Paul Gowland (ten/alt); Peter Gilligan (pno).(Review by Lance).
The duo format is one of the most intriguing forms of music - it can ultimately be a disaster or a triumph. Without the cushion of a rhythm section to steady the ship, the players have to be on their metal to ensure they don't drift too far apart. In the duo situation they're both in the front line - no horn/drummer/piano fours to pad things out, only the challenge of stimulating each other and converting two halves into a whole.
I'm pleased to say that tonight the PeeGees accomplished that task with much aplomb (and applause!)
The promise had been for unique takes on the known and the not so well known and it has to be said they certainly did that. Most of the tunes were vaguely familiar but I was unable to immediately tag them. It didn't matter, as Will S once wrote, "What's in a name?"
Well those names I didn't identify certainly smelled as sweet as those I did recognise which, for the record, were. Herbie Hancock's And What if I Don't?, Chucho (as in Valdes), In a Sentimental Mood, Take 5, Bob Mintzer's Papa Lips, Michael Brecker's Midnight Voyage, a number I reckoned was a Strayhorn piece that turned out to be I Beg Your Pardon by Tom Waits! Spain, How Long Has This Been Going On? - not long enough responded the crowd who demanded more and got it!
Both players were on top form. Gilligan had the steam piano firing on all cylinders whilst Gowland took both horns up into the altissimo register to the delight of any passing canines - and there were a few "dogs" outside in Pink Lane tonight.
A couple of refugees from The Globe arrived late on - too much dancing they said. Paradoxically, another Globule, whom I met on the Metro platform on the way home, was waxing eloquently about the dancing!
Lance.
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