Vasi X plays Ornette!

(Review by Russell/Photo courtesy of Roly Veitch)

 As Bebop Spoken Here’s editor left the Black Bull, Xenopoulos wowed the standing room only audience with more imperious tenor playing on I Fall in Love Too Easily. Another Kenny Barron number – Sunshower – all but closed a fantastic evening at Blaydon Jazz Club. All but…Xenopoulos enquired of club organiser Roly Veitch if Ornette Coleman would be an appropriate way to send us on our way! Vasi X assured Veitch (and all present) that it would be a Coleman blues. When Will the Blues Leave? will live on in the memory.

Earlier in the day news reached Roly Veitch of Xenopoulos’ Friday evening gig at the Traveller’s Rest in Darlington – a ‘best ever’ occasion, apparently. A full house at the Black Bull made this Sunday evening appearance truly unforgettable. The unexpected cameo from Billy Harper and Anne DeVere with Andy Champion and drummer Matt Mackellar (detailed in the editor’s review) pointed to the future – the Harper/DeVere legacy has been taken to another level by Champion and the other guys on the gig. The participation of Mackellar, representing the next generation, made the night.

Russell.