The story so far...
 

Jazz clubs run by musicians who comprise a working band that plays both 'at home' and as a
performing unit in its own right elsewhere are doubly blessed.
 

They have their own ensemble – maybe a quartet or quintet - and on club nights welcome a single guest to join it. If the band is a staple fixture, then a visit by another band may be considered both surplus to requirements and costly.  Why pay for a visiting band when you have one of your own?

All that may sound unnecessarily detailed, but most aspects of running a jazz club boil down to
convoluted economics.

 

Black Mountain Jazz is not run by a band of professional musicians with a life of its own but by industrious volunteers. It did, however, come up with a scheme of brilliant self-sufficiency: the creation of its own house band, the BMJ Collective.

 

Having the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in the region, with its celebrated Jazz course, helped a lot, as did Cardiff University and the lively jazz scene in south Wales and the west of England.

All kicked off in 2021 when Covid restrictions outlawed large public gatherings. Determined not to succumb, BMJ devised a “virtual” scenario for its annual Wall2Wall festival.

 

Musicians were videoed inside an empty Melville Theatre for later transmission. Never before had necessity been such an insistent mother of invention.

 

Not only were musicians paid the fee they would have received had there been an audience present, a few took part in a novel presentation: a look at early jazz called Journey of Trad by a début Collective led by drummer Alex Goodyear and featuring an early appearance by Collective mainstay saxophonist Jack 'Mac' McDougall.

In 2023, Goodyear returned with a band to perform with guest saxophonists Alex Clarke and Daniel Newbury.

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Later that year, pianist Ross Hicks was the guest with the Collective, then becoming established in the now familiar guise of drummer Ryan Thrupp, bassist Nick Kacal, and McDougall. Singer Sarah Meek was also a guest that year.
 

In 2024, the visitors included pianist Michael Blanchfield and guitarist Chris Cobbson.

 

Seven guests have already appeared in 2025, beginning with guitarist John Close – it will have been a good year for guitarists – and ending so far with Nigel Price. Cobbson and Mike Outram are on the way.

 

The Collective-plus-guest gigs are in addition to the regular monthly ones.  The Mac/Kacal/Thrupp trio continues to gel as the ideal accompanying unit.  Its prime function is to highlight what makes guest musicians worth adding to the BMJ roster but its own individual and cooperative skills often reveal the guest as a first among equals, which might be considered its sole and laudable aim.
 

“Running the Collective alongside Ryan and Nick has been a joy and privilege,” McDougall told
me. “Each gig is a unique experience. Guests bring their own sound, story, and style to the stage.
The result is always unpredictable and refreshing - which is exactly what makes it such an exciting and engaging night of music for both performer and audience.
 

“One of the highlights for me has been the collaborative element and the chance to perform either new music for the first time as an ensemble, or regular tunes re-imagined. Each musician brings something different. It shows the potential of jazz at its best, a performance full of life, spontaneity and surprise.”
 

BMJ is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), run on a not-for-profit basis. One of its
founders 19 years ago was Mike Skilton, who is chairman of the trustees and does lots of leaping
about with other volunteers whenever jazz is being presented at the Melville. (Not literally leaping; that's just a metaphor to describe the workload.)

“The Collective has developed as a great jazz trio but, even more importantly, as a musical
exploration,” he said. “It's different from other house bands in that it explores new concepts with
our guest musicians as well as accompanying them. Audiences see the same in-house line up but
enjoy a new musical experience. That's quite rare.”

A common source of amazement is how everyone at these events is performing after the briefest of previous acquaintance. If guests are unlikely to bring complicated arrangements with them, the
intuitive drive of all concerned makes it look – and sound - as though they've rehearsed to near-
perfection. That's jazz for you.

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