Paragon @ Jazz Café October 28.

Peter Ehwald (reeds); Arthur Lea (keyboards); Matthias Akeo Nowak (bass); Jon Scott (drums).

(Review by Steve H/photo courtesy of Ken Drew.) 

Maybe David Cameron and Angel Merkel should have been at this gig last night to observe this wonderfully cohesive and elegant Anglo-German collaboration. If our politicians could work as well together as these talented musicians our future in Europe would not be in any doubt.

The last time this band played in Newcastle was five years ago and, although each member has gone off in-between times to pursue their own goals, once reunited they become a helluva tight symbiotic force. The music is certainly not wild but rather intricate and considered in a Northern European kind of way albeit with lots of funky riffs from Lea on keyboard. My personal favourite tunes of the night were the more up tempo numbers that concluded each set. The first of these was inspired by a one-way ticket that Ehwald had acquired for a festival in Morocco. His ebullient soprano really grabbed the audience with its vibrant eastern feel.

The final piece, the romantically named (according to Ehwald anyway) Blue Eyes White Dragon, saw the band lay down a groove with Lea on Rhodes getting seriously soulful. The audience showed their appreciation and were rewarded with an encore although, unlike its lively predecessor, this was a quiet ballad.  It is great to see a band of such technically gifted musicians so obviously reveling in each other’s company, their quality and enthusiasm could not but help rub off on a more than respectably sized Tyneside audience.    

JAZZ RECORD RECITAL

Literary & Philosophical Society

Earlier in the evening DJ Chris Calver spun some vinyl at a recital at the Lit and Phil the tracks were selected from the donated record collection of the late Ian Breach interspersed with these Jazz classics there was a selection from the library's classical collection chosen by Lit & Phil president Alexander Armstrong so alongside Dizzy, Monk, Goodman and Mingus we were treated to works from Bach, Beethoven and Benjamin Britten. Eclectic but fun.

Steve H.