Alexander Hawkins, Claude Deppa and Robert Mitchell help Bath Jazz Weekend bring the heat

While it will never have the clout (or budget) of his sorely missed Bath International Music Festival jazz weekends promoter Nod Knowles’ annual post-Christmas programme has always proved to be a truly satisfying collage of talents. This year proved no exception, from re-vitalised veteran Larry Stabbins’ opening to rising young star Mali Sheard’s band Homestead who brought things to a close.

Spellbinding piano and saxophone interplay seemed to be a bit of a theme throughout, starting with Stabbins’ assertive duo with piano firebrand Alexander Hawkins. This produced a creative conversation that rolled from gospel sincerity to atonal skirmishing and back to a Township groove in tribute to Louis Moholo. Similarly enthralling moments came from the measured pairing of pianist Tony Hymas and French baritone player François Corneloup whose Gallic chamber jazz elegance shone through all they played. Another French musician - Sophie Domancich - added her intense piano to Paul Dunmall’s trio to great effect, the rapport between the players evident from the outset and especially in a disputatious duet passage that nonetheless resolved into brash complementarity.

The longstanding collaboration of Huw Warren and Mark Lockheart was another entertaining piano/sax partnership on offer. Their trio with Yuri Goloubev’s bass (pictured above) had a relaxed confidence justified by imaginative playing and nicely melodic compositions drawn from the New Day album as well as a brisk Latin-Baroque arrangement of an Hermeto Pascoal number. The weekend’s almost inevitable train service problems meant that Huw reappeared in Mali Sheard’s young quintet (their pianist being lost in a siding somewhere) and he held his own among the Tomorrow’s Warriors alumni. Sheard’s highly-listenable compositions proved great starting points for a tight band sound in which bass player George Balmont’s imaginative precision and Sheard’s mellifluous alto were notably prominent. Bass man Miles Danso made his presence felt similarly in Middle Eye, the quintet fronted by Claude Deppa’s trumpet and Clare Hirst’s tenor whose set managed to combine clever timings and cross-rhythms with smoothly grooving tunes.

Of course there had to be wild cards, including the ever-unpredictable Eddie Parker whose Eschersteps Quartet (pictured above) turned out to be a kind of 70s ‘Canterbury Sound’ rock ensemble with a splendid set of mystic lyrics, flailing guitar solos and harmony vocals, all delivered with Parker’s engaging smile. And there were the Gas Giants, making one of their vary rare appearances with multi-instrumentalist Ross Hughes joining the original pairing of Will ‘Goldfrapp’ Gregory and drummer Tony Orrell. Like an electro-acoustic Spike Jones for the digital generation, the three deployed a mass of synths and samples alongside saxes, bass clarinet and drum kit to respectfully misuse all kinds of musical inspirations including Moondog, Morricone and Bacharach (whose ‘Walk On By’ was dragged through a harmonic swamp). Turning a Bach chorale into a jaunty reggae number Gregory announced it was ‘taste bypass time’ but that was already way behind us.

However, the wildest of all cards were dealt by the equally rare appearance of Maggie Nichols and Julie Tippets (pictured above), a duo of supreme vocal improvisatory skills underpinned by a hilarious sisterhood that allows them to go wherever they want. In the course of 45 all-too-brief minutes they clucked, soared and soothed musically, all the while lapsing in and out of uniquely comic dialogues built around the rhythms and cadences of small talk. Mis-chosen shoes and a spilled water bottle both proved inspirational to a seamless performance that was the highlight of this top-quality weekend.

Of course, outside it was cold and getting colder, the trains were still all over the place and the world was a scary place - something that pianist Robert Mitchell’s True Think had reminded us via politically conscious poetry sung with effortless freedom by Liselotte Östblom over the band’s cool nu-jazz grooves. It was salutary stuff, encouraging challenge and the need to go forward, and with our batteries refreshed by the end of the weekend that was just what we did.