Alan Glen Trio @ The Chillingham. August 29

Alan Glen (piano), John Pope (double bass) & Paul Wight (drums)

(Review by Russell).

The doyen of north east piano players had been away from the scene for too long. This rare public performance by Alan Glen was one of those ‘I was there’ occasions. Glen is a man of few words – ‘One, two, three…’ is about as much as he has to say. His jazz piano playing does the talking, then some! Regular bassist John Pope forged a new partnership with drummer Paul Wight and one wondered how things would work out. Just grand I’d say! The set list is always five star material and a treat of modern jazz piano playing was in store. Love For Sale, Stella by Starlight, Autumn Leaves familiar tunes all, yet the sprightly tempi produced something extra special confirming that Glen has lost nothing in terms of ideas and their rapid execution.

An exquisite ballad – What’s New? – provided some relief for the bass and drums pairing. I won’t say they were flagging but they were working hard to keep up with the senior man in the outfit – only joking lads! All Blues, Time After Time, great tunes just kept coming, one after another. Jazz fans in the north east of England are fortunate to have so many top class pianists on their doorstep, Alan Glen is right up there with the best of them.

Wednesday night at the Chillingham is, of course, Dave Weisser’s night. Take it to the Bridge has been running for so many years few can remember when it all started. No matter, Weisser has kept on gigging when many a session has fallen by the wayside. The band, currently enjoying the ‘seasonal’ services of ex-pat electric bassist Ray Truscott and the busy Paul Wight (drums), picked a few tunes from a bulging pad to play two sets either side of Alan Glen’s master class.

Girl Talk (with Ben Sidran’s re-written politically correct lyrics) and Green Bossa served as a hors d’oeuvres. Later, coffee and biscuits Monk style; Well You Needn’t (I’m pleased to say they did), put veteran keyboards player Barrie Ascroft in the spotlight and the Main Man, Dave Weisser (trumpet, flugelhorn and vocals) hit the heights on Falling in Love with Love and for an encore scaled those heights with an excellent vocal on The Lady is a Tramp.

Russell