Review: Saturday night at Sidmouth Jazz & Blues Festival

It may have been a most unlikely thing for Paris to yell in sedate Sidmouth, but, judging by Saturday’s super sell-out show at the second year’s festival, it could become a mantra for what is fast blossoming into one of the South West’s premier boutique music events.

Blessed by glorious weather, this year’s festival – transposed from the Kennaway House lawn to the more spacious Blackmore Gardens – had definitely built upon the success of its predecessor. On Saturday the crowd relished the bright sunshine and there was a relaxed vibe in the air as the festival clearly took on an upward trajectory.

And if there had been a roof across the park on Saturday night, headlining act the Brand New Heavies would surely have lifted it into the stratosphere with their enticing and crowd-pleasing blend of acid-jazz, soul and funk.

But what of events earlier in the day? As well as a multitude of fringe musical performances around the town, there was free music at the Blackmore main stage during the blazing hot afternoon, ahead of the ticketed headliners.

Sadly, I arrived too late to catch retro swing and Latin trio The Violet Jive, but my sources assure me that they turned in an excellent set – one of the best of the day in their opinion – that had the large crowd up and dancing to their intoxicating mix of super-cool cover tunes.

On then to Dom Pipkin & The Ikos, a tight four-piece who brought us the soul of New Orleans, with shades of musical legend Dr John. Fronted by piano virtuoso Dom Pipkin, their perky and punchy set featured numerous highlights, including the boisterous opener, “Little Liza Jane”, the stomping “I Don't Want to Go Back to New Orleans”, the energetic “Skinny Man Skank” and Dr John’s “Such A Night”. Tremendous stuff.

Things got considerably bluesy with a set from the Connor Selby Band. Guitarist and vocalist Selby has a fine line in mellow, hard done by blues, his expressive and dynamic vocal telling sad tales of emotional misery and heartbreak such as the brooding “How Blue Can You Get?”. His hard-rocking “Emily” closed a fine set, although some stage presence and more song announcements wouldn’t have gone amiss.

The park then shut for an hour to allow the stage to be re-set for the evening’s performance. Once we’d all trooped back in with our folding chairs, there was a support set from Slinky Machine, a Lyme-Regis based jazz-funk quartet. I caught them at last year’s festival and was impressed, although I felt they lacked stage presence. Sadly, that’s still the case, so much of their set – mostly original instrumentals in a 1970s vein – received just polite applause. Their own “Lightbulb” and Jeff Beck’s “Stratus” were good though, so with a bit more pizzazz they could have something.

The Brand New Heavies have had a fluid line-up over the years. Darlings of the 1990s acid-jazz scene and with 16 top 40 funky singles under their belts, the current line-up features founding members Simon Bartholomew (guitar, vocals) and Andrew Levy (bass), joined by vocalist Angela Ricci, backed by a red-hot band.

Within minutes of BNH hitting the stage and blasting out “Never Stop” followed by a storming “Midnight at the Oasis”, many of the sell-out crowd were up on their feet and dancing. Ricci’s vocal sounded glorious, Bartholomew’s guitar was deliciously distinctive while Levy’s bass kept everything funky.

The band roared through a dazzling set of their hits, with many of the crowd singing along to numbers such as “Back to Love”, “Sometimes” and, to my ears, a slightly disappointing take on “Dream on Dreamer”. Fortunately, a slower and gutsy version of “Brother Sister” more than compensated, along with a glorious “Forever” and “Spend Some Time”.

All too soon BNH’s set came to a hectic close and the delighted crowd packed up their folding chairs and set off into the cool night. Overall, an unforgettable day and definitely a case of “Sidmouth’s got the funk!”