Benn Clatworthy (ten); Cecilia Coleman (pno); Simon Thorpe (bs); Matt Home (dms).
(Review by Lance).
They were skating in Times Square [Newcastle version] but I had no time to stop and watch. The Globe beckoned and I knew that the combination of two of Britain's finest on bass and drums, coupled with an American pianist and an Anglo-American tenor player, meant that seats would be at a premium in the compact, yet cosy, Jazz Co-op venue. Earlier, I'd passed Fenwicks department store and the queue just to look in the window was a mile long. Optimist that I am, I envisaged just such an eager throng clamouring to get into The Globe.
I was wrong - sadly I was very wrong.
Truth is I was first there and when the quartet hit the deck with Frank's [Strozier] Tune there weren't that many more bums on seats - maybe they were still skating or saving themselves for Lady Gaga coming to the nearby Arena.
Still, I was there and you weren't so the bragging rights are mine - nah na na na nah!
Clatworthy, whose cv includes stints with Horace Silver, Lionel Hampton, Cedar Walton and many other names, alternates between London and LA and does the same stylistically. Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes from Dean St, Zoot Sims and John Coltrane from Sunset. Straight down the middle tenor playing with the occasional glance at the outside but not enough to cause pain.
The Beatles' Here There and Everywhere was mesmerising, not least because of Coleman's fine piano solo. Ms Coleman also has an impressive background across the pond, frequently leading and recording with her big band.
Limehouse Blues - dedicated to the saxophonist's grandmother [acting legend Gertrude Lawrence] - was an out and out swinger with Thorpe and Home driving it all the way.
The above were just some of the tunes before I stopped taking notes and, instead, just wallowed in the sound. Debra M muttered "Gig of the Year?" When they played Street of Dreams - I couldn't do anything but nod in agreement.
The final Body and Soul was a fitting epitaph - if only there'd been more bodies in the audience.
WAKE UP NEWCASTLE!
Lance.
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