David Keighley (saxes); Thomas MacMillan (gtr); Adrian Sander (bs gtr); Ben Grant (dms).(Review by Lance).
The Jazz Clams - wherever did they get the name from?! - is in effect the DB Project in meltdown mode, Instead of going for the jugular the Clams take a marginally softer approach digging, not too deeply, into the GASbook along with some well-known jazz standards.
Summertime; Little Sunflower; In a Sentimental Mood; Black Orpheus; Misty; Stolen Moments and Take the L Train plus one other, the name of which I didn't catch, comprised the first set. With the exception of L Train. on which Keighley blew soprano, all were played on tenor, The man's a fluent saxophonist leaping around the horn like a potential Gold Cup winner at Cheltenham and breathing new life into the over-familiar material. My only reservation was the excessive amount of reverb or indeed why, in such a small room with a single figure audience, did he need to be miked up at all? Understandable with the hard driving "Hit him in the slats Bob"* approach of the DB Project but perhaps not so essential in the cooler climate of the Clams.
Nevertheless, it was a good set with MacMillan's guitarwork impressive, Grant's drums unobtrusive and Sanders, so laid back he makes Paul Grainger seem like a punk rocker.
Keighley picked up his alto for Take 5 then reverted to tenor for Pure Imagination. Written by Lesley Bricusse and Anthony Newley for Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory it's a classic song that reminds us that there's also a GBsongbook.
The evening was completed with a rousing Caravan, All Blues, Fembe and A Love Supreme.
Lance.
Photos.
*A remark Bob Fitzsimmons' wife is alleged to have shouted at the ringside during her husband's heavyweight title bout with James J.Corbett in 1879. The advice was sound and Corbett was counted out in the fourteenth round.
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