A New Band Hits Town! The Gala Theatre Big Band Gala - Theatre, Durham April 19.

(Review by Jerry)

The availability of bottled Double Maxim (my preferred match-day tipple) made this feel like a visit to the Stadium of Light – but without the pain! Here there were only winners: Durham City with a new big band; Paul Edis, the band-leader; the band as a whole who gave such an excellent debut concert; the many soloists who bravely conquered first-night nerves and, above all, the audience (150-200, I guess) who lapped it up from start (Miller’s In the Mood) to finish (Basie’s One o’Clock Jump)! And there were some brilliant hats and waistcoats too!

Miller was followed by Edis – a blues self-mockingly (and erroneously) entitled Diminishing Returns. The blues were then immediately banished by Sammy Nestico’s foot-stomping arrangement of Sweet Georgia Brown, the musicians visibly relaxing now and enjoying great ensemble playing. Five brave “volunteers” then joined Edis at the front of the stage to perform two funky / bluesy numbers: Hancock’s Watermelon Man and Nat Adderley’s Work Song. Great stuff!

            Next up was another Edis original, the slow, muted, elegiac Too Sad for Words. And then, Dur-ham, Dur-ham, Dur-ham Dur-ham, Dur-ham…(why not?) Mancini’s Pink Panther got us back in the swing before the first set closed with another Nestico arrangement: All of Me. Time for another bottle of Houghton-le-Spring’s finest…..

            A train whistle (I kid you not!) from behind the closed red curtains announced the start of the second set and we were all whisked away on Strayhorn’s A Train. Those of you who have the recent CD of the same name would have recognised Mr Hipster which lent itself well to a big band treatment and provided an interesting comparison with the earlier Henry Mancini piece. This Edis original more than holds its own!

            My wife’s favourite Basie piece, Li’l Darlin, followed smoothly on from there. I hadn’t realised (jazznoramus) that this was actually composed by Neal Hefti, a name new to me and soon to be heard again as the band-leader introduced their penultimate number, Splanky. This really was a full-throttle (or “regulator” if we were still on that train!) sound from a very big band and it left the audience shouting for more. Which they got, in the shape of the aforementioned One o’Clock Jump.

            “When’s the next one?” was a question I heard from several exiting musicians. This was their first full concert in public: I too hope, like long awaited buses (or trains?), another will come along very soon. They were stars, every one!

Jerry.

Band-leader – Paul Edis

Trumpets -Dave Skipsey, Lis Hammond, Tom Rillands, Anthony Darwin, Edd Maughan

Trombones- Darcy Whyatt, Ian Cargill, Andrew Hedges, Thomas Hunter, Chris Gallon

Saxes- (Altos) Neil Owen, Beth Pollard, Francesca Sensier, Judith Wood-Archer

(Tenors) Peter Little, John Bowman, Rebecca Devine, Steve Williams

(Baritones) Katherine Humpleby, Alan Smith, Lindsay Smith

Flute - Kirstin Unwin Clarinet - Victoria Bainbridge

Guitar - Francis Tulip Piano - George Hetherington Bass - Richard Bower/Owen Jones

Drums - Alex Kennedy