London Jazz Festival, in association with BBC Radio 3, Friday 11 to Sunday 20 November 2011

It’s been fantastic to see Ronnie Scott’s take the British jazz scene by storm once again this year, in a string of double-bills for their third annual Brit Jazz Fest. They’re still in the throes of the Festival and, from what we hear, shows are selling out across the board.

A number of the Serious team were down at the venue last Wednesday, to catch a host of past and present Take Five*artists, and to whet our jazz appetites, in advance of both bands’ appearances at the Festival this November.

Opening the evening’s proceedings was current Take Five artist Adam Waldmann’s Kairos 4tet, playing from his widely acclaimed new album Statement of Intent, and featuring fellow Take-Fiver Ivo Neame, plus double bassist Jasper Høiby – who took part in the scheme in 2009.

Another current Take Five artist Ben Cottrell returned to the venue with his 14-piece ensemble The Beats & Pieces Big Band, following their 4* debut earlier this year.

Both acts received rave reviews in The Guardian and Evening Standard.

Sandra Nicholls-Marcy, who writes for the Social Jazz Blog, and appeared as a guest blogger on the Serious site earlier this year, caught up with Ben Cottrell before they went on stage.

What’s been happening for you and the band since last year’s London Jazz Festival?

“The second UK tour, which included the London Jazz Festival, was a landmark as it showed us that people were really into what we were doing. After the Spice of Life we played Ronnie Scott's in January. The crowd and atmosphere were amazing - it was something of a seminal gig for us so we’re really excited to be returning to Ronnie’s during their Brit Jazz Fest.

“In March we went to Germany to play in the final of the European Young Artists' Jazz Award in Burghausen, which we went on to win ahead of bands from all over the continent.

“We’ve had some really great festivals this summer and did a show at the legendary Band on the Wall venue which we recorded for release later this year.”

Apart from winning, what was the highlight of your trip to Burghausen?

“I think probably the reception we had from everybody we met - audience members we passed in the street, the promoters and people associated with the festival and fellow performers. Chick Corea even said he might steal some ideas from our set - I’ll await his new album with interest. Also spending some time with the other guys in the band - it’s really rare that we all get together, even for gigs!”

What’s the most difficult thing about being a big band?

“The guys are always in demand as freelance musicians, so it’s really hard to get them all in the same place at the same time to rehearse. For gigs it’s not so bad, but I can’t really ask them to block out days in their diaries for unpaid rehearsals because they’ve all got bills to pay and their own freelance careers to think of. And there’s a few who’ve now moved away from Manchester so it’s even more difficult to get everybody together.”

Tell us about the Radiohead project?

“When I was a student at the Royal Northern College of Music, Colin Towns came and talked about how he approached the task of reimagining somebody else’s music. I thought I’d like to have a go at something similar and Radiohead have always been one of my favourite bands. It’s almost a bit of a cliché now for jazz musicians to play their music but there’s loads of interesting harmonies, time signatures and melodies. I’ve done several songs that we include in our live sets, but I want to concentrate on our own original music first to avoid becoming recognised as ‘that band that does the Radiohead covers’!”

What does it mean to be part of the strand of the Festival programme that focuses on a new generation of artists like Robert Glasper, Gretchen Parlato and Nik Bartsch?

“Serious and the London Jazz Festival have been amazingly supportive of both the band and me personally, right from when I sent them our first demo CD early last year, and including us in a programming strand with artists like these demonstrates that. It’s a massive honour to be bracketed with people we all admire, and we’re really looking forward to playing at Kings Place which is a great venue. And before that I’m planning on writing lots of new stuff that we’ll play for the first time at Kings Place so make sure you’re there to be among the first to hear it all.”

Beats & Pieces play Kings Place on Saturday 19 November and Kairos 4tet play the Vortex on Friday 11 November.

 *Take Five is a Jerwood Charitable Foundation/PRS for Music Foundation initiative. Additional support comes from Arts Council England and the Musicians Benevolent Fund. Take Five is produced by Serious. Click here for more info.