Tim Richards (keys): Dick Pearce (tpt); Ed Jones (ten); Ralph Wyld (vbs); Dominic Howles (bs); Ben Brown (dms).
(Review by Lance/ Photo courtesy of Ken Drew).
I looked out of my living room window, it was raining, hardly the June weather of our youth - or maybe it was! Whatever, it was a night to turn up the central heating, splash the glass with your favourite tipple play a disc or two. Not a night to venture out, even to see the Tim Richards Hextet. However, I thought thar if several thousand fans could brave it to Sunderland to see Beyonce at the Stadium of Light - it would be the best performance that venue would see this year - then surely I could hop a westbound Metro to see the hextet (apart from the spelling, what's the difference between a hextet and a sextet?).
In reality, I had no choice. Paul Bream quoted my glowing review of the band's last CD in his Jazz Alert and in doing so presented me with a fait accompli.
It was a worthwhile decision. The all original program consisted mainly of pieces from that CD (Telegraph Hill) plus a couple of ringers from previous albums. As chance would have it, it was Dominic Howles' Like John which wasn't from the album that made the first big impression of the night. The head had a floating Tadd Dameron feel to it that set it up perfectly for the soloists.
Talking of soloists, Wyld - heard previously 'up here' at The Globe with Sammy Eagles - is back at the Jazz Café this Friday (July 1) with John Martin. The young vibes player not only laid down some stunning solos he also provided Storebæltsbroen a piece inspired by a bridge in Denmark which just goes to show that the muse is everywhere, you just have to look.
It's difficult to think of Dick Pearce as having reached pensionable age. His playing still sounds as fresh as ever whilst maintaining the hard bop approach that has ever been his forte. He also supplied Joe's Outside and Airships in a Cloud. Ed Jones - Blue Note/Prestige lives! Ed blew Mobley, Coltrane, Henderson tenor and composed Clandestine, as intriguing a composition as the title implies.
Ben Brown who wasn't on the album (Peter Ibbetson) nevertheless played as if he had been and slotted in well.
Howles had some nice bass lines and wrote Ease Up which is on the album. The remainder were by Richards. The opener Tollbridge; a trilogy comprising Lucid Dreaming, Spirit Walking and Shapeshifting; Discovery and the title track of the CD Telegraph Hill. His keyboard playing, whilst at times a tad overpowering, didn't clash with the vibes but rather complemented or was it vibes-versa?
At the end, the audience demanded the obligatory encore and got Ticket to Tomorrow - solos all-round with a seemingly never-ending coda of cadenzas!
A most enjoyable evening.
Lance.
Ben Brown who wasn't on the album (Peter Ibbetson) nevertheless played as if he had been and slotted in well.
Howles had some nice bass lines and wrote Ease Up which is on the album. The remainder were by Richards. The opener Tollbridge; a trilogy comprising Lucid Dreaming, Spirit Walking and Shapeshifting; Discovery and the title track of the CD Telegraph Hill. His keyboard playing, whilst at times a tad overpowering, didn't clash with the vibes but rather complemented or was it vibes-versa?
At the end, the audience demanded the obligatory encore and got Ticket to Tomorrow - solos all-round with a seemingly never-ending coda of cadenzas!
A most enjoyable evening.
Lance.
I was really disappointed to miss this. About 15 years ago I saw a group called Great Spirit (I think) in Darlo and, only on buying the CD, realised the common denominator with Spirit Level, possibly the first acoustic(ish)Jazz group I ever saw, at a Newcastle Jazz Festival, somewhere in a university building in the early eighties.
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