Alan Glen at the Chillingham

Alan Glen made a welcome return to the Chilli tonight. He missed last months gig because of a sprained wrist and made up for it tonight with a well paced set of standards.

"I Fall In Love Too Easily" began with an out of tempo, complexly chorded intro leading into a relaxed interpretation of one of Sammy Cahn's (I think) finest. Alan brought a new dimension to "Love Letters" shedding the tune's maudlin sentimentality in favour of a faster no frills attached version.

And so it continued with what was perhaps his best set there yet. An hour flew by in what seemed like minutes. I can't remember the name of the final number; a familiar jazz standard that moved more than somewhat.

There are a lot of good piano men around at the moment but Alan can walk as tall as any of them. David Carnegie, on drums, soloed in his usual dynamic manner on the final number and Lawrence Blackadder, bass, completed the line-up. Lawrence had some nice melodic lines going on "How About You."

These are "Three Sounds,"and I use the words advisedly, that deserve a wider audience. Prior to the trio's set, Dave Weisser, missing last week, returned, still with the ambience of Paris about him, to lead his Take It To The Bridge crew through their idea of the Horace Silver song book with good solos by Darren on tenor, Barry, piano, and Mike Clarke, bass. On drums, Eric Stutt played with cracked ribs - Dave's jokes aren't that funny - he tripped over a gig bag. A hero above and beyond the call of nature.

The jam session this week saw Daniel and a young cat, called Felix on guitars, David C on piano giving his impression of Cecil Monk or should it be Thelonious Taylor? and Dave vocalising on "East of the Sun".

A splendid quidsworth.

More photos on Take It To The Bridge Album.