Tim Garland Quartet @ Sage Gateshead - May 4

Tim Garland (ten/sop); Jason Rebello )pno); Ant Law (gtrs); Asaf Sirkis  (dms).
(Review by Lance).

A stonker of a gig! Whew! Four of the UK's finest going for Gold and getting it! The opening Bill Evans composition, Re Person I Knew, set the mood for the evening which was beautiful. Ant Law, a man of many guitars, chose a 12 string for this number and, it blended perfectly. I have to confess that, until that moment in time, I'd regarded 12 string guitars as only slightly less allergic to my ears than banjos. Not anymore - at least not in the hands of Ant Law (I wonder if he also plays banjo?)

Rebello played plenty piano whilst Sirkis  produced every sound imaginable from his exotic kit.

Garland? Simply an object lesson in tenor playing (and later, soprano).

Tyne Song, from Garland's justly acclaimed Songs to the North Sky album, really did paint a picture of our beloved river capturing the mood perfectly - foggy, turbulent, the industry (what's left of it) and the merger with the North Sea - magic.

When our worthy saxophonist announced he was going to play tenor and piano simultaneously I thought to myself, is he going to play saxophone with his hands and piano with his feet? No, much more subtle than that!

He simply blew his tenor across the piano strings with the resulting vibrations blending perfectly.

Clever and effective!

Sirkis was merely fantastic, whether on hang drum or behind a kit that was surely purchased in a Persian Market Place he played with punch, drive and taste - what a guy!

This was one of those nights that you wished would never end!

Come back soon was my immediate thought as the final note was sounded and the applause died down.

The good news is that at least one of them will be back in the not too distant future.

Asaf Sirkis plays The Globe as part of guitarist Maciek Pysz's trio on November 21.

Lance.

PS: Just in case you think I've short-changed Jason Rebello I'll just add that I doubt if the Hall Two grand piano has ever sounded so good!