Leah Gough-Cooper's HUMAN EQUIVALENT Schmazz @ the Cluny

Leah Gough-Cooper (alt), David Preston (gtr), Alan Benzie (keys), Kevin Glasgow (6 string bs gtr), John Lowrie (dms).

I have been known to leave Cluny gigs before the end, often just relieved to be breathing-in the delightful silence of the night.

Tonight was different - tonight I wanted to stay till the end of time and I don't mean time as in 'Gentlemen Please' but time as in a trillium years from now such was the kick I got from tonight. However, buses and Metros don't run till the end of time so, reluctantly, I left before the coda but on a high with what I'd heard.

I picked up on Leah when she appeared here with Patrick Kunka last year. With her newly formed Human Equivalent the girl proved that that was not just a one off.

Leah's alto playing is as contemporary as they come and she does it without squawks and duck calls. Leah plays saxophone as saxophone should be played whatever the idiom.

Admitedly it was, in the main, funk but it was funkin' good funk and her fellow travellers ensured that the groove was maintained.

Hey! about those travellers - John Lowrie proved there's more than one drum demon around in Scotland - he can hold his sticks up high alongside any of them (even though I'm told he's English). On piano, Alan Benzie is another phenomenon and guitarist David Preston is no slouch either. Benzie and Preston had a smash and grab blast at each other in the opening number of the second set that really burned.

Kevin Glasgow played six string electric bass which meant chords and de-muddied (clean) lines that added another dimension to the mix.

All pieces were by Leah and the band, and herself, did them proud.

Photos.

Lance.