Southbound @ The Bridge Hotel. Sunday June 24

Jack Davies (trumpet), Rob Cope (tenor saxophone), Tom Taylor (keyboards) & Jon Ormston (drums).

(Review by Russell)

England v. Italy. Live on every television in the United Kingdom of Inger-land. Well, you lost. Get your money on Germany. You lost double your money… read on. 

A five-a-side audience just about outnumbered the musicians on stage. So, the quartet kicked-off with pianist Tom Taylor’s composition Bird’s Nest. Gerry Mulligan or perhaps Jimmy Giuffre’s The Train and the River just about summed up where they were at or maybe not. Band leader Jack Davies’ Paragraphs indicated a contemporary classical approach (Harrison Birtwhistle and Hakan Hardenberger – vis Jack Davies - loomed large). A feature of the performance was the writing for two instruments, then a third and fourth. Restraint was key. Self control, self-imposed parameters, the discipline of grade 8+ musicians  

Tenor saxophonist Rob Cope contributed Minus Ten on which Taylor’s efforts scored ten out of ten. Percussionist Jon Ormston’s composition Clowns and Taylor’s Three Short Stories rounded off the first set. Audience and band dashed down to the bar to check the score….0-0. Cullercoats Brewery’s Jack the Lad hit the back of the net (1-0,  2-0, 3-0, then the scorer lost count). 

Second set: Tom Taylor spent a Day on the Roof Tops playing some first rate keyboards and Davies’ trumpet hit home. Rob Cope’s Southbound1 encapsulated the group dynamic and pianist Taylor’s Chaos rather politely caused a minor disturbance before closing with the American literary icon Saul Bellow-inspired Bellow. A winning gig. The quartet stood to applaud the audience. The audience (the quintet) stood as one to return the compliment. For the record books: Band and audience dashed down to the bar to watch the penalty shoot-out. Italy 4 England 2. Next week (Sunday July 1) get your money on Germany and the Paul Edis Trio (the Music of Bill Evans) at Splinter at the Bridge.

Russell