Claude Werner Quartet shines through the rain in St Anne’s Sq

It’s the Manchester Jazz Festival, its St Anne’s Square and it’s open to the elements. The heavy rain punctuated with short sharp bursts of strong sunlight kept the audience busy with umbrellas, drying seats and repeatedly scurrying for cover. This didn’t phase The Claude Werner Quartet however and it was clear that it would take a great deal more audience distraction to shake these accomplished players out of their collective groove. A real international band this that Claude Werner (tenor sax) has put together ranging from his own roots in Chile through Barbados (David Carnegie on drums), Northern Ireland (Mark Williams on guitar) to the north-west with Laurence Blackadder on bass. For me their music reflects the international mix within the band as each member’s influences were evident throughout the cleverly constructed Werner compositions. Its hard to pick out a favourite from the 7 number set but the opener ‘City’, the closing ‘Things I cannot express’ and if for nothing else other than its appropriateness on the day ‘Sitting in the sun’ stood out. The most striking thing about this band is how such strong individuals, and they all had the space to make their own statements, could create such an effortless sound which was relaxing yet challenging at the same time. Claude Werner on tenor sax has a strong, clear tone and with more than a hint of Charles Lloyd in his technique. Extremely melodic but at times stepping way out of the box, such as on the finale ‘Things I cannot express’, but always with a distinct purpose. A consummate band leader and, on this showing, also a composer to be reckoned with. Mark Williams on guitar augmented each number with his sharp and precise, but seemingly effortless solos. David Carnegie was energetically confident on drums and together with the bass provided a driving purpose to this strong assured music. Laurence Blackadder on bass provided a steady, pulsating support that underpinned the whole performance and allowed his fellow band members the perfect canvas on which to sketch their solos. The Claude Werner Quartet can be heard on CD with ‘Thoughts and Recollections’ available from www.claudewerner.com David Gosling