You lookin’ at me?

(Observations by Russell.)

Friday night in Darlington at the Traveller’s Rest reunited two pianists for a four hander at Opus 4 Jazz Club’s monthly session. Dave Newton made the journey north to link up once again with one of the north east’s finest pianists, Dean Stockdale. The duo last got together in March of last year to play a gig at the Jazz Co-op’s Globe HQ in Newcastle (pictured). Unsurprisingly this rematch attracted a full house in Darlington.

Regular BSH correspondent Tony Eales reports that he almost heard a pin drop such was the audience’s level of concentration listening to two masters at work. The pianists set up their keyboards opposite one another allowing them to maintain eye contact, the slightest nuance picked up in an instant. Duo pieces, solo features, the history of jazz piano at their fingertips. One quirky interlude featured Newton playing guitar…at the flick of a switch, a box of tricks perched atop his keyboard transformed piano great Dave Newton into the aspiring guitarist Dave Newton! Eales’ straw poll of Opus 4’s regulars produced a mixed reaction to this ‘innovation’ with some suggesting Newton should stick to doing what he does best – playing the piano!

Tony Eales doesn’t miss much on his patch so it comes as no surprise that he was present at the Redemption quartet’s Empty Shop gig in Durham the previous evening. University students frequent the place making for a boisterous, social gathering. The place was once again packed to the gunnels and Eales’ observation that the noise levels were so great the band had some difficulty in making themselves heard above the din points up the contrast between a dyed-in-the-wool jazz crowd in Darlington and a bunch of bright young things living the student life up the road in Durham. If the Redemption guys weren’t such decent chaps they could have asked the garrulous hip dudes: You listenin’ to me?
Russell.