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Tales From The Jacquard by Howard Lawes
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A short introductory video for Tales From The Jacquard
Julian Siegel grew up in Nottingham during an era of popular music when bands such as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd were hugely popular and Elton John was singing Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. However his favourite music at the time, related in a Jazzwise article (May, 2007), was Stravinsky, a new wave English rock band called XTC and Blue Note jazz with The Real McCoy by McCoy Tyner described as 'life-changing'.
His love of music was fostered by his parents, both of whom he describes as “mad on music”, his father was a member of the Count Basie Society and Julian remembers going with his parents to see the Modern Jazz Quartet and Oscar Petersen in Nottingham. He 
studied Music at the University of East Anglia, and after graduating in 1987 moved to London where, playing with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, a fortuitous friendship with guitarist Phil Robson resulted in the formation of a band called Partisans. Their first album, called Partisans (1997), received variable reviews with one crediting them with re-inventing the UK jazz-rock scene while another was rather less complimentary, but it heralded a long-standing association with Thaddeus Kelly on bass and Gene Calderrazzo on drums. Partisans evolved into one of the best UK bands of their time and released their last album Nit de Nit in 2019 on Whirlwind Recordings receiving an abundance of great reviews.
Julian Siegel
Photograph by Patrick Hadfield
Like many jazz musicians, Julian Siegel leads his own Quartet (Liam Noble on piano, Oli Hayhurst on bass and drummer Gene Calderazzo) and has also recorded in Trio (Greg Cohen on bass, Joey Baron on drums), and in fact judging from his biography he seems to specialise in being a member of several, really great big bands and perhaps it was only a matter of time before he wanted his own jazz orchestra. The opportunity for this presented itself when he was commissioned by Derby Jazz (part of the EMJAZZ National Portfolio Organisation funded by Arts Council England) to compose a piece for jazz orchestra commemorating an aspect of life in the East Midlands.
Nottingham is renowned for its lace and Julian Siegel’s father had introduced the young Julian to the family lace making business in the 1970s and Julian has clear memories of the rhythm and percussive sound of the lace making machines. His father had arrived in the UK having served with the Polish army in WW2; he had sung and played guitar in the ‘Polish Parade’ Touring Theatre as part of ‘Anders Army’. He settled in Nottingham where he learned how to manufacture the lace that is a traditional product of the city and Julian's memories of lace manufacture and the importance of lace making to Nottingham and the East Midlands provided the inspiration for his composition Tales From The Jacquard.
Further inspiration was provided by the company Cluny Lace who still manufacture lace today combining the best of old traditions with modern technology. Julian was able to visit the factory and acquire some authentic Jacquard cards that he used to define the structure of his composition both in terms of rhythm and perhaps more surprisingly, melody.
Quoting from the Nottingham Industrial Museum website: 'Lace making around Nottingham grew out of the stocking knitting trade. In 1799 there were six lace makers in Nottingham; by 1832 there were 186. The invention and manufacturer of lace making machines replaced the time consuming manual process and drove the rapid growth of lace making. The first machine-made lace was an altered hand knitting frame. Then came the ‘twist machines’ – the most complex textile machines in the world. First, the Heathcote machine of 1808, then the Leavers machine of 1813; both made lots of cheap, plain net lace which could be hand-embroidered. The Jacquard Card machine made pattern lace in widths of up to 9ft (2.7m) which was then sent for finishing and dyeing. The overall process spanned many businesses and skills each providing a key step in the delivery of lace to Nottingham’s Lace Market.'
The Jacquard Card machine was invented by Josef Marie Jacquard in 1804 improving on earlier 18th century inventions. Perforated cards, of up to 120 columns, strung together on a continuous chain were used to control the operation of a loom producing and replicating complex patterns in woven fabric with less human intervention. This picture of the inventor was woven on a Jacquard loom using 24,000 punched cards to create it.
The use of punched cards to control machines influenced the ideas of computer pioneers Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace in the 19th century and towards the end of that century Herman Hollerith developed a system using punched cards to record the information collected from the 1890 United States census. The Hollerith system underpinned a successful business that eventually became International Business Machines (IBM). Further information is available at the National Museum Of Computing in Milton Keynes.
Another application of the process pioneered by the Jacquard legacy is described by Macclesfield Museums where it is related that the work of three pioneering Polish mathematicians to break the wartime Enigma codes involved the use of punched cards called Zygalski sheets.
Julian described to me in some detail ways in which he used the punched cards to generate musical ideas, from superimposing musical bars of 4/4 on to the pattern of the 120 columns on the card; how he used the 1,2,4,8, code of the Jacquard card itself to generate harmonic structures and how he was happy to discover melodic ideas from the card which he used in different sections of the piece he wrote out for the band.
Having gradually begun to write his own big band arrangements over the years with expansions of pre-existing music for his small bands, the Derby Jazz commission provided the creative space required for Julian to experiment, research and create a brand new thirty two minute suite for jazz orchestra. When venturing into large ensemble writing he says he never formally studied composition ‘but I certainly asked questions’ and cites the brilliant and influential large ensemble composers Michael Gibbs, Django Bates and Stan Sulzmann as giving ‘some great advice along the way’.
As well as the inspiration provided by the lace making machines, Julian also had in mind the musicians who he chose to make up his orchestra, many friends and colleagues that he has worked with and admired over many years including trumpeter Claus Stotter from Germany, symbolising Julian’s previous and continuing links with Europe.
The members of the orchestra are a veritable who’s who of jazz in the UK today and include many of Siegel’s colleagues from other projects: Julian Siegel (tenor, soprano saxophones, bass clarinet); Nick Smart (conductor); Tom Walsh, Percy Pursglove, Henry Lowther, Claus Stotter (trumpet); Mark Nightingale, Trevor Mires, Harry Brown (trombone); Richard Henry (bass trombone, tuba); Mike Chillingworth (alto saxophone); Jason Yarde (alto & soprano saxophone); Stan Sulzmann (tenor saxophone); Tori Freestone (tenor saxophone, flute); Gemma Moore (baritone saxophone, bass clarinet); Mike Outram (guitar); Liam Noble (piano); Oli Hayhurst (double bass) and Gene Calderazzo (drums).
The recording was made live at Nottingham Lakeside Arts for BBC ‘Jazz Now’ and Chris Lewis worked with Julian to carefully remix and master the recording for the release of the CD. The last part of this year-long operation happened with them having to work in different continents during the Covid pandemic, aided by technological advances that the pandemic has highlighted as essential tools for remote working.
The Tales From The Jacquard suite is divided into three parts (on the CD) although a continuous version is available on the vinyl LP. Part 1 begins with the sound of machines and then a reflective piano takes over followed by combinations of instruments suggesting peals of bells, perhaps harking back to the time when Jacquard invented his card system. A change of tempo involving members of Siegel’s quartet heralds a flugelhorn solo from Claus Stotter with strong drumming from Calderazzo and lovely backing from the orchestra.
Part 2 includes an endlessly repeated motif on piano from Liam Noble, perhaps suggesting the machine age as portrayed in the Fritz Lang film Metropolis with solos from Tori Freestone on flute, Julian Siegel on soprano saxophone and Liam Noble. Part 3 moves into different territory with solos from Harry Brown on trombone, Stan Sulzmann on tenor saxophone, Oli Hayhurst on bass, Henry Lowther on trumpet, Julian Siegel on tenor saxophone and Gene Calderazzo on drums. A 12 bar blues is evident which pays homage to Julian Siegel’s mother and father whose love of Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Ben Webster is celebrated. Lovers of big bands will find much to enjoy as Siegel the composer and arranger provides a big band soundscape to back the solos and yet allows Oli Hayhurst to play by himself except for the thrumming of machines. The finale reprises some of the earlier themes inspired by the Jacquard patterns before ending surprisingly quietly.
Listen to Part 3.
Other tracks on the album include Blues, a piece often played by the Julian Siegel quartet but never recorded, and re-arranged here for jazz orchestra. Julian quotes Mike Gibbs and Bill Frizell as influences while Jason Yarde’s saxophone and Trevor Mires' trombone transports the listener directly to New Orleans.
Listen to Blues.
Song, is a lovely ballad featured on the album Vista by Julian ’s quartet while the final track is a Cedar Walton composition called Fantasy in D, also recorded by the quartet but on the album Urban Theme Park.
Listen to Song.
With such a large ensemble of well known musicians it is going to be a struggle to tour the album but Julian is determined that there will be live performances and for those lucky enough to hear them it should be a real treat. He has always enjoyed touring and playing live in smaller venues where friends can meet and share their love of music. The Julian Siegel Quartet recently played two gigs at the Vortex in London with audiences limited to 20 by Covid restrictions, but undaunted, Julian found the experience really inspiring and was heartened by the efforts of all concerned with bringing back live music. He recounts a story of some gigs in Germany with the Quartet during a brief relaxation in restrictions in 2020 where the hotel manager was so pleased to welcome guests and a visiting band for the first time in eight months that he serenaded them with his own guitar.
While this is Julian Siegel’s first composition for big band or orchestra he is certainly no novice having cut his teeth, so to speak, playing in other big bands led by several members of his own orchestra and in fact is credited on 60 other recordings. On top of that he is Professor of Jazz Saxophone at both Trinity Laban and the Royal Academy of Music. The album is a generous 75 minutes long and includes an interesting and informative booklet describing the inspiration for the piece and the process of using Jacquard concepts in the composition.
Tales From The Jacquard very successfully combines all of Julian Siegel’s multiple skills as composer, arranger, musician and educator with his love of jazz tradition, his own roots in the East Midlands and the obvious love and respect he has for his parents. The orchestra, under Nick Smart’s direction performs the complex work superbly.
Click here for more details and samples of the album.
Julian Siegel
Photograph by Maarit Kytoharju
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