Thoughts on the Rye Jazz and Blues Festival

A cold weekend.

I’ve just returned from the small town of Rye on England’s south coast, which has hosted a jazz festival for the last few years. I decided to go as headlining this year’s event were a few artists that I wanted to see.

I drove down the 60-odd miles in pouring rain and parked just by the station, in a disabled parking area. Yes. I do have a blue badge. I remembered Rye as being on top of a hill and quite flat. First shock. It was quite a drag up to the main town, in pouring rain, pushing my walker containing the few items of clothing I had brought with me in a rucksack. When I got to the flat section in the centre of town, I then found it was another trudge up to the Kino where the free open-air events were being held. I got there just as the first band was setting up. The only seating was under a canopy open to the rain. The band was called Mulvey’s Medecine, a jazz-rock group from South London, and they weren’t bad. I heard most of the set, then retired to the adjacent cafe for a coffee and sausage roll.

I then made my way to the adjacent church where the mainliner concerts were being held. As a disabled person, I was given priority seating about five rows back and waited for an hour to see and hear the first star guest, alto saxophonist Camilla George.

Camilla George is a fairly new addition to the British jazz scene. She is of Nigerian birth, learned saxophone at the Trinity School of Music, and has rapidly made her way up, into now being one of the most respected jazz musicians in England. After playing with Jazz Jamaica, she formed her own band, featuring her writing which is a blend of Afrofuturism, hip-hop, and jazz, and has a powerful connection with her African roots. Here is one of the tracks from her first album.

I found her music, vibrant and exciting. I really enjoyed the continuous hour of her concert and went away happy and contented.

By now it was time to find the AirB&B where I was staying. This turned out to be a very old house,just along the main street.

I was greeted warmly by my hostess, with a cup of very welcome tea and biscuits, and shown up to my beautifully decorated room.

There, shock, horror I found that my changes of clothes were all soaking wet. I hung them up to dry, but this did not happen till Monday, so I ended up wearing the same clothes for the next two day

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.That evening I had a nice Greek-based meal in one of the oldest pubs in Rye, The Old Bell.

Sunday turned out to be a better day weatherwise, and after having a good breakfast, I returned to the Kino to hear the first of the artists playing there. This turned out to be a jazz soul band, again from South London. They were called Wonder 45, and played mostly the compositions of their singers, Jess Greenfield and Gavin Conder.

They were not at all bad and got a very good reception from the packed audience.

The next event in St.Mary’s Church was one of the acts that I was looking forward to.

It was the appearance of veteran jazz pianist Monty Alexander, who turned 80 this year. I have been a fan of his for quite a long time. He was born in Jamaica, where he started playing at a very early age. His family moved to Florida in 1961, where he played in various nightclubs. He was discovered there by Frank Sinatra and moved to New York. Here he met and became friends with Miles Davis and Milt Jackson. He started recording in 1964, and produced many hit recordings. Amongst his most popular recordings was his jazz recording of Bob Marley’s hit “Woman No Cry” which combined jazz and reggae music.

Unfortunately for me, he was a big disappointment. Though still a good pianist, his performance was very formulaic. He just played a selection of his most famous recordings, reproducing the same “quotes” and hints of reggae, as he had recorded over the years. To me, there was no real invention or inspiration. However, I seemed to be the only member of the audience who did not enjoy his performance and he got rapturous applause. For me, it was jazz for people who were not really into jazz. So completely different from last night’s performance by Camilla George.

This concert was over by 4.30, so I went back to the Kino and caught the last part of Acantha Long’s set. She is a New Orleans-born soul singer, now resident in London, who is making quite a name for herself. She has a powerful and emotional voice, and I thought that I might have been better off listening to her, than Monty Alexander.

With two hours to go to the next concert, I decided to go and get something to eat. There was a small restaurant next to The Kino, but they shut at 6.00, and the Old Pie shop next door closed at 4.00. I was not the only one looking for a meal. I wandered about a bit, but other than a long walk to a fish and chip there only seemed to be full meal available at a large hotel in the centre of Rye. There were no pizza or kebab places, and all the fairly numerous cafes were closed. One would have thought that with a jazz festival going on at least one of the central ones would have stayed open. Even the Kino bar had sold out of sausage rolls ! So I had to go hungry.

This was compounded by being told when I went up to St.Mary’s Church, that entrance would be delayed for about twenty minutes, as they were still doing sound checks. It was also pretty cold waiting. However I got talking to a couple of young men from Beckenham, who had driven down that day just to see Mica Millar. They were envious of me because I had seen her perform at The Union Chapel in London.

We sat together when we were finally let in. One of them produced some Bacardi and Coke, which they offered me, which warmed me up a bit. We had an interesting conversation, covering all sorts of topics from football to Mica Millar. They could not believe how old I was.

Manchester born, Mica Millar, is not a jazz singer, but an original soul singer, which obviously has jazz connections. She has burst onto the International circuit with great success. Sell-out gigs at some of Europe’s most prestigious locations have gained her a huge army of fans. Most of her material is originals written by herself, and featured in her album “Heaven Knows”, which made up most of her performance in Rye,

I think that other than her great voice, she has a remarkable stage presence, and soon gets the audience in the palm of her hand. Her songs have great lyrics, which she puts over really well. She is probably an unusual choice for me to like, but I think that I appreciate a good voice and a singer who sings with real feelings. Her performance finished at about 10.15, and my companions were driving back to London. I made my weary way back to my accommodation and was surprised to find that all the pubs were closed by 10.30. What is it with provincial towns? We found the same thing in Swanage earlier in the year.

The next morning I left fairly early to drive home.

How can I sum up the Rye Jazz and Blues Festival. Basically it seemed much more of a Blues Festival, with not that much jazz being performed. I did notice that there actually seemed more jazz featured on Monday, with the London-based band The Jazz Defenders being featured. Would I go again? I’m afraid the answer is no unless there was someone that I could not miss appearing. I actually enjoyed the Swanage festival much more. That featured all types of jazz, from traditional to avant-garde , though the majority of musicians appearing were familiar faces from London.