Paul Edis Sextet @ Blaydon Jazz Club. November 1

Paul Edis (piano), Graeme Wilson (tenor saxophone), Graham Hardy (trumpet & flugelhorn), Chris Hibbard (trombone), Mick Shoulder (double bass) & Adam Sinclair (drums)
(Review by Russell).

If you run a jazz club this is the band to book. The Paul Edis Sextet is shot through with first rate musicians, composers and arrangers. The band’s CD There Will be Time formed the basis of two excellent sets at Blaydon Jazz Club. My Heart Belongs to Daddy and Autumn in New York (early winter in Blaydon!), the former arranged by bassist Mick Shoulder, the latter by Graeme Wilson (tenor), featured a plethora of solos - Shoulder, pianist and bandleader Edis, Wilson and Graham Hardy (flugelhorn) - which set the tone and the standard. And what a standard!

The casual visitor, perhaps a Blue Note or Concord label A & R big shot, couldn't fail to be impressed. Administrate This (comp.Edis) and Donald Brown’s Being with You put Edis in the spotlight with some effective stride piano on the latter number. Graeme Wilson’s tenor caught the ear on Out of Nowhere and the first set closer - Blues for Dad – introduced drummer Adam Sinclair. 

Interval chatter about Paul Edis’ gig earlier in the week with Lewis Watson and Rob Walker at the Cluny reached a unanimous verdict…superb. The Blaydon session was shaping-up nicely. A Surrey with a Fringe on Top and Softly as in a Morning Sunrise (arr. Shoulder) eased the club regulars (a good number of them) into the second set. Trombonist Chris Hibbard’s feature - Black Orpheus - never fails to elicit applause and it deservedly did so at Blaydon. The Radio 3 hit - alright, the Jazz Record Requests tune - Ravelations worked well with more good tenor and piano. The flugelhorn of Graham Hardy won plaudits on Body and Soul and Graeme Wilson’s caffeinated Up Late kept your reviewer up late reliving yet another excellent gig by the Paul Edis Sextet. 

Blaydon Jazz Club’s Christmas party night - Thursday December 6 -  features genial reedsman Frank Brooker with the James Birkett Quartet. The evening starts a little earlier than usual at 8:15 pm to accommodate a sumptuous buffet. Feel free to bring a culinary contribution.

Russell