Ernie Watts Quartet/Ronnie Scott All-Stars @ Ronnie Scott's

Ernie Watts (ten); Christof Seenger (pno); Rudi Engel (bs); Heinrich Koebberling (dms).
(Review by Lance)

A near capacity Ronnie's were duly captivated by the astonishing tenor playing of Ernie Watts. Think Hank Mobley, then Coltrane, Brecker and maybe a few others and you're getting the idea. His technique is prodigious but it isn't all technique. Watts can be doing Formula One with the pedal pressed to the floor and then, he's taking a stroll in the park, before revving up the motor again.

I swear he's got six fingers on each hand! This is a guy surely at the pinnacle of his career exploring every tonal inflection and combination lesser mortals can only dream of!

Oasis, the title track of his current CD and nothing to do with the pop group of the same name began as a probing, haunting melody, full of Eastern Promise before exploding in a cascade of notes and sounds. The Wow Factor was high. As it was indeed with pianist Seenger's solos. It was as if Czerny had met Art Tatum at Oscar Peterson's. Later they indulged in some contrapuntal interplay sans bass and drums that topped just about everything.

The Beatles' Blackbird seems to be in vogue among jazzmen these days - Am I the only one who's never heard The Beatles' version?

Johnny Mandell's You Are There was mainly unaccompanied balladry - beautiful.

However, the highlight for me had to be 'Shaw Nuff. This was the solo to end all bebop solos - it went off the edge of the Wow Factor Scale!

Piano, bass and drums did their bit but tonight belonged to Ernie Watts.

Earlier the Ronnie Scott All-Stars opened up. Alex Garnett (alto); Phil Peskett (pno); Sam Burgess (bs); Pedro Segundo (dms).

It too was a lovely set - particularly I Only Have Eyes For You played in 7/4! "Imagine doing a foxtrot with a limp" was how Garnett described it! It was fun. He too is a superb sax player and the closer - Monk's Evidence - set the scene perfectly for what was too follow.

I'd like to have stayed for the Late Set but I was beginning to flag and it had been a long day.

Lance.