Lauren
Kinsella (voice), Laura Jurd (trumpet), Chris Batchelor (trumpet), Colm O’Hara
(trombone), Mick Foster (bass saxophone), Alex Roth (guitar) & Corrie Dick
(drums)
(Review by Russell/photo courtesy of Ken Drew).
Last Tuesday in the month, Jazz
North East’s Schmazz strand, upstairs at the Jazz Café. The ‘Caff’ was closed,
the shutters down. Had Laura Jurd’s gig been cancelled? Ah! Of course, the gig
had been scheduled in the Black Swan around the corner!
The Newcastle Arts Centre on Westgate Road was
open for business. The Black Swan – a basement bar and performance space – is a
large venue. Jazz North East anticipated a larger audience than usual for the
visit by the much talked about trumpeter and, indeed, a larger than usual
audience turned up.
Jurd is on tour. Her second album
– Human Spirit – garnered favourable
reviews and the line-up on the recording committed to the tour. Irishwoman
Lauren Kinsella (now living in
The septet opened, appropriately,
with Opening Sequence. As the evening
unfolded Jurd gave many solo opportunities to her hand-picked band. Bass sax
plumber Mick Foster hit on a free vamp with drummer Corrie Dick during She Knew Him (a highlight of the first,
enjoyable set).
Vocalist Lauren Kinsella (another
much talked about young musician) is a familiar face (and voice) to the Newcastle audience, this
being her fourth gig on Tyneside in recent years. Her distinctive approach met
with the approval of more than one vocalist in the Black Swan crowd. A
mischievous, light, southern Irish burr played with sound; a lyric
deconstructed, reconstructed, exemplified in an exchange with Chris Batchelor
on a forward looking (it will soon be spring) Brighter Days. Many of the tunes were anchored by the excellent
drumming of the award-winning Corrie Dick. A trumpet/drums section sparkled
inviting others to step up – Alex Roth (guitar), Kinsella, plumber Foster. Pirates (written with Mark Lockheart in
mind) ended the set. The tune is available to download for free at: www.laurajurd.com
Second set. Roth and Dick set
about tearing up Blinded. Jurd’s
writing lets her musicians off the leash, but only so far before reining them
in and the duo would have to continue a dialogue some other time (next gig).
Jurd herself played with a minimum of pedal effects. An accomplished trumpeter, more trumpet
wouldn’t have gone amiss. The CD title track – Human Spirit – settled into another riff/vamp featuring Batchelor
and Dick. The gig’s penultimate number – More
Than Just a Fairy Tale – worked well, a collective piece. A concert
beginning with Opening Sequence could
only be brought to a close with Closing
Sequence. And so it was. Jurd has established her name. It will be
interesting to see what she does next. This gig was the first in a series of
PRS funded Jazz North East concerts – Women
Make Music – showcasing some of the best female musicians working in jazz
today.
Russell.
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