R.I.P. Ron Escheté

Maurice Summerfield has sent me the sad news of the passing of guitarist Ron Escheté on May 20.

I never got to hear Escheté live although I was familiar with his excellent work with the Gene Harris Quartet, A particular recording that moved the earth for me was the Gene Harris' Quartet recording with Frank Wess on flute and tenor - It's the Real Soul.   

Several guitarists paid tribute HERE.     

Ron Escheté was 77. Sadly missed. Lance

Stockport Jazz

Sunday 7th June 2026

Stockport Jazz welcomes the return of multi-saxophonist Rod Mason to the Moor Club, with Paul Hartley (guitar), Ken Marley (bass) and Dave Walsh (drums).

8-10pm, doors open at 7.30pm

£5 entry on the door, all welcome

The Moor Club, 35 Heaton Moor Road, Stockport SK4 4PB  (next to the Elizabethan PH)

Single review: Tony Adamo - It’s Gotta B U! (Saint Jaz Records)

Tony Adamo (vocal, hipspokenword, music and lyrics); Mike Clark (drums); Richie Goods (bass)

The Heavyweight Champion of hipspokenword strikes again with a muscular straight-ahead offering titled It’s Gotta B U! The pulsating track simmers straight-ahead over Killer Joe-like changes and vibes all sent up by a B-3 heavy groove with bassist Richie Goods and “Headhunter” Mike Clark driving.

It’s a shorter track in which Adamo again uses his ultra-cool vocal styling to offer a jazz history lesson and a soulful message pointed right at you, the listener. You’ve got to be cool indeed and hand it to Adamo that in this age of fabricated and less than sincere unhip jazz offerings, Adamo is genuine, sticks to his pure jazz guns, and knows his endgame is to deliver utter hipness.

Munch Manship Quartet @ the Moor Club, Stockport - May 31

© Jeff Pritchard

Munch Manship (tenor sax, flute); Richard Wetherall (keyboards); Dave Lynane (bass); Dave Hassell (drums).

On my way to the gig, I wondered if Munch, who I know is a big fan of Sonny Rollins, would  feature any of his music tonight. 

The first tune was Shining Hour but the second number was a Rollins' composition - Paul's Pal. The  other Rollins' tune St Thomas, which I think is his  version of an old calypso number, popped up in the second set and featured Munch on both tenor sax and flute.

This reminded me of the occasion when, during a jazz cruise, the ship had to miss St Thomas due to a fierce hurricane. The  tour company, Chancery  Cruising, put a band together with Joe Farnsworth and Russell Malone and there was great  jazz, dancing and free cocktails.

Natalie Williams’ Soul Family @ The Festival Theatre, Hever Castle – May 29

Natalie Williams, Vanessa Haynes, Brendan Reilly, Aux (vocals); Phil Peskett (keys); Robin Mullarkey (bass); Ben Jones (guitar); Mark Brown (sax) Ben Edwards  (trumpet); Tom O'Grady (trombone); Martyn Kaine (drums?) +?

Some concerts begin with the first note.

This one began long before that.

 

As I walked through the grounds of Hever Castle on a glorious late-May evening, the festival atmosphere was already in full swing. The last of the sunshine hung lazily across the Kent countryside, casting a warm golden glow over the ancient stone walls and perfectly manicured gardens. Around the lake, the water shimmered like glass beneath a sky slowly surrendering to dusk. From the nearby Tudor Rose Garden, the scent of thousands of roses hung heavy in the warm evening air, drifting across the lawns and mingling with the sounds of laughter, conversation and anticipation.

 

Everywhere there was life.

 

The gentle murmur of conversation drifted across the grounds. Champagne corks popped. Wine glasses clinked together in celebration. Children ran barefoot across the grass while parents unpacked elaborate picnics that had clearly required military-level planning. The scent of fresh food mingled with the fragrance from the gardens as groups settled into their seats, taking in the view before a single note had been played.

 

Album review: Jack Wilson - The Bear and the Wolf (Whittington Records/ECN)

Jack Wilson (soprano/tenor sax, comp.); Billy Marrows (guitar); Max Kahn (bass); Jack Yardley (drums)

London based saxophonist, composer and educator, Wilson is an emerging voice on the UK (a.k.a. London) jazz scene and this, his debut album as a leader, has been long-awaited.

Cascade: Marrows, Kahn and Yardley chirp away in the undergrowth whilst Wilson soars above them escaping the repeated riffing that's going on down below. Yardley shuts up shop with a drum solo. 

Prelude For the Departed: Based on the spirituality of John Coltrane's music, it offers the opportunity to dwell upon those we've known who left us before paying their dues.

La Dolce Vita

Newcastle University's annual Fine Art degree show is a must. The culmination of four years study distilled into an exhibition, open to the public, on view for all of two weeks, it's anyone's guess what will be on show. This 2026 edition would feature a preponderance of painters, a handful of sculptors and fewer than usual video installations. 

It's a big show spread over three floors. Entering the Hatton Gallery, much of the wall/floor space was temporarily given over to some of the students' work. Walking into a second room a painting immediately caught the eye... 

More J.G. Windows...

I spent a huge amount of Thursday evenings (and a huge amount of my salary) in the Jazz CD Department in the 80s/90s/2000s - which was then upstairs - receiving a lot of great information and advice from a chap called Rob/Robert. Looking back at my collection now, I have remarkably few 'duds', which was entirely down to him - he was always trying to push me into less 'safe' jazz areas and steer me away from 'honking' tenor players for whom he had no time. It was a perfectly symbiotic relationship - I always left with 3 or 4 CDs on Thursday evenings which boosted the shops numbers a bit, and I ended up with an excellently curated jazz CD collection.

I lost touch with Robert after I left Newcastle College which I regret and wondered if you had any information as to his whereabouts. Andrew Pidd

Late Night Chicago Radio with Denny Farrell (May 28 - June 3)

Gerald Wilson: Lighthouse Blues.

Mel Tormé: Lullaby of Birdland.

Jimmy Yancey: 35th and Dearborn,

Eddie Condon: Embraceable You.

Dick Johnson: The Night Has a Thousand Eyes.

Harry Edison/Oscar Peterson: Makin' Whoopie.

Stan Getz: Over the Rainbow.

Bing Crosby/Lee Wiley: I Still Suits me.

Mary Lou Williams: Darn That Dream.

Johnny Hodges: Perdido.

LISTEN 24/7:

The Music of Charles Mingus @ Jazz at Obie's (Southgate Club), London - May 27

Malcolm Earle Smith (trombone, vocals); Art Themen (tenor sax); Gabriel Garrick (trumpet, flugelhorn); Kate Williams (piano); Larry Bartley (double bass); Ethan Sweeting (drums)

The Music of...Malcolm Earle Smith (Professor of Jazz, Trinity, London) has taken to putting together ensembles to play the music of whatever and whoever. This evening's all-star sextet, purposely restricted to a one hour rehearsal, would play the music of Charles Mingus.

The Southgate Club Ltd, on the Piccadilly line at, unsurprisingly, Southgate (two stops short of end-of-the-line Cockfosters), is home to Jazz at Obie's. It's a typical social club, not CIU, but, to all intents and purposes it could be. The all-star line-up tempted your correspondent to make the round trip of some 550 miles to listen to Malcolm Earle Smith and co play the music of Mingus. 

As a fair few folk (no doubt regulars at Obie's) took their seats on a warm, late spring evening, our sextet opened with Dizzy Moods. Excellent ensemble work: genial Malcolm Earle Smith leading from the front, late dep Gabriel Garrick (in for Pete Horsfall) assured, powerful, Art Themen on terrific form, Kate Williams comping, then comping some more, Larry Bartley a towering presence, recent Trinity graduate drummer, Ethan Sweeting, mixing it with the big boys...and the, musically speaking, big girl!