Tanton-Williams – Salsa Café and Tapas Bar – Saturday November 9

Pete Tanton (Flugel/Trumpet) Mark Williams (Guitar) Mark Robertson (Drums) John Pope (D.Bass) + Christine Ben-Ameh (vcl).

(Review by Kath Jobes.)

Salsa Café and Tapas Bar witnessed the genius of another group of talented musicians brought together in the form of Tanton-Williams.  The set commenced with a lively version of Four featuring Tanton on Flugelhorn… his main instrument of the night, chosen for its gentler timbre while folks were dining.  This was followed by One Note Samba and a mellow version of Sunny. 

A Horace Silver tune, Nica’s Dream, celebrated Mark Williams’ easy style supported by the walking bass of John Pope. The feel moved between Latin and swing and incorporated a lovely bass solo.  A switch to trumpet for Pete Tanton produced a vivacious rendition of Straight No Chaser.  Next came a change of mood with a very melodic You Don’t Know What Love Is and when Sunny Rollins’ Oleo modulated into Anthropology,  the first set drew to an interesting close.

A chilled start to the second set with the Wayne Shorter number, Footprints, generating an exquisite ambience with the skilled guitar of Williams complemented by the double bass of Pope.  Girl from Ipanema displayed gentle flugelhorn and melodic guitar supported by the Latin rhythms of Robertson and a lovely rhythmic bass from Pope. A Mark Williams original – Booze Blues – once again exhibited the bass skills of John Pope.  A warm and chocolaty version of Moon River ensued and this beautiful tune was followed by a lively rendition of When I Fall in Love.  The flair of Mark Roberson on drums was evident during How Insensitive and then we were bestowed with a fabulous treat… a member of the audience, Christine Ben-Ameh, joined the band in a beautiful and soulful expression of the song, Smile… what an entrance to the Newcastle Music Scene… I hope we will be seeing a lot more of this talented singer during the next two years while she is with us in ‘The Toon’.  The final number of the night, How High the Moon brought the evening to an enchanting end… I would love to see this venue develop a nice friendly jam session… might have a word with my mate Mo… so watch this space Jazzers!

Kath J.