Pete Gilligan (pno); Chris Jelly (vbs).
(Review, b&w photo, by Lance/colour photo courtesy of Mike Tilley).There have been many Saturday night duo sets at the Jazz Café - some worked well and some not so well. This surprise pairing was most deffo of the former variety - Gilligan and Jelly, gelled.
After an opening Blues in F to warm-up (and with the weather outside we all needed warming up!) the temperature rose by the note. Sonora, by Hampton Hawes, is a longtime Gilligan favourite and I guess it's now one of Jelly's.
As the session progressed so did the empathy increase. Not just between the two performers but between performer and audience.
Given the instrumentation it's not surprising that pieces by Gary Burton and Chick Corea were featured in the program. These included Corea's 500 Miles High and La Fiesta as well as Burton's Minor Blues.
The enigmatically titled Yo Yazz, composed by fellow vibist Emil Richards, was as quirky as the title suggests and showed both players to advantage. It wouldn't be a Pete performance without at least one piece of Silver (Horace) and the 3/4 time Summer in Central Park was (and still is) as beautiful a picture of that charismatic location as any I've heard.
There were others the titles of which I didn't catch - difficult when you're trying to order a bottle of Geordie Jazz and a couple of Pinot's!
This is one pairing to look out for next time round. In the meantime, Chris Jelly can be heard with soul/funk phenomena King Bee (Hoochie Coochie Dec. 23) whilst Pete Gilligan is back at the Jazz Café this Tuesday (Dec.1) for the fortnightly Jam Session - put both dates in your diary.
Lance.
PS: The wise folk at F/b tell me it's Pete's birthday today - Happy Birthday (in G) Pete.
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