Jam Session - Splinter at the Bridge December 15

Zoe Gilby, Kieran Rafferty & Kath Jobes (Vocal) Alan Law (Piano) John Pope (D Bass) Jonathan Marriott (Drum) Paul Gowland (Sax).

(Review by Kath Jobes)

Well folks, I have to say I was in two minds whether or not to report on this Splinter session.  Lance was undecided whether to publish the comment as he is reluctant to post anonymous ones but maybe readers should have the choice… and one out of 400 hits is probably just a bad egg so I will allow you to decide, here is what “Anonymous” wrote:

"ALT – Splinter @ the Bridge December 8": 

My God. Who is this Kath Jobes? She's at it again. Does someone wind her up & throw away the key? A short, informative review would be suffice, by the time we get to the end, we're bored!

Well I will tell you who I am, I am someone who is not afraid to express my views and take responsibility for them.  I will stand up for myself and I will not be bullied by some numpty who hasn’t the courage to sign their name to a rude and personal attack.  If you had been at Splinter you would have known who I was… or maybe you are just hiding behind your words…. If you get bored don’t read my reviews… Simple!  Anyway, enough said!

So folks as I said I hadn’t planned to review this week, I had once again been over to Salsa for a sing, and decided to continue on to Splinter… I didn’t  get my pad out for the first instrumental  number but the minute Zoe Gilby hit the stage I just couldn’t let folks down so out it came to report once more…

I Thought About You, sung as a beautiful ballad was followed by Just Squeeze Me, with wonderfully expressive solos from both piano and bass.  Gee Baby Ain’t I Good To You was described as a sleazy bluesy number by Zoe and it didn’t disappoint.  The Alan Law trio then went on to play an upbeat interpretation of Bye Bye Blackbird… a song I had sung earlier at Salsa and Law’s improvised piano solo slipped in a phrase of Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, and was followed by more stupendous solos  from Pope on bass and Marriott on drums. 

Kieran Rafferty took to the stage for a couple of numbers, and impressed with I Only Have Eyes For You and Rock a Bye Baby, this singer is highly talented and reminded me of Chet Baker and at times Michael Bublé.  The first set was rounded off nicely by the trio with Blue Bossa. 

My Funny Valentine was the underlying tune for the introduction of set two by the Trio, but was improvised delightfully by the skilled musicians to the point that I almost forgot that I was up next!  Audience members described my version of Good Morning Heartache as soulful and heartfelt, and indeed that was exactly the interpretation I had wanted. 

Rafferty then came back to centre stage for an exquisite By the Light of the Silvery Moon, and the night was rounded off by Zoe Gilby, who was not allowed to escape without one more brilliant tune… a stupendous bossa – Love For Sale, even Paul Gowland could not resist this tune and got out his tenor to delight with a stunning solo… dressed as the Christmas Elf with his Santa hat on.  As the night came to a close Paul Bream thanked attendees for coming along to support Splinter at the Bridge and reminded people about Tuesday Night at The Cluny where AVC have a final gig of the year… it will be well worth seeing folks.

Kath J.