In the heart of Cheltenham town in one of many venues that played host to Cheltenham Jazz Festival, The Parabola Arts Centre held a largely desirable set of shows across the weekend. On Saturday May 3rd, closing out the nights events was Daniel Casimir and his big band. Casimir is known for his skills as a bass musician. Having played the festival before with musicians such as Nubya Garcia, fans were getting a rare opportunity to see Casimir headline his own show with a big band.

A master at his craft, Casimir produces exceptional arrangements that make him ‘an artist to watch’ within the UK Jazz scene and beyond. In 2024, Casimir released his latest album Balance. The project delivers a 7-song masterpiece which features some rising stars and phenomenal musicians as collaborators.

Over the years. Casimir has played across various iconic venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, Ronnie Scott’s and The Jazz Café.

The venue was almost a sell out with maybe 4 or 5 seats unoccupied. With the band and Casimir taking to the stage, they fell straight into the first track from his current album Balance titled Music Not Numbers. Casimir later explains this song was about encouraging all musicians to not allow streaming culture such as Spotify to affect their creative process. He then laughed and said that his music is available to stream on Spotify.

It was interesting to hear the meaning of the songs and how Casimir interprets those feelings into notation and not lyrics. It isn’t something that really occurred to me before. Art has meaning of course and every piece of art has a story but it was beautiful to understand those stories through instrumental music.

Every Big Band member had their solo moment more than once which was delightful to witness and it will never cease to amaze me how musicians can play an instrument so flawlessly. It’s somewhat ironic to use the word flawless in the world of Jazz when many arrangements and freestyle Jazz music can sound off-key to a non-Jazz fan. Alternate notes, Blue notes, wrong notes, which I believe are the terms to describe that off key sound are often used in Jazz music and are part of its charm. Casimir delivered a highly impressive freestyle solo on the upright bass which included these blue notes. Somehow those notes just work, I can’t explain it, however a seasoned Jazz fan could.

Weaving in and out of his bass guitar and double bass, Casimir wowed the audience throughout his set. Casimir’s music is some of the best Jazz music that I have ever heard. Bringing on the sensational Ria Moran to the stage to lend her stunning vocals to the track I’ll Take My Chances, the crowd and myself included were completely mesmerised by Ria’s enchantingly beautiful vocals and the instrumental heaven. Co-written by Moran and Casimir, the song is reminiscent to 90’s trip hop songs from bands such as Massive Attack and Tricky. That performance is something that I will remember for years to come. Moran and Casimir work incredibly well together. As well as featuring on Balance, Ria heavily features on Casimir’s previous work which includes the album Boxed In. Ria joined him and the Big Band again later in the show to perform a number of which I can’t remember the name. On the night, Ria couldn’t recall the name either despite writing the lyrics which made the audience laugh.

An ex pupil at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, he now teaches there too. You can tell as he talks to the crowd between songs that he is a gentle soul and will undoubtably be a much loved teacher.

The talent on stage from Casimir, his Big Band and conductor were second to none. The arrangements, perfection. The sound of the bass was infectious and the humbleness of Casimir made you love him more. Performing many songs from Balance, it was an absolute joy to be part of the crowd of which felt like a special invite-only event.

Daniel Casimir is without a shadow of a doubt, a Jazz super star in the making. Music to get lost in, his musical arrangements are exceptional and live, the tracks translated exquisitely. It was a truly special evening of gifted musicians and wondrous music.