Thursday and the festival starts early in the streets of the capital city Valletta. The Tinto Brass Band brought early twentieth-century jazz traditions to Republic Street. The Band serenaded locals and visitors alike with the sound of New Orleans Jazz: the sound once played by energetic and tireless marching bands, real talents that later become icons of jazz music such as Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, W.C. Handy, and Sidney Bechet to name a few.
The Tinto Brass Band are made up of: Andrea “Louis” Savasta (trumpet, lead vocal), Daniele “Mr. T” Savasta (trombone), Mirko Sapia (tuba), Thomas “Tumazzo” Occhipinti (snare drum), Turi “Professor” Di Natale (banjo), and Peppe “Kalipha” Virzì (bass drum), and they did the legacy of New Orleans marching bands proud.
The evening’s event took us back to MICAS for the last time this week. There was a considerable increase in the number of chairs set out on the balcony so ticket sales must have been good – and indeed they were, this was the best attended event of the festival so far. So who was drawing the crowd? On stage came Brazilian guitarist, composer and vocalist Toninho Horta. He took to his seat and played three numbers, one of which he wrote for his daughter when she was six. Now I am going to suggest that I was in a small minority here… but, in my opinion, his playing was very much better than his singing: he sang with passion, with feeling but age has taken its toll.
Following those three solo numbers Tonino Horta was joined by saxophonist Seamus Blake, the bass player Mathias Allamne, and on drums Jeff Ballard. There was much use of Brazilian and Bossa Nova rhythms (as one might expect) but also some great modern jazz sounds led by Seamus Blake. The bass playing throughout was solid and the drumming from Ballard impressive. There was next to no information given about what was being played except when Horta told us the story of how he constructed a tune in tribute to, I believe, Antonio Carlos Jobim. The melody was beautiful and played with lyricism and emotional connection by both Blake and Horta.
After playing some ten tunes in total Tonino Horta called it a night and a significant number of the audience erupted in wildly enthusiastic applause. Were my earlier thoughts about Horta incorrect? Not for me, I stand by my assessment of the man’s vocal performance. However, he was an engaging raconteur, a very talented guitarist, and engaged very good musicians to help him put across some enthralling Brazilian sounds.
The music moves on and we swap MICAS for the harbour front of Valletta for two days of live jazz music from six different bands. I will be there and there will be more for me to write about and for you to read.
SimplyJazzTalk 