Paul
Edis (piano), Mick Shoulder (bass), Adam Sinclair (drums), Graeme Wilson (saxes),
Graham Hardy (trumpet/flugelhorn), Alex Leathard (trombone).
(Review/photo by Jerry)
After initial
reservations when its development was first announced, I have come to love the
Sage. I feared it would be a “cathedral of music”: nothing more than an elite
venue dedicated to devotees of classical music (a club from which I have
voluntarily excluded myself for most of my life!). Structurally it is a cathedral, but there is nothing
elitist or forbidding about it – rather it is a communal hub buzzing with life
even on workaday days but all the more so when a major jazz festival is
underway!
And whatever the genre,
it is not all about the big stars (though they shone and dazzled all weekend like
the
On Friday, in Hall One,
we had Jambone and NYJO: the very young, gifted locals and the slightly older
national ensemble aided and abetted by local and national stars such as Tim
Garland, Mark Nightingale, Jason Yarde and Jacqui Dankworth. And what a concert
it was, from start to finish: proof, if proof were needed, that there IS a
future for jazz and places like the Sage guarantee this wonderful continuum.
Exiting Hall One you
become aware that the music still goes on – a band in the Concourse is in full
(swinging) swing – its own audience now swelling with all those flooding down
the stairs. The Concourse, with its almost non-stop, free, top-quality music
typifies the open, welcoming atmosphere of the Sage in general and of the
Festival in particular….
Which brings me,
eventually, to the last shift on Saturday when a good crowd in the café and on
the stairs enjoyed an hour-long set from the sextet featuring eight Edis
originals, four of which I had not heard before. These four new (to me) pieces
are set to feature “soonish” (Paul’s word) on the sextet’s second CD – worth watching out for!
Administrate This, Echoes,
Ravelations
and Missing
You (say “Aaah”, everyone!) were the familiar titles, arriving like old
friends. Echoes sounds amazing in that huge, high-roofed space! In
amongst those we had the Lord Prescott inspired Better than a Punch in the Face,
Lost
in Translation (50% Norwegian and 50% “Scouse”!), the suitably oriental
Eastern
and a cracking finale entitled simply The Timothys. This last was
dedicated to his in-laws: such a belting good tune suggests that Paul knows
which side his bread is buttered on! All heartily recommended – catch them when
you can!
Jerry.
1 comment :
I too love the Sage and always get a buzz when I enter the building. It has to be said though that the Concourse is not the most acoustically perfect place for music, particularly when another concert ends and people walk back and forward in front of the band (maybe if the stage was moved forward towards the Cafe, traffic could go behind it?). However, when you are getting such a great band for free, what's to complain about. And that half the set was made up of new original piece shows the band is continuing to progress. Paul said that 'Eastern' was the working title for one piece and asked for other suggestions - How about 'East of Edis'?
The final new standout track 'The Timothys' was written in elevenths, according to Paul, as that's the number of family members. However, that's nothing - there were 11 in my mother's family and 12 in my father's. Nobody wrote them a tune but they had their own football league.
JC
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