Pilgrim St. Set @ Hoochie Coochie. October 16

Richard Burns (tpt); Gary Turner (ten); Paul Edis (pno); Paul Susans (bs gtr); Rob Walker (dms).

(Review by Lance).

Regular sessions whether they be weekly or, in this case, monthly are inevitably variable. Sometimes they [any band] blow your socks off whilst at other times they can appear blasé.

Nothing blasé about tonight - socks had to be retrieved before leaving.

In a word - awesome!

Perhaps it was the input of new material, the balance, or the time of the month but each and everyone hit the deck running.

The new stuff included items by Burns, Edis and Turner as well as tried and tested standards from Ornette (no he ain't dead Richard), Horace Silver and others.

Edis, Susans and Walker - Triptych in a parallel universe - were absolutely rock solid and the bass guitarist produced an outstanding solo on, I think, the Ornette number. Possibly inspired by the presence of Andy Champion in the audience!

Out front, Turner dished out the sheets of sound - Coltrane meets Rollins - and Richard burned ferociously on open horn and with great sensitivity à la Miles when muted. His Aussie sense of humour also came across.

This was a night!

Lance.