A couple of years ago there used to be a pretty decent Jazz festival in Brecon, and another shortly afterwards in Pontypool Park. Regrettably the Brecon one has shrunk to a ghost of its former self, and probably worse than that has gone the way of the Glastonbury festival, with monster ticket prices for headline events that seem hell bent on turning it from a popular event for the masses into something akin to how would Carling put it ah yes "Glyndebourne doesn't do jazz but if we did .."
So it was most revealing to find that a "stroller" ticket to sit back and listen to some of "The Best Welsh Jazz Artists Around" was going to set me back a cool £1 for each hour I would be entertained.
And make no mistake entertained I was. Although for me the "highly individual" style of the vocalist from "Byron Jones' Big Band" was a little too individual for my taste (!) and provoked thoughts of "right then, where was the bar again" amongst many in the audience including me.
Throughout the afternoon and evening I witnessed mastery of instrument and voice at close range, including the stunning spectcle of "Harry Potter on Piano" as a lad from Penarth in a suit, with looks far too close to Daniel Radcliffe for comfort demonstrated that while there are indeed beasts with ivory teeth in this world, his particular brand of wizardry renders them tamed wthout question.
But here's the wierd thing. Stage and Auditorium alike were a sea of white faces. I saw fewer than a handful otherwise. Truly, white men can indeed not only jump, but blow Alto Sax. Hell at this rate there'll be a white man taking gold at the 2012 Olympics for the mens 100 metres.
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