Graeme Wilson Quartet @ The Lit and Phil, Newcastle.

Graeme Wilson (ten); Paul Edis (pno); Andy Champion (bs); Adam Sinclair (dms).
(Review by Lance).

There's a certain olde worlde charm about the Lit and Phil. An imposing, slightly decaying facade (understandable as it's been around for 320 years), that nevertheless has of late provided the setting for many excellent concerts across the jazz spectrum.

This afternoon's performance by the Graeme Wilson Quartet must surely rank high on the list of jazz achievements attained within its hallowed walls. Who knows but that one day there will be portraits of these four musicians adorning the walls alongside the dignitaries who currently look down?

By this preamble you'll have guessed it was a good gig!

All the compositions were by tenorman Wilson and were indeed originals rather than the sometimes boring as bread nondescript derivative themes that are often passed off as original. A crime, I hasten to add, that none of this quartet have ever been guilty of.

The leader was in fine form, dazzling us with his technique and that lovely not quite cool tone. Andy Champion had flown in from China just over an hour previous but if he was jet lagged it didn't show. His solo on Remora was quite something - man it was better than King Prawns with Special Fried Rice and Soy Sauce.

Paul Edis has long since passed the Chop Sticks stage. There were a few bars in A Toe of Fudge that was sheer virtuosity. That they stood out in an afternoon of superb piano playing tells you just how good they were!

Adam Sinclair was chopping sticks but with a finely honed axe rather than a buzz saw. He excelled in the swinging Honolulus which brought back to mind the old Honolulu Penny joke - I wonder if that was the inspiration?

Other delights were the unprogrammed piece dedicated to "A derelict art deco cinema in Blyth." A piece so evocative you could close your eyes and you were sitting in the back stalls with the girl of your dreams and a choc ice - pleasureland! Pleasureland was also the name of one of the more frenetic numbers with just a suggestion of Eastern promise - nothing to do with the cinema in Blyth!

An inspiring afternoon and the good news is that it is programmed through until December with a break in August.

Next up Djangologie on July 12.

Lance.