Jazz, house, electronica... all is fused in a wondrous and poetic musical array in the work of Berlioz. His performance at one of Nottingham's most legendary rock venues proved that our city welcomes all genres with open arms...
Jasper Atlee, born in Cape Town and raised in Cornwall, bends jazz into house in his fusion project, Berlioz. In this venture it seems the name of the game is space - what’s striking about his debut album Open This Wall, the follow up to the EP jazz is for ordinary people, is its roominess. The record reads like extended poetry, unbound by the notion of sectionality and instead meandering down lanes which feel difficult to predict. But no matter, this evening we are happy to be led.
It’s this structurelessness which pervades a sold out night at Rock City, a venue with mammoth cultural inheritance, draped in the exclusive lore of Crisis but also marked by names with the kind of temporary divinity fame can afford - the Stone Roses, the Libertines, Nirvana. The crowd embodies this ambiguity. Are we at a gig? Is it a club night? Are we in a jazz cafe? Is this a dance floor or a vantage point for observation? Every punter seems to have taken their own stance. Dancers collide with those standing in stationary captivation. Rugby boys, accustomed to attending this venue half-naked and painted blue find themselves instead fully clothed and two-stepping to sax solos. To begin with the undefined vibe is tangible, but it is transcended with ease by the higher power of the Berlioz sound.
Every note is hit, spontaneity is restrained and tailored to the patience of an audience new to this scene
Baritone sax, acting as the melodic spearhead to most of the tracks, most notably joycelyn’s dance and ode to rahsaan, seems the focal point of the night. The sound is glistening and pure. It never strays into cliche whilst delivering exactly what the ear is asking for. Berlioz’s musicians indulge without ever lingering. Delicate piano and bass contribute velvety decorations.
Of particular interest is the aura of Atlee himself, mixing from centre-stage. He says very little throughout the night, a handful of words drowned by the din of excited conversation, but this is all that is needed. His shoulders move in a relaxed figure of eight, paying great attention to the dials in front of him. He seems unconcerned with whether his audience is engaged - not from a place of bitterness or pretension - simply a calm, respectful devotion to the music he is making.
In the design of his set, Atlee gives little room for the endearing rough-edged intimacy of the live jazz provided nearby at The Pelican Club or Peggy’s Skylight. Every note is hit, spontaneity is restrained and tailored to the patience of an audience new to this scene. A tasteful desk lamp placed next to Atlee and a stage washed in soft red draw us into an understanding that we aren’t here to experience the celebrity which other acts might flaunt, nor the elevated flare of skilled musicianship, but for some kind of fresh unity - something which we as a crowd learn slowly and wordlessly as the evening develops.
Berlioz stays far from the territories of free jazz and for the most part arrangements follow simpler, more linear chord progressions, favouring relative familiarity over the snobbier echelons of the conservatoire. Perhaps this is why the project has reached such a wide and noticeably young audience - jazz is for ordinary people, after all.
Berlioz performed at Rock City on 20th February 2025.
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