Beats and Pieces and Kairos 4tet at Ronnie Scott's at BRIT JAZZ FEST

It seems the big festival fever is over, with smaller, more specialised events cropping up all over the place, presenting every kind of cultural activity. Musically the capital is buzzing at the moment with the BBC Proms underway, and many musicians from far and wide coming to showcase their talents to the London audiences. A highlight of these summer events is the Ronnie Scott’s Brit Jazz Fest 2011, a mini festival with a thrilling programme of talented and renowned jazz soloists and bands and celebrates the very best of British Jazz.

Ronnie Scott’s venue needs no recommendation as I’m sure most will already know this haunt to be one of the most significant and unique places to listen to Jazz in London. Interestingly when the club first opened in 1959 Ronnie Scott and Pete King were only permitted to book British artists due to a strict MU Ruling. This mini festival pays tribute to that time presenting a diverse selection of exceptional artists covering all aspects of jazz.

Now in its third year this year’s festival looks set to be as oversubscribed as ever, but a few tickets do remain. I was lucky enough to have a ticket to a show last week featuring a double bill: BEATS AND PIECES + KAIROS 4TET. Based in Manchester, Beats and Pieces are a 14 strong contemporary jazz ensemble led by Ben Cottrall. Indeed a few members even attended University with me so I felt very proud to be supporting them in this prestigious venue. The immense sound that these fourteen musicians make was overwhelming in the intimate Ronnie Scott’s venue - you couldn’t help but feel totally engrossing in the music. It is clear too that these guys love what they do, all dancing along with their heads and showing 100% passion and commitment to the music. Individually they are supreme soloists, with some staggering solos from trumpeter Nick Walters and some genius twists and turns on the piano from Patrick Hurley. Featuring some of their own work, and a few adventurous covers, I found their set very easy to listen to and stimulating, which I can’t always say with contemporary jazz.

Playing opposite Beats and Pieces was the Kairos 4tet, a contemporary music quartet comprising of leader saxophonist, Adam Waldman, pianist Ivo Neame, bassist Jasper Høiby and drummer Jon Scott plus a very special guest, London-based, Swedish singer Emilia Martensson. Kairos 4tet who produce inspiring melodic, rhythmically compelling modern jazz. Again made up of technically brilliant soloists, I was particularly impressed by Høiby on bass, I have often heard of this mesmerizing playing so was glad to be finally experiencing it first hand. The singer du jour, Martensson did a wonderful job responding sensitively to the band and sung with a spine tingling tone and melodic awareness. The music of Kairos 4tet was rather more specialist, and felt, at times, a little beyond my knowledge and understanding of this kind of jazz. The rest of the audience seemed totally in tune with the genre clapping in all the right places, and nodding their heads in appreciation.

Ronnie Scott’s is one of my very favourite venues in London, with delicious (but very expensive) cocktails, a relaxed charming ambience and consistently brilliantly performers, I would highly recommend booking to go to see something in their ever simulating and exciting programme. Book here.

Graphic Bar in Soho

There are so many great places to drink and hang out in London, so to stand out from the crowd a bar needs to offer something a little bit different, a speciality or a unique twist. I heard about Graphic Bar last summer when a friend mentioned their rotating art displays. Not unlike Proud Galleries, Graphic exhibit the work of a promising artist every few months. They are currently showcasing Eine’s infamous ‘shutters’.

Ben Eine is a prolific street artist and has produced his pop-arty letters on shop shutters in Paris, Stockholm, Hastings and Newcastle as well as in London’s Shoreditch and Brick Lane. He first started to produce commercial graffiti through a partnership with legendary guerrilla artist, Banksy. Interestingly in 2010 David Cameron gave a gift of an Eine painting, ‘Twenty First Century City’ to President Obama. Graphic are lucky to have acquired his work for this short time, and it really compliments the space.

I was invited to Graphic for a dear friend’s birthday shindig. The venue is easy to get to, located in the centre of Golden Square in Soho, nearest tube is Piccadilly Circus. The place was jam packed when we went on a Friday evening, with visitors merrily spilling out onto the chilly streets. I squeezed my way through to the back of the place where my friends had arranged a designated area for us, still crowded but at least we could sit down.

Graphic specialises in gin, and has one of the most extensive collections in the UK. Luckily I had a gin expert by my side and so was chosen a Milly- appropriate drink. Once settled, I noticed the strange large white glasses that many of the girls were holding – moving closer for a better look, I realised that the glasses were in fact paint pots filled with most desirable gin cocktails. I went to choose one for myself. There are five options, named as different colours of paint; I decided on the white tin... a peachy flavoured concoction with lemonade, fresh lemon juice and most importantly Whitley Neill Gin. It was quite strong (gin is an acquired taste) but brilliantly mixed with an exotic variety of tastes.

This groovy little bar also offers tapas and main courses for those who arrive a bit peckish, though its real selling point is surely the inventive cocktail serving idea and array of rare gins.

Visit website here.

Franny's Pop-up

Franny’s Pop-up was only meant to be temporary. Opening in Soho on 5^th November 2010, it was due to close at the start of February, however its success has allowed it to take its place in London’s West End permanently. It occupies a huge space on Frith Street, a venue that was previously home to the chain Il Bertorelli. Upstairs there is a private dining space for 80-100 people and on the ground floor a massive area for bar and restaurant.

I came across it over the Christmas holidays when I was craving a burger for lunch. Extended sale shopping meant lunch had been postponed to 3pm, and so many places had stopped serving. We stumbled across Franny’s and were welcomed in by a very smiley man who seemed pleased to accommodate us and all our cumbersome shopping bags.

The restaurant was pretty empty so the manager came and chatted to us for ten minutes which was nice, and distracted me from my rumbling stomach. He explained about his ambitions for Franny’s and the history behind the pop-up venue. They will still close temporarily in February, while the place is refurbished and will reopen redesigned as a hip diner, taking influence from New York. They hope to bring something a bit new to Soho.

The menu is made up of classics and familiar favourites: pizza, pasta and burgers. When it reopens it will be focusing more on grills, and hopes to have a large open kitchen in the centre of the restaurant, an idea that is tried and tested and seems to involve as well as reassure customers. Prices are reasonable, £6 for burger, £2-3 for sides. I chose the Italian Job burger that came with a delicious foccacia bun, pesto, crispy bacon and mozzarella, it was better than I expected and made from good fresh meat. The chips were OK, but didn’t quite satisfy my cravings, and the courgette fritti were a massive disappointment, obviously not freshly made; they were hard with a gritty tasteless batter.

Franny’s has promise and with such a fabulous venue at their disposal they could be one of Soho’s newest hot spots. Watch out for the refurbished restaurant sometime in 2011!