Paul
Edis (piano); Roly Veitch (guitar/vocal); Neil Harland (double bass).
(Review by JC).
As BSH had intriguingly advertised
the Wednesday night gig at the Cherry Tree as a 'good King Cole style trio'
that seemed another good reason (along with the food) to go. Maybe Arthur
Scargill had taken up the ukulele in his later years or Andy Cole had become a
whizz on the baritone sax since he hung up his boots, but on arrival it was
clear that neither was the case. The quietly distinguished looking guitarist
didn't look the type to make rabble-rousing speeches and the piano player, with
all due respect, didn't seem like a 20-goals a season striker (although the
bass player might have made an elegant, but tough-tackling centre half).
In fact, the band turned out to be
another excellent manifestation of the ever-morphing Paul Edis Trio. And what a
nice trio it was, with Roly Veitch on guitar and Neil Harland on double bass.
Veitch quickly demonstrated his
singing ability on Date With an Angel
with nice solos from the trio, followed by Beautiful
Love on which Edis revealed his considerable instrumental versatility with
some fine soloing on flute. A well-crafted vocal on Long Ago and Far Away led into Darn
that Dream and by now the trio were into a sweet musical groove, swopping
solos and leaving spaces for each other to fill. The audience were also fully
engaged.
Paper
Moon was a
standout number with Veitch treating the lyrics with the care and lightness
such delicate material requires and supplementing them with equally subtle
guitar playing. To my pleasant surprise Edis turned the trio into a quartet for
this number, playing both piano and excellent clarinet (though not quite simultaneously)
on this song, to the great appreciation of my friends. A very nice version of Nature Boy ended the first set.
The second set continued the high
standard of the first with more fine vocals from Veitch and excellent interplay
between guitar and piano on such numbers as East
of the Sun, The Touch of Your Lips,
Our Love is Here to Stay and Thank Your Lucky Stars. Harland on double
bass provided solid rhythmic underpinning to the music and contributed a number
of classy solos as well. An audience request led to Edis playing a track from
his solo album, Bring Me Sunshine, and
hearing the tune again revealed not only its infectious good humour but also
how finely crafted this version is (the possibility of second solo album is
rumoured, apparently). After this tune Roly Veitch generously and rightly commented
on the fact that there were a number of excellent young jazz musicians in the
region of whom Edis was undoubtedly one. Although he did exclude Neil Harland
from this group, not because of his musical ability, but because he was an 'old
timer'. Harland smiled benignly.
The expertise of all three was
fully demonstrated in the next song,
Flamingo and this was followed by My
Romance. During the break our table had wondered which instrument Edis
would next surprise us with and I suggested it might be the instrument du jour in Newcastle at the
moment and he would pull the ubiquitous Theremin from his back pocket and play
something like a stride version of Good
Vibrations. As it happened it was the clarinet again on this number and
very good it was too. Then the Trio rounded off the evening with It Could Happen to You.
Just to say that the food was like
the music: always interesting, sometimes beautifully understated but taken to
an extra level with delicate touches of technical virtuosity. A perfect
combination.
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