Tori Freestone (tenor saxophone),
Jez Franks (guitar), Dave Manington (double bass) & James Maddren (drums)
Manchester ) was written
for trumpeter Neil Yates (soon to be heard at this year’s Gateshead
International Jazz Festival) and further illustrated the band’s forte - a
cohesive group sound, largely devoid of up-front soloing. The first set concluded
with Franks’ Anger Management, a tune
inspired by a saxophonist. I wonder who it could be? Freestone’s tenor was
politely angry - a case of successful anger management!
(Review by Russell)
Another freezing ‘spring’
evening. Will the big freeze ever end? Perhaps global warming has plunged
us into twenty thousand years of sub-zero temperatures. Oh, well, the Bridge
Hotel’s heating (30 centigrade) did the trick and the hard-core audience turned
out to hear Compassionate Dictatorship. It comes to something when just about
everyone is on first name terms!
As for the band, co-leaders Tori
Freestone and Jez Franks hadn’t been up to Newcastle for a while, bassist Dave
Manington’s CD Hullabaloo was reviewed
recently in these pages by Debra Milne and first call drummer James Maddren has
been to Tyneside so often of late that Honourary Geordie status could soon be
conferred upon him! The frontline pairing of Franks (guitar) and Freestone
(tenor) write the material and on this occasion the new CD Entertaining Tyrants provided the bulk of the tunes across two
sets. Franks’ Ratios and Bubble and Squeak (named after drummer
Tim Giles’ children – no, they’re not called that) opened the programme with a
first solo for bassist Dave Manington on the latter number. Freestone’s The Chophouse (the name of a pub in
The interval raffle was re-drawn
as the winning ticket holder was thought to be downstairs at the bar (hard luck
Bill!) and we cracked-on with the second set. Frank’s Mushroom Effect led to
Freestone’s Pottering Around (name
the influential tenor player…) which featured a Maddren drum solo. A Franks’
ballad - Sit Tight - confirmed the
guitarist’s command of his Gibson. Universal
4, dedicated to the virtuoso vibraphonist Jim Hart (he counts in everything
in 4/4 regardless of the time signature - good for a laugh!), ended an
enjoyable evening. An encore was called for and Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now (arr. Freestone) captured
the spirit.
Russell.
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