Mette Rasmussen and Chris Corsano @ the Lit and Phil - July 6.

Mette Rasmussen Saxophone & Chris Corsano Percussion

The Long Lonesome Go - Paul Taylor: Keyboards, Christian Alderson: Drums and Percussion, Jason Etherington: Bass

Posset – Joe Posset.

(Review by Steve H).

Jazz North East’s  ‘Women Making Music’  series was brought to a magnificent conclusion with this ninth and final gig of the season. In the atmospheric surroundings of the  Literary and Philosophical Society’s library the night swung from near disaster to absolute triumph. Rasmussen’s and Corsano’s lunchtime flight from Brussels to Newcastle had been cancelled meaning the earliest that they would arrive in Newcastle was 9:25 at night. However, rather than pull the gig, the JNE crew, at the drop of a hat or at least at the end of a phone, managed to improvise a treble bill to more than satisfy the good sized audience.

First up was Joe Posset who performed a short set of what could be described as improvised radio hammery.  A desk full of what appeared to be old style electronic devices (dictaphones, cassette players, strange boxes) were manipulated to produce a cacophony of strange interactive sounds. If you imagine 15 radios all playing concurrently but all playing at different frequencies you might get the picture.

Next up were local trio The Long Lonesome Go who produced a very fine set of improvised music - swirling keyboards, bass and percussion created a whirlpool of hypnotic and interesting sounds which at times reminded me of Miles Davis in his electronic period. Definitely a band I will be looking out for in the future.

Amazingly, the headliners'  flight landed on time and JNE’s own version of Lewis Hamilton (Bill Bream)  was despatched to chauffeur the duo to the Lit and Phil  as fast as speeding restrictions would allow him. Our Lewis may have to start looking over his shoulder because at 10:15  the triumvirate of driver and musicians had entered the building. Without time to hardly catch their breath but with time for a quick wardrobe change and set up Rasmusssen and Corsano  began to play what was to be the most wonderful finale to the Women Making Music concert series. Right from the off the dynamic duo gave as good as they got putting aside any tiredness and frustrations they must have been suffering from after their arduous journey. American Corsano produced fascinating sounds on percussion with the aid of all sorts of implements from his tool bag including a saw and an amazing homemade slide clarinet. If there is a more enjoyable sax player around at the moment than Norwegian based Danish sax player Rasmussen then I would like to hear them.  Her playing was creative ,exhilarating, exciting, fascinating and yet still sensitive. As a pairing the duo really managed to exploit the special acoustics that the library provides. After playing for almost an hour, despite their horrendous day, they were still able to indulge the audience with a much appreciated encore.   

It seems fitting at this point to thank Wes Stephenson, Paul Bream and the rest of Jazz North East for this marvellous initiative. Nine completely varied gigs showcasing the talent of contemporary female jazz performers in composition, arrangement and  performance utilizing a vast range of instruments including the 3 T’s Trombone, Trumpet and my new favourite jazz instrument  the Theremin. The size of the audiences for these gigs seems to a have been well above the average for this genre of music and I have seen many new faces in attendance. Hopefully everyone will have taken something from the experience and we can look forward to similar inspiring projects in the not too distant future.

Steve H.