The Ruth Lambert Quintet At The Bridge Hotel Sunday June 3

Ruth Lambert (vocals); Mark Williams (electric guitar); Graeme Wilson (sax); Paul Susans (bass); Tim Johnston (drums).

(Review by Ann Alex.)

The quintet were right on form tonight, playing an interesting, lively gig to a small albeit enthusiastic audience, so where were the rest of you?  The enviously slim Ruth sang her heart out, dressed in a brown summer dress bearing the currently fashionable pattern of small birds.  It’s not fair to describe only women’s outfits these days, but what can I say of the men?  They wore a varied selection of jeans, shirts and tee shirts.

Songs ranged from a mellow No Moon At All; a tongue-twisting One Note Samba; a sultry-voiced Skylark; a speedy Night And Day, including the verse; and a sensitive My Funny Valentine.  The Man I Love, was a good example of how a jazz group works when they’re really on the money (and they deserved their money for this performance).  First enters the vocal with a mellow electric guitar, then the rest of the band creeps in slowly to lead into a sax solo, which then becomes a guitar solo;   Ruth returns, playing with the vocal gently, then dramatically, then leading to a quiet ending.  But really, you need to hear it all to truly appreciate this.

Willow Weep For Me gave rise to a short tutorial from Lance at the end of the song.  Apparently it has been suggested that the song was actually written by George Gershwin, but he allowed it to be attributed to Anne Ronel with whom he may have been romantically linked. Lance supposes that initially it was cheaper than giving her jewellery although perhaps not in the long run. Come to a jazz gig to be educated!  

Ruth bravely allowed the audience to choose the numbers for the second set, which included I’ve Got You Under My Skin, with a Stan Getz-like solo from tenor  sax Wilson, the guitar playing two tunes at once (to my ears anyway), a bass solo punctuated by short guitar comments, and the whole band pausing for a moment at the word ‘Stop’ in the song.  Clever stuff.  Ruth sang Jobim's Aqua de Beber,  no doubt in tribute to the rain we’ve had lately, and the gig ended with Tom from the audience getting How High The Moon, which included the drum solo which always seems to come last in gigs, and fast snappy singing from Ruth reaching high sweet notes.

Great Stuff.

Photos (After Northern Monkey Brass Band pics.)

Ann Alex