Vasilis Xenopoulos (ten); Martin Shaw
(tpt/flg); Paul Edis (pno); Andy Champion (bs); Matt Home (dms).
(Review and photos by
Jerry).
If Virgil had
been at Crook last night, he’d have hated the rat-grey, mizzly weather but he’d
never have penned that line about fearing the Greeks even when bearing gifts!
Aided by two “local heroes” (his words, not mine) and by two top-class
London-based colleagues, Vasilis brought his considerable gifts (and chirpy,
Mediterranean charm) and took Crook by storm, not by stealth.
As at the
Bridge, last night, they stormed through Four
Brothers and Splanky on which I
fully understood Lance’s comment about the BIG
sound generated by these five splendid musicians. Altogether more gentle on the
senses, Tin Tin Deo brought
mesmerising Latin rhythms and a tasty flugelhorn solo (accompanied by tempting
smells from the kitchen of pizza cooking for the interval!).
“Ballad
Medleys”, one in each half, demonstrated that these guys could do subtle and
seductive as well as storming. We had Bewitched,
My One and Only Love (first set) then
Prelude to a Kiss and Sophisticated Lady (second set).
Bewitched we were! Subtlety and great harmonies too on Dizzy Gillespie’s
ground-breaking bebop / Latin mix, Con
Alma, (correctly translated by Vas as “With Soul”).
“That’s his
best” was my comment after each player’s solo – until the next one! They just
seemed to get better and better as the evening progressed and there was so much
dazzling technique for this “jazznoramus” to watch, listen to and wonder at. On Our Delight, for example Shaw’s muted
trumpet, almost swallowing the microphone, produced amazing low notes which had
me looking to see if some other instrument had arrived onstage unannounced! He
and Vas closed Brookmeyer’s Fun Club
with a quiet (improvised?) duet – a kind of horn-duel – the like of which I
have not previously heard. Magical! It was great, too, to see drumming up close
– so often the drummer is hidden away at the back – and to register the variety
of techniques deployed by
I’ve not
mentioned, so far, The Groove Merchant
which closed the first set, Corner
Pocket, which punched holes in the second and the powerful (“frenetic” in a
good way) Wind Machine which rounded
off the evening. So there you have it: a fairly brief review for an epic gig…
Thanks, as ever,
to all at Crook for the candles, nibbles, pizzas and genuine warmth which makes
this a great place to be, even on a foul night.
Jerry
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