JULIE CAMPICHE AT THE GONVILLE HOTEL
Adventurous and mysterious , the Julie Campiche Quartet lit up
Julie Campiche is something else ; a jazz harpist with an inspiring quartet, she takes jazz into another dimension. Which can mean somewhere awful where you endure atonal squeaks for what seems like eternity. Not this Swiss artist Julie’s band is élite all right, but beautiful, musical and profound. Five minutes into their first number Aquarius was enough to realise we are in the hands of a visionary - in a compelling way. The sounds were , for me , unique. Clemens Kuratle - on drums - and electronic wizardry - evoked the sea and some sort of turmoil , Leo Fumagalli ’s sonically superb saxophone surprised with a disturbed counterpoint and chords held to break point. Manu Hagmann on double bass kept the timing and the depth perfect whilst Julie Campiche herself treated the harp as some kind of other -worldly mysterious time signature. Only afterwards did she tells us the piece was written to honour the name of the SOS boat condemned by the Italian government for trying to save a boat of drowning refugees. We had been there - back within the waves. From their new album ‘You Matter’they also gave us he Other Share inspired by the relationship between facets of one’s own self ,by contrast playful and almost melodic.I loved Fridays of Hope a driving rhythm and a call to action . Excerpts from Greta Thunberg suddenly emerged from the beautifully complex soundscape ‘ Wake up Wake up’ And was that Julie herself singing from her magical harp.
This is the music of the future performed here and now. Campiche and her Quartet have something important and urgent to say. Music serves their purpose. Charming Swiss in style, they are confrontational about the great issues of the day. No escapism here, but no proselytising either, they use their art to speak their convictions. We listened to the future tonight
She - and the others are a group to watch. Well done David Gower and Cambridge Modern Jazz for sporting a band so radical talented and visionary.They got in first satisfyingly The Julie Campiche Quartet are off to the Vortex Club tomorrow, for the London Jazz Festival .We heard it first here.
Julie Campiche is clearly something else - something exceptional brilliant and surprising.
Just part of the varied and fabulous Cambridge Festival which continues through the next fortnight.
Conventional image of the same Quartet. The music blends both
