Pete Gilligan (pno); Mark Williams (gtr); Paul Grainger (bs); Jeff Armstrong (dms) + many others.
(Review by Lance).
The quartet kicked things off with, I think, Straight No Chaser. It was Pete's birthday and he was on the money as well as the coffee! Mark, Paul and Jeff stayed with him all the way and this was one helluva opener. I didn't recognise the next one although I should have done likewise the Latin number that followed. Skylark and Beautiful Love finished the set off with panache and solos all round.
Come the second half and the subs jump off the bench.
James Harrison takes the piano seat, Ian Simpson plugs into Mark's guitar amp and Joe Fowler - the ex Budvivar trombonist - is the horn player.
Well You Needn't had Simpson handling the melody before Joe had a blustering solo - Tailgate Bebop just about summed it up. Harrison rubber stamped his credentials as one of the front runners of the next generation of jazz musicians during the second set opener that said, "The party's just begun."
The Frim Fram Sauce was served up to Cordon Blue standard by Belinda Voshtina - a voice to remember (pictured)..
Debra Milne sang a song about Temptation (not the old standard) before Lindsay Hannon took over. Lindsay was in spectacular form tonight. My Funny Valentine done with a triplet feel to it injected a new lease of life into the old warhorse. Mike Papapavlou was now on guitar and the bluesy number Lindsay finished off with highlighted his playing.
A second interval and they were queuing up to sing or play the final set but the number 27 was coming down the line, the number 27 right on time.
Happy birthday Pete - you had a good one!
Lance.
PS: Don't forget the Cool Collective on Saturday night and Kate Peters' Sextet next Thursday.
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