Solstice¹ at Cambridge Modern Jazz : set-lists and a few comments

More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2016 (20 to 27 October)
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)

30 March

Set-lists from, and a few comments about, the gig by Solstice¹ at Cambridge Modern Jazz (Hidden Rooms, Jesus Lane, Cambridge) on Thursday 30 March at 8.00 p.m.

Go Solstice! @HiddenRooms 8pm This Thu 8pm. @ToriFreestone @Jtjazzman @brigitteberaha Tix https://t.co/Pm1Y77m8Jm 07827 012875 JOYOUS JAZZ! pic.twitter.com/BMfcqHL9O1

— camjazz (@camjazz) March 27, 2017

Solstice¹ : time at which the sun is furthest from the equator
and appears to stand still before returning.

Personnel :

* Brigitte Beraha ~ vocals
* Tori Freestone ~ flute / saxes
* Jez Franks ~ guitar
* George Hart ~ drums
* Dave Mannington ~ double-bass
* John Turville ~ piano


First set (maybe missing an item after no. 4) :

1. Ultimate big cheese (Dave Mannington)
2. Mourning porridge (John Turville)
3. The Anchor Song (Björk, arr. JT)
4. Tilt (Jez Franks)
5. Solstice (Brigitte Beraha ??)
6. Random acts of kindness (JM)


We were told that 'Mourning porridge', a Latin-infused number with wordless vocals, had been written with saxophonist Tori Freestone's oat intolerance in mind.

'Solstice' was a disquieting melody, which 'undeveloped' into primal and alarming rawness - shrieks, laughter and bellowing from Beraha, which may not have caused some to relate it to what the name of the sextet or that of the piece means (please see above), as an evocation of how unsettling, in terms of not knowing what was happening to the Sun at these times of year, they might have seemed to our ancestors.

The first set was worth hearing for @ToriFreestone's beautiful alto solo alone, in Jez Franks' 'Tilt', plus two on tenor in the second set ! https://t.co/Tx3YHHcDL5

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) March 31, 2017

Second set (assuming seven numbers in the first set) :

8. Quetzalcoatlus (JM)
9. Hear words like butterflies (sic ?) (BB)
10. Avocado deficit (Tori Freestone)
11. Unspoken (BB)
12. The universal fall (TF)


The band had titled its album 'Alimentation', but (as with intolerance) 'Avocado deficit' appeared predicated on someone who had not eaten one in a very long time (and was in funeral-march time ?). In 'Unspoken', singing words now seemed to fit Beraha's voice better than earlier². After a rocking solo from Jez Franks, and as with her tenor solo on 'Quetzalcoatlus', Freestone showed her expressive versatility and accomplishment, this time in rumba rhythm.

Good to have a chance to hear sextet @solsticejazz to-night at @camjazz - their fifth gig, with another fourteen to go, incl. @StablesMK...

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) March 31, 2017

Encore :

13. All the things you are (Jerome Kern)


The choice of encore seemed an impromptu choice. As well as singing a capella, Beraha brought out and exploited the interpretative possibilities of pausing slightly between 'You' and 'are' (in lines such as 'You are the promised kiss of springtime'³), and Freestone and Franks took solos that showed adventurousness, playing with the song's metre, and reinterpreting its theme.


End-notes :

¹ The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology edited by C. T. Onions. Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1966.

² In the first set, Beraha had seemed better at blending and melding when singing wordlessly : probably through lacking in a proper feedback monitor (rather trying to bring off Jacqui Dankworth’s singing-style, but without the necessary voice).

³ In the more subtle music and language, that uncertainty is there about whether springtime will come...


If you want to Tweet, Tweet away here

Unless stated otherwise, all films reviewed were screened at Festival Central (Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge)