Kurt Elling, Jamie Cullum, Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp light up Umbria Jazz 2022

There is a huge programme of free shows each day of the Umbria Jazz festival as well as the paid-for shows at the Arena Santa Giuliana, Teatro Morlacchi & The Galleria Nationale Dell’Umbria.

If live music is your thing, then Umbria Jazz is definitely the place to be! To find 10 headliners for the Arena Santa Giuliana necessitates spreading the musical net a little wider than just jazz – hence this year the main programme included Joss Stone, Marisa Monte, Tom Jones, Jeff Beck, Incognito, Cimafunk, Corey Wong – the jazz acts featured Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jamie Cullum, Gilberto Gil, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and The Comet is Coming.

To find more ‘pure’ jazz you just need to visit the two smaller venues where there was an abundance of excellent music.

The Galleria Nazionale Dell’Umbria has a great venue on the top floor presenting two shows a day at 12 noon and 3.30pm. The beautiful ‘Teatro Morlacchi’ – had a 5pm show every day – sadly for this year the ‘around midnight’ show had been shelved.

There were many highlights in the Teatro Morlacchi this year and for my top picks I go for Charles Lloyd with Bill Frisell, The Kurt Elling/Charlie Hunter ‘Superblue’ show, Paolo Fresu and lastly Immanuel Wilkins.

Even though I had seen the Charles Lloyd show a few days earlier – here, in the confines of a small theatre – the intensity and power of the band was exhilarating. The band are really tight, Lloyd & Frisell have a great understanding in their interplay and Lloyd’s soloing is just incredible. In this beautiful place the music really touches you.

The Kurt Elling and Charlie Hunter ‘Superblue’ show was just a ball. I have rarely seen Elling deliver such a bubbly performance. Gone was the suit and tie; Elling was really relaxed, bouncing around the stage dancing to the band - Charlie Hunter on guitar, a three piece horn section plus piano, bass & drums. Elling was really letting his hair down and in party mode. The audience caught on and were clapping and cheering with him – a great show.

Paolo Fresu is no stranger to Umbria Jazz – he plays virtually every year and never disappoints. He was playing with Rita Marcotulli (Piano) and Brazillian cellist Jaques Morelenbaum. Fresu has an extremely distinctive style with subtle electronics to give him his unique sound. Fresu is a romantic so his music is nearly always lyrical to listen to and he is theatrical to watch. Often seated he bends almost double playing straight at his monitor or standing facing the others, his back arched, blowing high to the lights above the stage. Morelenbaum and Marcotulli play their parts superbly but it is very difficult to take your eyes off Fresu – he is mesmerising.

In a completely different way American alto sax player Immanuel Wilkins was equally impressive. Playing the music from his suite ‘The 7th Hand’ with his quartet featuring; Micah Thomas (Piano), Rick Rosato (Bass) and Kweku Sumbry (Drums). Wilkins is one of the most intense sax players I have heard with fast dense solos, some lasting more than 10 minutes. He is not flashy or ‘look at me’, but very measured with precise dextrous fingering. He played one ballad – beautiful and soulful – almost at the beginning of the set – but from there on the intensity didn’t drop until the end – a great band and Wilkins a huge talent for the future.

The main shows in the Arena Santa Giuliana were a mixed bag. I was very disappointed with Diana Krall’s show which lacked anything uplifting and was very pedestrian. Shabaka Hutchings The Comet is Coming were great but far too loud – so loud it was uncomfortable – probably due to the lack of bodies in the arena to absorb the sound.

Jamie Cullum on the other hand was great entertainment. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand very quickly and his fast-paced show with a mixture of his own material and standards was a huge success with the packed audience.

Herbie Hancock’s show was also a great success. Featuring Lionel Loueke on guitar and Terence Blanchard on trumpet. Hancock playing (and even singing) a selection from his long career including; ‘Footprints, Actual Proof, Come Running to Me, Chameleon & Watermelon Man,’ the show was a celebration from start to finish – he even mimicked Cullum’s piano leap – all be it his own improvised version!

Tom Jones (he did have a jazzy shirt) was excellent – Jones still has a brilliant soulful voice along with a bag full of classic songs to sing. He was in quite some pain due to sciatica and had cancelled his previous concert in Budapest due to laryngitis – so not in the best of health – despite this his performance here was miraculous. The stage set was brilliant and he has an excellent band.

The closing show featured probably the most anticipated show of the festival.

The Jeff Beck/Johnny Depp show was completely rammed with the majority of the audience only there for one reason, sadly not to see Jeff Beck. The upside of the capacity crowd was a bonus for opening act Samara Joy – a very classy singer with a fantastic voice, great for her to perform for such a large audience.

Jeff Beck played the first half of the show – classic jazz rock which included Stevie Wonder’s ‘Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers’ from Becks’ classic ‘Blow by Blow’ album. When the moment arrived and Depp came on stage it was reminiscent of a ‘boy band’ gig and the hysteria that comes with it – any chance the front of stage staff had of keeping the hoards of fans back was quickly gone as was the chance of hearing any decent music from that point on…

Next year is the 50th edition of this great festival. Artistic director Carlo Pagnotta, who has been in charge since the inception of the festival in 1973, is no doubt already formulating plans for this celebration. Umbria Jazz is the jewel in the crown of Italian Jazz Festivals and will no doubt pull out all the stops to make next year something very special. If you have never visited Perugia for Umbria Jazz – then next year would be an excellent time to start!