Cheltenham Jazz Festival : Pat Martino and Julian Arguelles double bill - Chelltenham Town Hall

Friday 1st May 2009

This is a Crackerjack review of Cheltenham Jazz Festival: Pat Martino and Julian Arguelles. Do you agree? Rate and review this event.

Crackerjack rating: 6 / 10.

A gig that was the tale of two famed American guitarists provided interesting contrasts.

Pat Martino - a Wes Montgomery populariser - played in a funky Hammond organ setting with Tony Monaco and sure time-keeper, drummer Louis Tsamous.

Monaco was a straight ahead magnum force and useful accompanist, but any movement to a higher plane was all Martino.

Lean Years found him digging into the harmonies, and on Sunny he converted the clunky chords of the theme into a lightning riff which he mined for pure gold.

Ballads sometimes lingered longer than the worth of the guitarist’s invention, but overall a worthwhile opportunity to enjoy a rare visitor.

John Abercrombie featured with saxophonist Julian Arguelles’ quartet. The latter’s compositions and his solos came over as a constant recycling of the same limited material, in music that had a free feel riding the taunt, spiky drumming of Tom Rainey and the rich bass of Michael FormanekAbercrombie’s ingenious gruff contribution though, lifted the folksong like A Lifelong Moment.

Best was a flamenco linked composition with Formanek’s solo introduction way out of Andalusia, and Abercrombie easing into Jimi Hendrix tones which fitted  well.

Martino got an encore. Arguelles didn’t. That’s how it goes.

Derek Briggs

This is a Crackerjack review of Cheltenham Jazz Festival: Pat Martino and Julian Arguelles. Do you agree? Rate and review this event.