(Review by Russell)
The festival’s
now traditional closing event is programmed by Darlington Jazz Club. This
year’s guests – the Simon Read Octet – have firm associations with the
prestigious Leeds College of Music degree course. The west Yorkshire
hot house has established a veritable conveyor belt of talented musicians.
Bassist Simon Read leads a superb octet, playing his own compositions with a
recently released CD – Times Leap –
to tour. The assured Read has assembled a cracking outfit; trumpeter of the
moment Laura Jurd, the brilliant altoist Ben Lowman, the equally brilliant Will
Howard (tenor saxophone/clarinet), the nu-school guitarist Michael de Souza,
the in demand Kevin Holbrough (trombone), pianist/lecturer Jamil Sheriff and
ace drummer Sam Gardner.
The set opened
with the first track on the octet’s CD, Leaps
and Bounds. Nicely warmed-up, Low Point raised the stakes with an
exhilarating alto/tenor chase. An untitled number (Read confessed he struggled
to come up with titles) and a brace of punning titles – Read Between the Lines and Read
All About It (the latter with a swinging jam session feel to it) – gave
scope to the soloists. All members of the octet are accomplished soloists. Jurd
and Holbrough, flanking the demon reeds – Lowman and Howard – produced extended
solos. The academic Sheriff long-since achieved grade eight and made a
top-grade contribution throughout the set. A ballad – The Coldstones Cut – heard Howard on clarinet and, flying high on
alto, Ben Lowman. Simon Says featured
Jurd in an urgent, Mingus-inspired piece stoked by Read’s propulsive bass
playing topped-off by Sheriff’s dazzling solo flight and Gardner’s unfailingly
impressive drumming.
Keeping together
an octet for any length of time can’t be easy. It will be interesting to see
how Simon Read’s project develops.
This year’s
Darlington Jazz Festival, the fourth, can be described as the best yet. The use
of several venues in the town centre worked well. It is safe to assume that
next year these venues will be supplemented by others. Darlington Jazz Festival
wouldn’t exist but for an army of willing helpers, all giving freely of their
time. From one venue to another young volunteers ran the show doing every job
that needed to be done. The year round work takes the form of a fortnightly
jazz club session. Small group performances can be heard in the Quakerhouse
(Sundays, 5:30pm) and big band concerts will be staged at pop-up venues dotted
in and around the town centre (also Sundays, 5:30pm). Check Bebop Spoken Here’s
listings for details. The next one is a big band session on Sunday May 10 at The
Keys on Skinnergate. The swinging Newcastle-based Strictly Smokin’ Big Band
will be in town. Admission on the door: £5.00. & £3.00.
Next year’s
Darlington Jazz Festival, the Friendly Jazz Festival, is already in the diary.
Russell.
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