Bray Jazz Festival 2015

By IAN PATTERSON,
Published: May 11, 2015

Bray Jazz Festival 2015 

Various Venues 

Bray, Ireland 

May 1-3, 2015 

Sunshine and squall. The sun and the clouds chased each other's tails throughout the May Bank Holiday weekend of the Bray Jazz Festival. In a way the weather mirrored the music—a pleasingly eclectic, bracing mixture—and the fortunes of the festival itself, which has been buffeted by the recent storms of funding cuts, yet remains unbowed. 

In spite of a reduced budget and a program tailored accordingly, Bray Jazz 2015 did what it has done every year for the past sixteen editions—that's to say, it brought the charming seaside town of Bray to life with a smorgasbord of jazz and related music. 

For three days Bray's pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels heaved with Bank Holiday revellers enjoying dozens of free gigs, while the main program unfolded with some truly memorable performances in the Town Hall and Mermaid Arts Centre. 

Day One - Francesco Turrisi & The Taquín Experiments 

The Taquín Experiments is a modular ensemble led by Bray-based Italian Francesco Turrisi, which operates as a trio, quartet and sextet, or with whatever number of instruments can be mustered to the cause. This Town Hall concert was the first run-out in this format with saxophonist Nick Roth and cellist Kate Ellis rounding out the trio, though the three performed here as part of the Irish/Mediterranean folk ensemble Tarab during a memorable performance at Bray Jazz 2009. 

Turrisi's 1950s Wurlitzer relayed baroque hymnal hues and jazz improvisation, before the slowly hypnotic motif of "Grigio" unfurled over Ellis' languid lines and Roth's keening soprano. Another Wurlitzer motif introduced John Zorn's "Hadasha," as lilting melodies bled into pockets of dissonance. The seamless transition from classical European church music to Middle Eastern lament was followed by "Hanukkah," Roth's haunting, lullaby-esque arrangement inspired by the Jewish Festival of Lights. 

A celebratory Turkish melody and an equally heady Macedonian traditional tune rubbed shoulders with an Armenian ballad of aching lyricism. The Taquín Experiments may be inspired by pan-Mediterranean roots music but its untraditional approach was punctuated by bustling tenor, cello drone and Turrisi's psychedelic keyboard wizardry. 


An untitled original by Turrisi—a spinning waltz of Eastern European origin—closed an absorbing set. For the encore, the trio played "Nel Mezzo" from Songs of Experience (Taquín Records, 2013), a beguiling tune of overlapping melodies. The Taquín Experiments has yet to record but with music so heartfelt and so universal it surely must.

read more: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/bray-jazz-festival-2015-by-ian-patterson.php