This year we discovered music at Yewfield, a vegetarian hotel near Hawkshead where musical performances are put on a few times each year, accompanied by a delicious veggie meal. Yewfield is owned by Zeffirellis in Ambleside, the country's largest veggie restaurant, so they know a thing or two about food, as well as live music, which is their second passion.
The other perfomances we've been to have all been classical music (taking advantage of Yewfield's Steinway grand piano), but the latest was a bit different: jazz performed by The Printmakers. We both enjoy some jazz, while not being close followers of the genre, so we didn't know exactly what to expect.
I think the Printmakers' style is probably 'free jazz': a bit experimental, without fixed tempos, regular melodies and chord progressions. A couple of items were recognisable - there was a Dave Brubeck song for example - but mostly the perfomance had a feeling of improvisation, whilst at the same time the performers and much of the audience seemed to know where the songs were going. There were long periods where the vocalist hung up her microphone and moved around to the beat instead. There were occasional chats between the musicians as they played their instruments.
The whole evening had the feeling of a group of very relaxed, musical friends jamming in a garage on a Sunday afternoon.
Did we love the music? Not entirely. Did we love the whole experience? Absolutely!