THE INDEPENDENT

Sholto Byrnes: Talking Jazz

Published: 11 May 2007

Cheltenham has even developed that hallmark of the successful festival, the "fringe", now with its own programme. So, for those shut out from the Town Hall's Pillar Room - which was packed on Saturday morning for a performance by the Birmingham-based trumpeter Bryan Corbett - there were free gigs at the marquee outside and at the Kandinsky, where another trumpeter from England's second city, Duncan McNaughton, lent a hand to singer Lizzie Newbery's quartet.
The size of Corbett's audience shows why London-based booking agents should take notice. (Although he is much in demand around the Midlands, and is currently touring with Us3, his appearances in the capital are too rare.) Corbett is backed by a solid, empathetic rhythm section led by the excellent pianist Levi French, whose bluesy vamping is always a joy. The leader's trumpet is characterised by a wide, confident tone that bends fully open and wraps itself around a note or a phrase, and the band is careful to observe dynamic contrasts. Corbett is never afraid to let the music take him where it will - to let his whole body become the servant of the spirit of improvisation, to twist and turn on stage, to become one with the horn through which the magic is working. Perhaps this sounds fanciful, but anyone who has experienced it knows that there is a type of soloing that comes not from rigorous concentration on a melodic train of thought but from a plateau seemingly above that, where it feels as though some other intangible power is speaking through the soloist.

There was so much to hear at Cheltenham and too little time. It was a shame to miss, for instance, the great American valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, still going strong at 76, or the enchanting Norwegian singer Silje Nergaard. But even a weekend visit served to underline that the organisers should feel very proud of their event - one that now rivals London's for the position of leading UK jazz festival.