Hot House Dragons & Take It to The Bridge @ The Chilli

Hot House Dragons: Judith Thompson (vln), Willie Angus, Matt Office (gtrs), Jack Lowe (bs).

Take It To The Bridge: Dave Weisser (tpt/vcl), Doug Fielder (ten), Chris Finch (pno), Barrie Ascroft (bs gtr), Eric Stutt (dms). + Harley Johnson (pno).

Tonight was a night to make decisions - The John Escreet Project at The Sage or the Hot House Dragons at the Chilli.

I checked the JEP Project out online and decided I would leave the Sage in Russell's capable hands and settle for the Chilli.

This was the second visit by the Dragons to the Chilli and once again they displayed an in-depth feeling for Gypsy Jazz. In fact so authentic was Judith I half expected her to be selling clothes pegs and telling fortunes in-between solos (that is a compliment Judith - honest!).

"Georgia's" Brown and Mind were played with a Grappelli-like fluency by the lady of the ensemble and the guitars soloed and thrashed with true Hot Club intensity. Angus' accoustic-electric had a country feel about it at times whereas Matt's solos could have transcended the Champs Elysees for 52nd St. Particularly on "Bernie's Tune". In the absence of a drummer, Jack the Bass was vital and he kept it tight throughout.

Having said that, for me, the best number of the night was when Eric sat in on drums for "Lady Be Good" - his crisp brushwork added an extra dimension.

For "Now's The Time", Dave joined on trumpet and Harley sat in on piano. There were problems for our boy here. Don't ask me to explain but the volume wasn't there and he struggled to be heard.

Earlier, a new face from Cumbria, Doug Fielder, blew tenor with Take It To The Bridge on standards such as "Love Walked In", "Green Dolphin Street", "Shadow of Your Smile", "Autumn Leaves" and Jimmy Van Heusen's "Imagination".

Chris Finch, now a BSH reviewer, proved he has all the jazz savvy for the task with some fine keyboardistics.

Dave W blew both open and muted and sang good as well as re-counting more tales of his life in USA (including an unrepeatable Doris Day story!).

It was an unusual night.

Lance.

PS: I screwed up on the photos so none tonight unless the other person who took photos cares to send me some!