRESENTS ARETHA FRANKLIN

10 MAY 2025

• WATFORD JAZZ JUNCTION FESTIVAL – OPENING NIGHT GALA SHOW

The Watford Junction festival returns for its fourth year and kicks off with a brilliant gala night as ever at the Watford Palace Theatre. The supporting act this year, opening up the festival, is local boy Harry T Pope and his funk band. Hailing from Croxley Green, Harry remarked on stage that it had long been his dream to play the Watford Palace Theatre stage, and you could tell he was delighted to be given this chance to realise that long held ambition. 

Mixing original songs like his debut single Stay Away with funk classics such as Stevie Wonder‘s Superstition, Harry plays like an established pro despite being only 23 years old. He has a showman‘s flare, magnetic charisma, and affable charm which makes him and his floppy hair utterly watchable from the moment he steps on the stage. On top of his stage presence, his musicality is marvellous. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing the piano with a fluidity and energy that captivates, and the guitar with a dextrous swagger. But most impressive is his vocal ability. He sweeps up and down the scale with such clarity and articulation. One of his original songs was effectively a patter song, stuffed full of so many words a minute it would rival Sondheim's famous Company number Not Getting Married Today! Indeed, despite his tender age, he is married, a revelation that drew a gentle gasp of surprise from the audience, and much eye dabbing when he dedicated his last song 11:11 to his wife.

His band are equally young; they all met at King’s College London and have been playing together ever since. This is their biggest gig to date but they were part of WJJ last year, playing at Jazz Steps around Oxhey Village. It’s great to see them graduate to this larger venue and be appreciated by such a responsive crowd.

Next up was the thrilling Vanessa Haynes, resplendent in gold with a red flower in her braided hair and a complete dominance of the stage. She prowled and stomped, two stepped and strutted until every inch was her territory. She treated us to a stunning array of Aretha Franklin classics, opening with the massive hit RESPECT and including iconic hits like Chain Of Fools, I Say A Little Prayer and (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman. On this last song, the trio of backing singers were able to show off their own truly phenomenal voices which added such texture and colour through the night. The ten-piece band as a whole were terrific, moving from funk and soul sounds to gospel with complete ease.

Haynes' voice is a powerhouse, rich, rough, and reminiscent of Aretha's in both tone and strength. Towards the end she brought Harry T Pope back out to join her on the 1987 Aretha and George Michael classic I Knew You Were Waiting For Me. Together their voices, riffing and melding through call and response, got everybody up on their feet dancing.

If this is a promise of what's to come across the week for WJJ, then we’re in for a treat. Listen to my What's On Watford episode featuring Ruth Fisher for a run down of forthcoming shows, and visit the WJJ website for tickets. Hope to see you there!

Band line up

Vanessa Haynes – vocals and Wurlitzer piano

Tom O’Grady – piano & Hammond

Tiago Coimbra – bass

Al Cherry – guitar

Martyn Kaine – drums

Sam Ewens – trumpet

Paul Booth – Tenor Sax & Flute

Mary Pearce, Chloe Du Pré and Belle Erskine – backing vocals

Review: Bouncers

 

After the recent broadcast of the Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham drama Adolescence on Netflix, there is an urgent conversation taking place at the moment around masculinity and misogyny in society. Questions about the role models young men and boys have (or choose) to look up to, the damaging influence of peer pressure, and the toxic expectations of what qualifies as masculine behaviour are very much in the spotlight. And so it’s in this context that the Pump House Theatre Company present their production of Bouncers by John Godber. It feels a very timely and prescient examination of the masculine stereotypes of the decades gone by.

The play is set in and around a 1990s Wakefield nightclub called Mr. Cinders. Although a fictional nightclub, it’s rendered very realistic by the myriad period references to booze, music, swearing, fashion and disgusting bathroom habits. Although the original Olivier award-winning comedy was set in the 1980s, Godber updated the piece for later performances and has ironically created through a comic lens a searing slice of social realism. The interaction of the bouncers is full of laddish humour and banter, but underneath the jokes  lies an ever pervasive threat of genuine danger and imminent violence.

The lead bouncer Lucky Eric (played by a commanding Russell Stratton) is a faded lion of a man. Once majestic and one imagines unchallenged in his authority, he is now constantly jibed and undermined by the young pretender Judd (played with a swaggering confidence by Connor Davey). Lucky Eric has got a sense of control, insight and nobility afforded him by his frequent speeches direct to audience, but his thin armour is quickly penetrated. His is quick to anger and his rage easily prompted. It's this sharp defensiveness which is so frighteningly apparent as a typical male reflex in this microcosmic 'manosphere', but we get a glimpse through Stratton's acting as he worries away at his ring finger while contemplating his divorce, that it actually masks a tender fear of his own vulnerability.

All four of the bouncers are wonderfully realised. Dale Carpenter's Les is apparently affable at first sight but hides a thirst for violence, letting blokes he dislikes into the club with the specific intention of battering them later in the night. Ralph, played by Russ Clancy, is perhaps the most balanced of the four; ironically the character training in martial arts seems the least inclined to fight.

A strand of comedy comes from the fact that the four bouncers play all of the other characters. There’s a brace of lads who are out on the lash keen to have a brash night out, and a gaggle of girls celebrating a birthday and looking for a fun time. The sharp contrast in the characteristics between these groups is a rich source of comedy.

This is a thought provoking play as well as a funny one. It reminds us that we’ve come a heck of a long way from the 1990s in terms of our social attitudes. The casual misogyny and homophobia littered throughout the script is a chilling reminder of how society viewed minorities and those who didn’t conform to social expectations of the time. But it's also a timely reminder that progress is hard one and hard kept. There is always the risk of moving backwards and if we don’t take care, we could see some of those positive social liberations expunged in the not too distant future.

Bouncers runs at the Pump House Theatre until Saturday 12th April. Tickets available here.

Review: Bitch Boxer

The Watford Palace Theatre stage has been transformed into a boxing ring to welcome Bitch Boxer, a one woman play by Hertfordshire local Charlie Josephine. Directed by Prime Isaac, the story follows East London girl Chloe Jackson in the approach to the 2012 Olympics, the first Olympics in which women were allowed to participate in boxing. Jackson, whose stomping ground is Leytonstone and Stratford, sees this as a sign of destiny, and is determined to become one of those women. As she takes on an intense training regime, her life is spun off centre as in the midst of this sporting pressure she meets her first love, and two months later suffers the loss of her father. The scene is set for an emotional rollercoaster which tugs at the heart.

At a tight one hour, this is a sizzling show which moves with pace and alacrity. There are some wonderful moments of stage symbolism, such as the punch bag made of shirts and the boxer's robe descending from the heavens, which bring a sense of theatricality to what could otherwise be a challenging slice of social realism. The atmosphere created by the lighting and sound is very much like that of a sporting arena: tense, dramatic and filled with the sweaty anticipation of physical action.

Chloe Jackson is played by Jodie Campbell from the popular BBC comedy drama Boarders. She's a fireball of energy from the moment she steps into the boxing ring. Whipping out a skipping rope, she immediately demonstrates the fitness energy and determination anyone trying to be successful in the world of boxing has to have at core. The story develops into a sensitive exploration of the pressures faced by a queer young black woman, a demographic woefully underrepresented in our cultural storytelling. It’s wonderful to see her story played out with such sensitivity and subtlety, presenting a fully rounded character rather than a two dimensional stereotype.

Campbell mixes intense acting with moments of lightness and comedy, and a physical control which is exemplified in her dancing, and most powerfully in the careful choreography used to re-create the boxing scenes. In each one of her punches, weaves and crouches you feel the presence of her opponent bearing down upon her.

 It’s great to see this play return to the Watford Palace stage 10 years after its first performance. It certainly still packs a powerful punch.

BITCH BOXER

WATFORD PALACE THEATRE

28 February – 9 March

Written by Charlie Josephine

Directed by Prime Isaac

Movement Direction by Mateus Daniel

Design by Hazel Low

Lighting Design by Jessie Addinall

Sound Design by Mwen

 

Press Night: 05 March 2025

Special In-Conversation with Jodie Campbell and International Boxing Champion, Shannon Ryan: 06 March 2025

 

Tickets: From £12

 

Available online at https://watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk/events/bitch-boxer/ or please contact the Box Office on 01923 225671 to make arrangements.