Brecon Jazz 2007 reviewed

Revellers paid tribute to the late George Melly as the 2007 Brecon Jazz Festival got underway on Friday night.

Cardiff's Adamant Parade Band led a traditional New Orleans style funeral dirge to the tune of Just A Closer Walk With Thee which turned into a joyous parade - surely what George would have wanted.

Jools Holland was the Friday night headliner but with tickets for the concert sold out long ago there was still plenty on offer elsewhere around the town.

Festival regulars the Root Doctors led by the irrepressible Mike Harries could be trusted to deliver a crowd-pleasing gumbo of New Orleans funk, soul, jazz and more.

A hard act to follow, but the Dave Stapleton Quintet did just that. The Cardiff-based pianist delivered a powerful but controlled set of melodic European contemporary jazz which - if they want - has great potential to reach out to a rock audience at Glastonbury or Green Man.

Spacious numbers from the forthcoming album The House Always Wins showed that the band is more than capable of building on the nationwide acclaim they won for their debut When Life Was In Black And White.

Outside the main venues, the prospect of the return of street music on Saturday and Sunday was eagerly anticipated, but the festive atmosphere was already present in the pubs and clubs taking part in the Brecon Fringe.

There, bands like Red Eyed Fly put the emphasis firmly on rockin' rhythm and blues. Indeed, it's hard not to marvel at the wild-eyed antics of frontman Mike Bird and see that the spirit of Melly lives on!

All this and Burlesque Betty's Brecon Review for the even more adventurous visitor...

For the rest of the weekend I mainly took a Stroller's point of view, though the Chris Barber Big Band on Saturday night and Ray Gelato on Sunday night were both, as expected, polished acts of the highest quality.

Ray may have suffered a little competition for audience numbers from a string of swinging bands in the Beacons Stroller venue with The Jive Aces and Ocean's Seven keeping the jivers jumping throughout Sunday evening.

My own band Wonderbrass had a warm reception in our Sunday afternoon gig in the Captain's Walk - whenever we're told we're a pleasure to watch I always reply that it's a pleasure to play.

And it was great to see music back on the streets, especially Slim Lightfoot's upbeat slide guitar blues - just enough to build up the atmosphere without becoming too big an obstacle to negotiate our way between the venues.

As always, it's impossible to see everything, so feel free to add your comments and reviews of Brecon Jazz 2007.

See some festival photos on the BBC Mid Wales website.