Graeme Blevins [www.graemeblevins.com]

I REMEMBER seeing a very fresh-faced Graeme Blevins in the sax section of the Guy Barker’s Big Band almost two decades ago. In the epic suite dZf ­ – a reworking of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöete – he usually had to follow an incendiary solo by that Italian firecracker Rosario Giuliana.

A less confident and competent player might have been intimidated by the altoist, but I was always impressed by how an unruffled Graeme quickly created his own narrative on tenor, building on what had gone before. As he told me recently: “In jazz, like most music, it’s about colour and contrast and completing the musical picture. It’s not a competition.”

Graeme has only got more adept in since those days (he doubles on clarinet and flute, too). And still fresh-faced.

Hailing from Perth, Australia, Graeme came to London in 2004, aged 23, after three months studying in New York with Seamus Blake and Chris Potter. He had been assured that New York was where you went if you wanted to forge a career in jazz.

However, he decided to seek his fortune elsewhere.

“As amazing as New York as, I was still in love with the idea of London,” he said. “I definitely don’t regret that decision. I still can’t imagine living away from this unbelievable city.”

So how did a newcomer make his mark in London’s jazz scene back then?

“By going to every single jam session there was and practising six hour a day.”

Eventually he came to the attention of Clint Eastwood’s bass-playing son Kyle and joined a group that included Andrew McCormack on piano and Graeme Flowers on trumpet.

“It was the gig that was a bit of a step up for me,” he says. “And we all got along musically and personally like a house on fire, so it was great.” So good, in fact, he stayed for eight years.

Graeme has also played with a host of big names – Kylie Minogue, Phil Collins, Gregory Porter, Jamie Cullum, Kurt Elling and, latterly, Raye. Look at RAYE’s Live at The Albert Hall, where there is a track called Graeme Blevins vs Mary Jane, where he gets to blow an extended intro to her love-letter to mind-altering substances.

Raye, you’ll be pleased to know, is every bit as unaffected and genuine as she seems from the outside. Graeme describes her as “a beautiful soul”.

He also plays in smaller, more intimate settings groups – one of them with his old friend and colleague Richard Spaven, best-known as a master of broken-beat, dubstep and intricate jazz-fuelled rhythms.

“I’ve known Richard for 20 years – we’re both big cricket fans,” says Graeme. “The thing is, the moment you hear him, you know its Rich behind the kit. And that’s very rare these days. He’s an incredible musician.”

The gig at Camden’s Jazz Café on September 23 is to spotlight Spaven’s new album Light of Day. It’s a groove-led monster, and the live band includes Graeme on alto flute, James Copus on trumpet and Stuart McCallum on guitar. Details: https://thejazzcafe.com/event/richard-spaven-3/?accept=true

Raye [Raph_PH_CC BY2.0]

There are also London gigs with Jamie Cullum coming up (see www.jamiecullum.com/#tour), a Jamie Safir album launch at Ronnie’s (www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show/jamie-safir), more Raye and Guy Barker’s Jazz Voice, the traditional opening gig of the London Jazz Festival in November (https://efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/events/opening-gala-jazz-voice-4).

Graeme Blevins. Remember the name. Every bandleader in London does.

Like Graeme, Tara Minton – a fellow Australian, from Melbourne this time – is a firm fixture on the London jazz scene, not only as a harpist/singer/composer but also a promoter, notably with Spicejazz (see https://spicejazzsoho.co.uk).

She too has an impressive CV, working with Björk, Stan Sulzmann, Geoff Gascoyne, Emma Rawicz, Alice Zawadski, Vivienne Aerts (see below) and The Ronnie Scott’s All Stars, but also pops up all over the city, including at Jazz in Kentish Town (I caught her when it was at the Parakeet).

Tara has a new album out, The Devil Invites You to Dance, which is something of a departure, a testament to how she fell – hard – for Mexico. It is thoughtful, introspective and very personal disc, but with bursts of joy cutting through any melancholia. I can recommend it – listen to El Colibri with its cascading harp intro (over birdsong), Flora Purim-style wordless vocals, lovely bright-toned flugel from Miguel Gorodi, dancing harp solo and a funky percussion break with handclaps from Emilio Yanez Ruiz and drummer David Ingmells. Or the stately and sombre Iztapalapa, with distant, plaintive sounds from Tara, perhaps reflecting the dark night of the soul that she talks about in the sleeve notes, before Miguel kicks it up a gear with Mariachi-style trumpet, and the sun shines a little, moving into an elegant harp solo and keening vocals before Miguel returns with dramatic effect.

The album is launched with a gig Upstairs at Ronnie’s on September 11 (www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show/tara-minton-quintet). It’ll be a good one.

Some other dates for your diary. One is the return of Jazz:Refreshed’s annual festival (Jazz Re:Fest, of course), moving from its usual home on the Southbank to Camden’s Koko on September 13th. It’s always a great showcase for the current (and next) generation of performers and this year we have tuba king Theon Cross, drummer Lox, groove-led singer-songwriter Alex Cosmo Blake and hot young piano trio SULA, among others. And it’s FREE – just get a ticket in advance, see https://www.koko.co.uk/events/jazz-refreshed.

Secondly, the Polish Jazz Festival is back for a second year after sell-out shows last year. It runs September 11-27th and takes places across the Union Chapel, Kings Place and Cadogan Hall. It’s very wide ranging, with a “Warsaw Takeover” at the Union Chapel on September 13, which includes HVMBLE, a group combining jazz, improvisation and experimental music and classical-jazz composer Marcin Masecki and, at Kings Place on the 27th , there is the exciting prospect of Kosmonauci, a group that roams freely across jazz while encompassing hip-hop, drum & bass and improvisation. There’s a lot more in the festival but given the calibre of musicianship on the Polish jazz scene, you can choose almost any act on any evening and know you’ll be getting the bee’s knees. For full line up see: https://polishjazzfestival.com/.

Finally, two contrasting albums, with associated live dates, featuring guitarist Rob Luft, who really is a jack-of-all-jazz-trades and, it seems master of them all. Whether its solo albums (I really like his Dahab Days album), his duo work with vocalist Eleni Duni or as a sideman, he always has the appropriate palette of sounds and voicings at hand. He features on the new album Haymaker by a young saxophonist called Mali Sheard, who sometimes draws upon her Kenyan/South Asian family background for inspiration, but also finds space for some very English folksy sounds which reflect her childhood in Hertfordshire and the Yorkshire Dales. Listen to the title track, with a theme that could have come from the much-missed Danny Thompson and his folk-jazz Whatever group, which incorporates a long, fast but fluent solo from Luft, who demonstrates remarkable versality throughout, or the prettily pastoral There’s a Place, which manages to incorporate a touch of Auld Lang Syne.

Excellent work elsewhere, too, from Keira Chakraborty on flute and the other guest, pianist Huw Warren, who gives a nicely spiky, angular solo on the strident Afternoon Tea with a Demon, which features some choppy, restless soprano work from Mali. She is a Tomorrow’s Warriors alumnus and has been tutored by the likes of Binker Golding, Giacomo Smith and Nikki Iles, and it shows in her expansive, lyrical and nimble solos. There are two London gigs for her in the calendar next month – at the Pizza Express on September 8 (https://www.pizzaexpresslive.com/whats-on/mali-sheard) and at Stoke Newington’s Mildmay Club (https://www.onejazz.net/events/on-the-corner-at-the-mildmay-club-17th-september/ ). Haymaker is released through Mali Sheard Music in association with ECN Music. See https://ecnmusic.com/artist/mali-sheard/.

The second Luft appearance is a very different prospect – ex-Loose Tubes flautist and multi-instrumentalist Eddie Parker is out to combine twelve-tone music (Berg, Schoenberg) with the twisty speed riffs of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the powerhouse rhythmic workouts of Santana, all leavened with a jazz sensibility (including nods to the late, great Kenny Wheeler). Phew.

The resulting album is Airborn, featuring Rob Luft (Parker: “He’s not just technically accomplished.. his sound world is not just a world; it’s a whole solar system”) and I must admit I was sceptical about this clash of disparate styles at first, but the sheer energy and invention won me over.

The leader offers deft inventive excursions on flute and keys but generously allows Luft his head. To me he sounds like the so-called Godfather of Fusion, Larry Coryell, but with – whisper it – more interesting choices in his phrasing, harmonies and tone.

Speed isn’t actually king here; it’s just one of a royal flush of techniques. Budding jazz guitarists should check out the track Latin Rock – listen and weep. Airborn is officially launched at the Vortex on September 18 (https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/event/eddie-parkers-airborn-3/).