LA2, London

27/09/00

Zak's, Wolverton

28/10/00

Whitchurch Festival

05/08/01

T. J. O'Reilly's, Marlow, Bucks

19/10/01

T. J. O'Reilly's, Marlow, Bucks

07/10/06

Venue: LA2 London                          Date: September 27th 2000

Setlist: Moscow Circus, Like a Drum, Doctor Spin, Alone Ahead, The Pressed Man, Freedom Train, Love Song Number 5, Tongue Tied, Judgement Day, Keep the Blues.

Jump have been around for some ten years now and are a six piece outfit who play with a rich blend of styles that make them hard to dop into any specific category. Sometimes the music leans on R&B, at others it shows folk or even jazz influences, and at others it is simply pure unadulterated rock.

Playing support slot for Arena, they somehow managed to squeeze their gear on the front part of the stage, leaving precious little room for them to move around during the set, not that this seemed to be a problem for them.  Of neccessity they were limited, by the organisers, to only an hours playing time and their attitude from the outset showed they were going to make best use of the time they had.

Although I was aware of the existence of Jump before tonight, I had never acctually heard anything by them and really had no idea what to expect.  Due to bad timimg on my part I came in part way through the band's first number 'Moscow Circus' and by the end of the track I was kicking myself for having missed the begining! This song has strong R&B roots, excellent bass and guitar work and vocals that were strangely reminiscent of some of Fish's early solo work. As an opening track it was a good solid performance and it certainly made be stand up and take notice!

Charismatic frontman John Dexter Jones whipped through the introduction to the next track "so as not to waste valuable set time", and without further ado the band launched into powerful rock number called "Like a Drum".  The bass and percussion really dominated the heavier parts of the track, while subtle guitar work and keyboards made their presence felt during some of the quieter sections.  By the end of the track there was a good sized crowd in the hall enjoying the music - despite the fact it was still early on a Wednesday evening, a fact John picked up on later in the set when he thanked people for coming along.  'Doctor Spin' was another solid rock performance guaranteed to get your feet tapping, this time putting me in mind of bands like Damn Yankees.

Having got the first few numbers under their belt, and settled into the rhythm of things, John Dexter Jones' rapport with the audience started to get more entertaining and the man displayed a clear talent for injecting humour into the proceedings. The next track up was 'Alone Ahead', a much slower paced song building up to some vigourous chorus's and pushing out some great guitar work.

Probably my favourite song in the set was 'The Pressed Man', telling the tale of a farmer's son forced into military service during the English Civil war. This piece has leanings towards folk and progressive rock music, and if comparisons have to be made musically I would suggest a cross between Jethro Tull and The Morrigan, but to be honest this does not do Jump justice.  The song is very emotive and was brilliantly performed with strong interaction between bass and lead guitar parts, and a sense of tension seems to be gradually building up as the song moves forward, finally breaking free in the final chorus after some heavy progressive guitar work.

By complete contrast 'Freedom Train', is a song with a strong west country rock feel. It has an easy going sound and makes use of acoustic guitars, and not withstanding John Dexter Jones's comments about how Kerang magazine once described the track, it actually does sound quite like Bruce Springsteen. The acoustic guitar was then passed over to John for the "country song" that was to be played next. Entitled 'Love Song Number 5' it was actually quite a moving piece creating a Bob Dylan meets Eric Clapton sound.

'Tongue Tied' - a song apparently about sex - was a much heavier piece with blues influences featuring punchy bass work and some nice touches from the keyboards.

'Judgement Day' was introduced as a heavy metal riff song, and it featured a section borrowed from Led Zeppelin (Trampled Underfoot ?). During the song the sound changed from the initial rock sound into a nice jazz based routine while John Dexter Jones introduced the members of the band to the audience.  Again John's ability as a showman really shone and his wicked sense of humour really struck a chord. The band also did quite a stunning job constantly cranking up the beat and then taking the pace right down again.

The final song for the evening was the stunning 'Keep The Blues'.  Clearly influenced by Pink Floyd, and to the delight of the audience actually borrowing a phrase from 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond', this made a superb finishing number for the set.  It was one of those songs that if time had allowed the band could probably have kept up for a very long time, but sadly the clock was against them tonight.

My initial impressions of the band are very favourable, as you can probably tell, I look forward to seeing the band again as soon as I get a chance. This is not progressive music in the generally accepted sense, but for a great musical night out, with variety of form and humourous rapport I would certainly recommend checking Jump out.

Simon

Venue: Zak's, Wolverton, Milton Keynes         Date: 28th October 2000

Setlist: The Man Who Worked, Doctor Spin, Louder Than Words, It's Your Life, Moscow Circus, Matthew, The Pressed Man, Like A Drum, Freedom Train, No Time To Kill, Love Song No. 5, On The Wheel, Used To The Taste, Someone Else's Prayer, Judgement Day, Sweet Home Alabama, Johnny & The Lightning, Two Up Two Down, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Highway Man, Tongue Tied, And The World Turned, Everybody Stop, Alone Ahead.

Zak's was a new one on me - we drove down an unassuming street full of Victorian terraced houses and found it on the edge of what appeared to be a business area. One good thing, there's plenty of free parking very near by. A somewhat stark bar with a huge TV screen makes up one side of Zak's with the live venue having a separate entrance in a side street.

The hall is smallish with a bar on one one side and chairs and tables down the other, at one end is a small stage and opposite this is the sound engineer's eyrie. The venue is decorated with an idiosyncratic mix of materials:- corrugated iron sections are inset into brick, plaster and wooden panels and has a pleasant atmosphere.

Jump were packed on to the stage: drummer Andy Barker obscured, at the back behind guitarists Steve Hayes and Pete Davies and bassist Andy Faulkner; Keyboard player Mo stood to the right of the stage while singer/acoustic guitarist John Dexter Jones occupied the short and narrow front stage section.

The band gave us an almost two and a half hour set jam packed full of music taken from their seven album releases interspersed with familiar tunes from a variety of rock standards. Jump have a great live sound; prog elements sit comfortably with rock'n'roll, soulful numbers contrast with an almost country feel, they can funk it up and play a straight 12 bar blues - these guys are a tight outfit who play together constantly ... and it shows in their abilities and professional attitude.

John, the loose limbed, long haired (with spikes on top) front man tells a good tale and he raised many laughs between songs with his anecdotes. One comment that particularly stuck in the mind was his description of one song as folk-prog - "stick a finger in your ear and wear a big cape!" - and it's not rehearsed either, but spur of the moment banter.

Jump are about to take a few months off gigging so you won't be able to see what I mean ... but keep an eye open for their return next year.

Marisa

Venue: Whitchurch Festival               Date: 5th August 2001

Set list: Moscow Circus, Brave New World, The Pressed Man, Alone Ahead, Bethseda, Rise, Shed No Tears / Blowin' In the Wind, Like A Drum, Tongue Tied, Used to the Taste / Trampled Underfoot / Whole Lotta Love /Baby Please Don't Go / Shake It Baby, Keep the Blues / Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Two Up Two Down.
Encore: Dr. Spin.

Sunday evening at Whitchurch this year opened with the young local band, Gravity, quickly followed by the UK Blues Project - reminding us that the Sunday evening of the festival used to be devoted purely to R'n'B.

More people drifted back into the hall for Jump's set although, to start with, the audience were concentrated around the bar area at the back.  As the band came on-stage John Dexter Jones moved forward and beckoned the crowd towards the stage: some people moved forwards immediately - the rest were soon drawn in by the strength of the music and of JDJ's character.

The charismatic Mr Dexter Jones was in great form. With his hair tied into a pony tail, his resemblance to Fish (to whom he is often compared) was remarkable.  He pranced and postured, and delivered his often barbed diatribes to an increasingly interested audience - he's quick witted and sharp tongued, a great raconteur who quickly develops a strong rapport with the crowd, making everybody feel involved.

It was good to see Jump on a large stage too.  Here they had plenty of room to move and were all obviously enjoying themselves.  They are often regarded as a prog band, yet their music stems from R'n'B, folk and pure rock roots - with a selection of other influences garnered from all over.  The band are all excellent musicians and are capable of spontaneous improvisation, adding highlights to the music which is passionate, soulful and always entertaining.

The set opened with 'Moscow Circus', a track from their latest album 'Matthew' - this has a great catchy chorus line and memorable guitar hooks.  Next up is a new song from the band's upcoming album 'On Impulse' - 'Brave New World' has some nice funky instrumentation sitting beneath the strong vocal line.

"This song tells the story of a poor man during the Civil War" says JDJ introducing 'The Pressed Man', an emotive and fervently sung piece.  After the closing chords John wails a short vocal section of the Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' before introducing the next number as "one of two songs we do about Bethesda." This is 'Alone Ahead', another track from 'Matthew'; JDJ's vocals are impassioned and are supported by rich and intense instrumentation that comes over brilliantly live.

"Bethesda is a small quarrying town where the world's slate was produced" the audience are told. 'Bethseda' is a heartfelt song that tells the tale of men from that village leaving for war, and it is sung with fervor.

"Apparently there were people talking all the way through the Cardiacs' set - I don't know if anyone heard them though ... the older and deafer the Cardiacs get, the louder the music gets and the more snogging that goes on!" jokes JDJ and continues with the remark that the next song is "a Radio 2 acoustic ballad ... Johnny Walker was going to play it, but he got busted for drugs."  'Rise' is smoothly played number with a nice keyboard line laid alongside the rhythm - a good live song.

A couple of short humorous stories led up to 'Shed No Tears', from the album 'And All the King's Men'.  This tune has delicate instrumentation and here incorporated some lyrics from 'Blowin' In the Wind'.  In complete contrast, 'Like A Drum' is a rockier, upbeat number with a solid chorus. Jump moved directly from this into the next song, 'Tongue Tied' with its funky bass line and bluesy guitar work - an excellent song.

JDJ begins to tell another story and interrupts himself to say "If you're talking to your friend you're missing a f***ing good story, OK - so shut up or leave ... They pay £12 and carry on like a Women's Institute!" This remark being greeted by cheers and much laughter and he continues "What the f*** have you got to talk about when there's such a great band on stage!"

After another anecdote he declares "This is a song for Jeffrey Archer and Monika Lewinski, it's called 'Getting Used to the Taste'". This is an up tempo, richly embroidered number and its bluesy sound edges into various other numbers segued together during which the band are introduced: drummer Andy Barker; bassist Andy Faulkner; guitarists Steve Hayes and Pete Davies; Mo the keyboard player and, finally, himself.

'Keep the Blues' is opened by a few lines sung in Welsh - then JDJ begins again, in English this time. This contains some guitar work that is very Floyd influenced ... tonight they emphasised this aspect with bits of  'Shine On You Crazy Diamond'.  Much laughter greeted JDJ's comment of "That's enough of that, it's not fair - they couldn't play any of our songs!"  This is the type of song that could quite easily go on forever and it grows more bluesy as it continues with some stirling guitar virtuosity being demonstrated.

"This is the encore" declares JDJ as a prelude to 'Two Up Two Down' - well they have been on stage from some 75 minutes already at the point. It's an audience participation number with its title repeated in the refrain and the time changes and rapped section make it quite different to the other songs.

The band left the stage, but continued shouts for more brought them back once again.  The encore, 'Dr. Spin' another new number, was dedicated to "all modern politicians."  This is a pacey piece with rock'n'roll guitar sounds and could that possibly have been a touch of venom in Mr Dexter Jones' lyrics? ...  I guess it probably was.

In my opinion, Jump were the hit of the weekend. They played a totally fabulous set and on the strength of this, I expect we'll see them back another year...

Marisa
For the record, we won't be reviewing Perfect Alibi's set in any detail, but they did try to respond to JDJ's gibes - not all of which are recorded here - weakly and unsuccessfully as it turned out; the audience weren't particularly on their side and, in fact, when their set finished most of the crowd left the hall without even considering an encore.
Check out further details of PA's frustrated backbiting on Jump's web site - there're some very funny articles to be found there...

Venue: T. J. O'Reilly's, Marlow, Bucks         Date: 19th October, 2001

Set list: Thom's New Clothes; Brave New World; Moscow Circus; Tower of Babel; December's Moon; Bethesda; Alone Ahead; Rise; Right Winger; Freedom Train; Love Song Number Five; Johnny Intro; Soft Shoe Tread; Millionaire; Like a Drum; Tongue Tied; Keep the Blues; Two Up, Two Down;
Encore; Four Winds; Winds of Change.

This gig (at the pub previously known as the Pegasus) was a return to where Jump launched their first ever album, ten year's ago - tonight's concert was to launch their newest offering 'Impulse'.  As I have only just posted a Jump live review, of their Whitchurch appearance, this will be only a brief overview of the night.

The evening started with a short set by Matthew, after whom Jump's last album was named. His impromptu set, which only took place because Jump's tape player broke down leaving the room with no background music, went down well.  He sung - he certainly has a good voice - and accompanied himself on acoustic guitar, and during the last piece he played (an REM song) Jump arrived and provided an accompaniment.

Jump dived straight into their set which included most of the songs from the new album alongside some old favourites. Many of the tracks off of the new CD are familiar to those who have seen the band recently as they have been playing the songs live, carefully crafting them prior to putting together the album. There are two schools of thought to recording: some bands write  the music, record each person's part, make the album and then learn to play the music as a band; others, like Jump, hone the songs and then record them - personally I prefer the latter method, it's more honest and I think that it produces a more energetic and together sound.

The playing throughout tonight's set was very tight, and it was a real joy to see a band that feed so well off each other. A highlight for me was a particularly poignant rendition of the song 'Bethseda' off the new album, this is a piece that sounds better each time you hear it.

After the first few numbers JDJ began his series of between song chats with a dig at an audience member (obviously know to him), and the amusing spiel continued with mentions traffic wardens' behavior in certain local streets, tribute bands - the saga continues! - and an anecdote about Jay Kay of Jamiroquai, a local resident.

So, another fine set by Jump.  They're a band who play consistently well live, whether to a small or large audience - if you've not yet seen them, try it least once; their presentation that combines excellent music with a fine sense of humour could very well appeal to you as much as it does to me.

Marisa

Venue: T. J. O'Reilly's, Marlow, Bucks         Date: 7th October, 2006

Set list: A Man was Made; Moscow Circus; Blind Birds; In a Second;
On Bended Knee; Bethesda; Staring at the Rain; Cold Wind Blow; Shed No Tears; Curtain Call; Horse to Water; Jimmy Dies; The Freedom Train; Doctor Spin; Fool in Me; Used to the Taste; Free at Last; Keep the Blues

When I reviewed Jump's latest live album a few months back I commented that it had been far too long since I last saw the band play, so when the opportunity came up to see them return to the scene following a well deserved summer break I was delighted to have the chance to catch up with them once again and I have to say I was not disappointed.

Jump took to the stage after a short but well performed support slot from Caamora, and as soon as the music started it was evident that the band were on top form. As they ran through the first three numbers in quick succession the years peeled back as we were treated to 'A Man was Made' (2004) followed by 'Moscow Circus' (2000) and then 'Blind Birds' (1995).

Only once the band had displayed their musical credentials did frontman John Dexter Jones take a brief break from the music to exchange some banter with the small, and largely silent yet appreciative, audience. Then without further ado it was back to the music.

'In a Second', taken from the bands latest studio album, was performed faultlessly and with a passion that would have been suprising from many a band, but for Jump it seems to be almost second nature.  An as yet unreleased number came next with 'On Bended Knee' after which we were treated to a stirring rendition of 'Bethesda' one of my all time favourite pieces from the band - I have always found this song very moving from the lyrical point of view, yet seeing it performed live it somehow takes on added poignancy.

After this things moved on at a pace as the band played effortlessly through the remainder of the set, playing a succession of blinding numbers that carry the listener through a range of emotions - in fact I was so caught up in the moment that soon stopped making notes, preferring instead to be part of the evening rather than a lone observer standing on the edge - so from this point on my reflections will have to take on a more general tone. 

Throughout the evening I was struck not only at how well the new material came across in the live environment, but also how well the older songs have stood the test of time. Long standing favourites such as 'Freedom Train' and the superb 'Keep the Blues' both brought a smile to my face as I witnessed a band clearly in their element and what's more they were obviously having fun playing for us. 

During 'Keep the Blues' in particular I was impressed as to how Jump continually manage to add new improvisation to their songs, seemingly at will, a feature that is perhaps sadly lacking from too many of todays up and coming acts.

In fact above all else the more I see of Jump the more I have to marvel at how well this band works on stage. It would be wrong of me to try and single out any particular aspects of the performance for each member appears to be working as a cog in a well oiled machine, each necessary for the success of the whole effort, but none trying to score above the others.  Guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals all have their moments, but no one element ever over staying it's welcome - the result of which is an exciting and vibrant performance that really keeps the fans wanting more.

After missing seeing the band for so long I for one cannot wait for the next opportunity to see them play and I would urge anyone who wants a good night out to do the same.  At the end of the night I pondered on how much I had enjoyed the evenings event and concluded that this is how live music is supposed to be - not simply entertaining but damn good fun too! 

Simon 15/10/06