Dave Hignett (tpt/flug); Keith Robinson (alt); Niall Armstrong (ten/fl); Andy Hawking (pno); Tony Abell (bs); David Francis (dms).
(Review by Peter Ninnim/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew).
What a night at the Globe!
Visiting
the Globe is like struggling through the jungle of the Congo Newcastle
Last night the Globe featured a band providing a
cornucopia of delights! It was like a beautiful Christmas present, wrapped in
silver paper and tied with red ribbons! And when the box was opened out popped
Alter Ego!
I count myself fortunate to have been there.
The first set kicked off with Roll Call a
perfect up tempo opening closely followed by J. J. Johnson's In walked Horace.
The New York Jazz Giants' Beatitudes was next; this is a driving Latin jazz
tune and featured Dave Hignett playing his socks off on trumpet . The energetic
first set included a fine swinging version of Benny Golson’s Blues March.
This overrated number can be boring but certainly not in these hands. Solos
from Keith Robinson on Alto and Niall Armstrong on tenor were beautifully
crafted and the alternate march and swing sections were well handled by Dave
Francis on drums. It’s not possible to mention the entire first set but it
ended with Bobby Watson's Wheel Within a Wheel written for the Jazz
Messengers.
After a short interval the band was even better;
perhaps the fact that the club had filled up with an enthusiastic and
vociferous audience had something to do with that. The set opened with an
outstanding version of Hit and Run and I see that I have just written “wow!”
next to it on the set list. Dave Hignett's trumpet playing was reaching for the
stars and with great attack and Niall Armstrong’s tenor playing sparkled. In
fact the whole band played like they had stuffed fire crackers down their
trousers in the whole of the second set. Andy Hawking on piano featured in a
lovely version of Monk’s Budini. I thought that he really did the tune
justice. Two of Niall Armstrong’s compositions followed, Undertone featuring
Niall himself and Dave Hignett on Flugel , and Mustard Marsh which included
fine Bass playing by Tony Abell. Nice to hear an electric bass played with
great taste; not always the case. The set concluded with a tune in 3/4 Coastal
Breeze. Nice drumming throughout and Niall on Flute and the outstanding alto
playing of Keith Robinson. Keith was all over the instrument and at times
seemed to have an extra hand there was so much great jazz going on. The encore
was another great Bobby Watson piece A Bittadose featuring the whole band in
great ensemble playing with this shuffle style hit.
This was a great gig, substantially better than
the Clark Tracey performance earlier this year. Compared with that it was a
tonic. Best gig I’ve been to since Jazz Machine’s gig at Number 28 in August;
and I was playing in that!
One last word. The sound throughout was really
well balanced and this makes such a difference. Thank you to the Globe and the
Band.
Peter N.
4 comments :
This excellent band played a great gig at Blaydon in April.
Must have been quite a gig as I thought the Clark Tracey band were plenty good!
What a great review !! although I wouldn't go so far to say it was 'substantially better than the Clark Tracey performance earlier this year' - maybe they equalled them in many respects - fine musicians playing tremendously well as One, the overall energy and the impact they had on the audience (and vice-versa). But what a great Gig !!!
Next gig for Alter Ego
8pm Wednesday 7th January @ Ashington Jazz Club
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