Rachael Cohen - London Jazz Festival 2014

Rachael Cohen - alto saxophone

Rachael Cohen kicked off the EFG London Jazz Festival this year on the Southbank (14/11/2014). The Royal Festival Hall is not only one of London's great public spaces but a hub, meeting point and cultural cauldron. It is the heartbeat of the jazz festival. It offers the everyman and everywoman the chance to experience this most innovative of genres for free.

Jim Bashford - drums

This year's festival is better than ever with an even broader mix of styles, ages and venues to choose from. Rachael Cohen played it relatively safe, for this was a lunchtime concert that embraced an audience from toddlers to those surfing the silver freedom-pass wave. The majority of tunes were from her debut album Halftime on Whirlwind Recordings which was released this time last year at the suitably named Whirlwind Festival.

Steve Marchant
@yorks111

That launch gig showcased the talents of Phil Robson on guitar and once again he gave us what we hoped for here. He has been thrilling the jazzerati recently with the latest Partisans'  album  'Swamp'. They have toured North America and are now at the end of their UK leg. It is Leeds tonight at Seven Jazz and then the Vortex, London tomorrow (21/11/2014).

Phil Robson - guitar

Rachael Cohen socked us a couple of easy punches with 'The Manor' and Ornette Coleman's 'Just for you' to start proceedings. It was packed out in the Festival Hall, and I perched in the crow's nest above the bar. 'Groove Envy' gave us the chance to sail to more ambitious shores. The tune steps up and steps down like riding the escalators in a department store but when you hear Rachael Cohen alone it conjures more naturalistic sentiments. Maybe it her height and elegance alongside her playing that makes you think of reeds and rushes. From afar she sways in the wind, soft and mesmeric, yet you know the edges are sharp and whippy.

Before a finale of the warmed toned 'Intermission' and boisterous 'Riggins Higgins,?' we were treated to a new tune. Mark Lewandowski warmed to it too, looking a little pale and with sleepy eyes at first, he brought the colour to 'Green screen'. It was cheeky and joyous, it made you wonder what gems are contained in Rachael Cohen's second album.

Mark Lewandowski - bass

A final note goes to the London Jazz Festival's most devoted jazzface, Steve Marchant, who I sketched listening intently. At the time of writing this he has racked up 20 gigs in just 6 days. He will inevitably make the marathon distance but will he become the first Jazz Ultra and hit the 50. You wouldn't bet against it.

AL.

Rachael Cohen - Whirlwind Halftime launch

 

Rachael Cohen - Saxophone

Another day (11/10/2013) and another launch to kick off a Whirlwind Festival day in King's Place's St Pancras Room. This time we had different approach from the label's first female band leader, Rachael Cohen. The 'hair of the dog' after the night before was just the ticket with a rich mellow brew from Cohen's imminent release 'Halftime'.

Mark Lewandowski

The relatively new face of Rachael Cohen was hidden in the St Pancras Room's gloomy lighting but it suited her music, especially crepuscular tunes like her sixth of the set, "Intermission". Cohen has a stillness and calm about her playing, not so much punch and sway. With her slim long legs, teetering on wedged heels she looks like a hunting Crane, elegant and full of latent strength. In fact the sedate and emotive "Ask me later" has a sequence toward the end that suggests circular ripples in a still pool, the casting off of sound into a quiet hall and the powerful moments of silence in between.

Phil Robson - Guitar

After the opening tunes we encountered one of many compositions that highlighted the talents of Phil Robson on guitar. The disparate "Groove Envy" is an ambitious piece that was expertly bound by Robson's playing. Initial impressions predicted a darned repair, but Robson stitches were short and sharp and his darting needle left us richly embroidered. His precarious solo on "Just for you" was a simple delight on the strolling, wistful Ornette Coleman tune.
It brought out the swing of Mark Lewandowski on bass too. His playing wandering over the belt line of the groove, unlike the man himself, who kept his white shirt firmly tucked into his black trousers.

Jim Bashford - drums

The quartet gained more momentum toward the end of their launch. Jim Bashford stretched out a little without ever becoming musically inebriated, although "The Manor" let his bubbles rise to the top like a good champagne, subtly fizzing. The finale of "Riggins Higgins" gave Rachael Cohen the chance to rock off her wedges and onto her toes. She left both the crowd and the band animated for the day ahead. Rumour has it that this musical shot in the arm propelled Cohen well into the wee small hours of the night too, along with the album's photographer Pippa Evans.

AL.