Steve Summers (saxes/perc); Alan Law (pno); Steve Glendinning (gtr);
Paul Grainger (bs); Tim Johnston (dms) and Debra Milne & Paulo Torres
(vcl).
The Globe was packed out on arrival, with hardly a place to sit, but
luckily Lance had bagged a table at the front and there was room for Paul and I
to join him for this latest Jazz Co-op gig. Lance and I tossed a coin
as to who would do the write-up and I lost… it also meant that Lance could make
an early exit to catch some of Ruth and Dean’s Gig at The Café.
Drinks arrived and the band struck up with a Latin vamp into Wave, Steve Summers adding that
authentic sound of a Pandeiro, the first of several percussion instruments that
appeared over the course of the evening.
No More Blues brought out the
Cabasa and the musicians were out in force showing what a wonderful sound they
can make together, it would be difficult to pick out one above the rest…. A
superbly talented line-up and each one displayed their skills over the course
of the evening.
Paulo Torres then came to the stage to sing in his mother tongue,
Portuguese, Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Desafinado, which translated means
‘slightly out of tune’. Congas
introduced a delightful Spooky, sang
well by Debra, who was well dressed for the occasion, a flowing floaty top and
flower in her hair. Next came one of my favourites, Chick Corea’s fusion of Concierto de Aranjuez – Spain, introduction by Stevie Glendinning
on Guitar, lovely but my all-time favourite was the double bass introduction I
heard last year from Paul Grainger… just heartbreakingly beautiful! In keeping with our Latin theme the next song
was sung by Debra in Spanish, Aquelas
Coisas Todas translates to All Those Things. A cover version of Consider Me Gone saw the early departure of Lance… Exit Stage
Left. The finale of the first set was Horace Silvers’s Señor
Blues, and a beautiful ending with a bowed bass.. Superb!
After a break where musicians caught up and made
arrangements and the audience refilled glasses and chatted to friends the
second set commenced with a number that Debra Milne put words to, Killer Joe. She moved onto Living In The Past - a Jethro Tull cover and from there switched
back to a gentle Tres Palabras,
another song which saw the talents of each musician during solos… I love the
Nat King Cole version of this song.
Another nice bit of Latin percussion for the next song Afro Blue saw Steve Summer’s latest
addition an Udu Drum known as a Udongo , I was desperate to have a go, and at
the end of the night I got my wish… wow I want one!
Paulo Torres returned to sing another Portuguese number - Antonio
Carlos Jobim’s Meditação (Meditation) its great to hear the mother tongue numbers from this
singer. Chick Corea is popular tonight
and the next number was Debra singing 500
Miles High… not an easy song to sing.
Temptation was introduced by
Debra as having a bass solo start from the ‘luminescent’ Paul Grainger, who won
the prize for best shirt… a bright yellow pattern as befitted a Latin Jazz
evening.
1 comment :
A highlight of my part of the evening was the unison passage between guitar, voice and sax on Spain. That was like trying to cross the street during the Bull Run at Pamplona - amazingly the made it with the minimum of gore!
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