Guinness Cork Jazz Festival reviews: Jazzanova and Gogo Penguin impress at Everyman
Gogo Penguin at the Everyman for the opening night of Guinness Cork Jazz Festival 2022. Picture: John Cronin
German collective Jazzanova kicked off the first night of the 2022 Guinness Cork Jazz Festival
at the Everyman. Revered for their output in the nujazz sphere, and well-known in the club world for their remix work, the Berlin-based group were in Cork to showcase their reinterpretations of tracks from the Strata Records label in Detroit.
Over a couple of years in the mid-1970s, Strata released around 10 albums that later became much sought-after by the ‘in-the-know’ crate-digging community. International and obscure – ideal fodder for Jazzanova.
The Teutonic tunesmiths came to the Everyman stage as a nine-piece, fronted by American vocalist Sean Haefeli, performing tracks from The Sound of Detroit album with a sprinkling of other Jazzanova material. Breezy jazz-funk and swampier Seventies jazz are in the mix, with highlights coming via the instrumental workouts, particularly on ‘Saturday Night Special’.
The energy in the room may have had a bit of an early-in-the-weekend feel, but this was solid, and always interesting.
With the first box ticked on the jazz card, conversation among punters afterwards switched to the new arrangements for the Everyman gigs. Traditionally a double-bill with an 8pm kick-off, and short gap between acts, organisers this year have opted for the format of two separate gigs – starting at 7pm and 11pm, respectively.
If you’re going to both events, it means a 2.5-hour gap in a town where most of the bars are already overflowing. Lobby chatter and a fairly unscientific straw-poll revealed a vote in favour of the second gig getting under way earlier. Of course it's all a discussion that could be made redundant by next year's event, with the prospect of new licensing laws and music all night long.
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Despite a few gripes about the late start, Gogo Penguin proved well worth waiting for, and provided the first night of the festival with at least one brilliant gig to crow about.
Formed in Manchester 10 years ago, the youngish trio are part of thriving new wave of British jazz where its players not only take inspiration from the genre’s past masters, but are often also well-versed in contemporary electronica, hip-hop, etc.
The Penguins’ reputation as one of the most exciting bands in that UK scene – as well as local memories of a superb gig at Triskel for the 2015 festival – ensured the Everyman was sold out well in advance.
They plunged straight in with ‘All Res’, a stirring tune from their 2016 album, Man Made Object. What followed was a masterclass in how music with the 100-year-old label of ‘jazz’ can still feel as exciting as ever. Inter-track chat was kept to a minimum as they unleashed tunes that were at times complex and intricate, at others taking on a sparser feel of minimalist classical or even dub reggae.
Rather than improvisation and solos, Gogo Penguin are presumably rehearsed to the nth degree, and lose none of their energy in the process. Layers are heaped to often-epic proportions – at one stage, the gentle head-nodding of a typical jazz crowd almost morphed into metallesque headbanging as the music hit Rage Against The Machine levels of intensity.
The magnanimous cheers that greeted the introduction of each member of the band was evidence of how it was impossible to pick a favourite. You’d imagine nobody this weekend will surpass the energy output of new drummer Jon Scott – frenetic but oh so tasty. To the left of stage, Chris Illingworth gave us beautiful piano and spacier keyboard sounds – often at the same time. And in the centre, propelling it all along, double-bass player Nick Blacka, occasionally pulling out the bow as he coaxed incredible rhythms and melodies from his instrument.
Cork’s jazz festival has felt like it was at a bit of a crossroads in recent years, trying to match former glories to something fresh and relevant – Gogo Penguin were the perfect band to show how this can be achieved.
- For full listings, see https://guinnesscorkjazz.com/
