NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY MUSIC FESTIVAL AT KING’S HALL

.Newcastle University Saxophone Quartet (Monday afternoon June 13^th)

(Jamie Stockbridge, Charlie Bayley, Nicola Thorne and David Mabbott).

I thought I was going to hear classical music at this free festival, which is on for an hour each day this week, and also in the evenings. However the final item of the concert turned out to be this saxophone quartet who treated us to some very tasty tunes.

They began with a tune by someone called Bill Hayes – I didn’t catch the title but it was something about wine. Then came Autumn Leaves, slow and fast by turns, with a high pitched climax towards the end. There followed Brubeck’s Blue Rondo a la Turk, from the Time Out album with short perky solos. Next came another title I didn’t catch, (was it London or Loudon?) by Thelonious Monk, a lovely deep slow relaxed tune. The performance ended with a 1940’s medley which rounded off the concert in lively fashion with a ride on the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

The four sax’s covered the range well, from the straight one (soprano?) to a deep one (baritone?) and, I presume, alto and tenor in between. (Sorry to sound so amateurish about this). The elegant surroundings of the King’s Hall didn’t detract and actually helped me to concentrate on the music more.

I’d recommend these concerts to music lovers in general. We were also so treated to wonderful piano (Beethoven, Chopin, and not a note of printed music anywhere). There was also an avant-garde (their description) piece by a tuba and trombone duo, which I thought defied classification, and could have been classical, or even Jazz North East ‘On The Outside’.

Ann Alex