Matt Anderson & Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil. December 5

Matt Anderson (tenor saxophone) & Paul Edis (piano)

(Review by Russell).

This month’s lunchtime session at the Lit & Phil paired Leeds-based tenor player Matt Anderson with pianist Paul Edis. A set of standards, the amiable duo worked   comfortably together, the audience hanging on every note.

A magical aspect of a jazz gig is the meeting of two accomplished musicians who decide to play a few tunes and it all sounds like a well-rehearsed occasion.  For an unsuspecting audience the belief could be that Anderson and Edis were long-time musical associates. The Lit and Phil crowd knew better and were rightly impressed with the hand-in-glove musicianship of the duo.

Jobim’s Desafinado illustrated the ease with which the music came together; Anderson’s unhurried, rounded tone, the encyclopaedic referencing of piano styles by Edis. The duo listened to one another, Anderson clearly appreciative of Edis’ playing, listening intently when he stretched out on a number of tunes – two-handed playing, stride patterns hinted at, then gone. Mel Tormé’s The Christmas Song (roasting chestnuts etc) a reminder of the season (the shopping hordes in town could have taken a well-earned break in the Lit & Phil by listening to some jazz!), the tune revealed Anderson’s measured old school tenor work, with Edis working around, under and in between the holly-decked lines.

The Lit and Phil session has become one of the jewels of the Newcastle jazz scene – where else could you hear a top class duo tear up Straight No Chaser?  The final gig in the current season couldn’t have been better. The first one in 2015 features another fine pianist – Dean Stockdale – looking at Gershwin to Gillespie in the company of violinist Lucy Baker (Mrs Stockdale). The date for your new diary – February 6th.

Tonight Paul Edis can be heard at the Jazz Café on Pink Lane at eight o’clock. Note the new, earlier start time. The bass and drums pairing of Mick Shoulder and Adam Sinclair remains the same…thankfully. A piano jazz trio par excellence. Tomorrow night at the Jazz Café sees the return of Matt Anderson. On this gig, another duo, he will be working with the fine guitarist Jiannis Pavlidis. If jazz guitar is your kind of jazz, Pavlidis is your man. Nine o’clock start for this one, get there early to secure a front row seat.              

Russell.