Craig
Scott (guitar), Johnny Richards (keyboards), Michael Bardon (electric bass),
Andrew Lisle (drums) & Joost Hendrickx (drums)
(Review
by Russell/photo courtesy of Ken Drew)
In the last week Newcastle has seen
audience numbers ranging from single figures to a sold out show turning people
away. Sadly, this week’s Splinter promotion at the Bridge must be added to the
former category. Leeds ’ hothouse product
Shatner’s Bassoon gave an intimate, if loud, performance to a drawing room
select audience.
Rehearsed to the nth degree, the
regular sextet worked as a quintet with the absence of Ollie Dover detracting
little, if anything, from the performance. The band’s fulcrum is a constantly
shifting beast; Johnny Richards (keyboards), Michael Bardon (bass) or local lad
Andrew Lisle (drums). Richards’ three keyboards (one on a conventional stand,
one perched on two stools, another periodically in his lap) dictated the
direction of the music until a shift in focus to Bardon using his instrument as
a giant baton, then the Zorn-like precision of the brilliant, brutal Lisle.
Joost Hendrickx, no shrinking violet, to a degree played second fiddle (drums,
actually) to the man originally from Morpeth.
Two highlights; Hendrickx engaged
Craig Scott (guitar) in a thrilling exchange on Boat Comforts. Not to be outdone, Lisle went toe to toe with Scott
in a brutal bout, slugging it out at a million miles per hour. The ability to
do such things comes from wood-shedding
for hours on end at Leeds College of Music. It is unlikely that
Shatner’s Bassoon and the Newcastle
University
The low turn-out a
disappointment, those into trio VD, Zorn and Sylvain Darrifourcq would have got
it. They should have been at the Bridge. Next week’s gig (Sun 19 Oct) is a
Splinter-Jazz North East co-promotion featuring the north of England improv tentet Engine Room
Favourites.
Russell.
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