When Charlie Met Sonny: Mark Toomey/Lewis Watson Quintet - Jazz Café. June 10.

Mark Toomey (alt); Lewis Watson (ten); Jeremy McMurray (keys); Peter Ayton (bs); Paul Smith (dms).

(Review by Lance/photos courtesy of Mike Tilley).

Lewis Watson could be likened to the Loch Ness Monster. Sightings are reported but rarely are they confirmed. Submerged as he is in the Jason Isaacs Band this is not surprising. Tonight, though, the Monster arose from his slumbers and unleashed a mighty roar. A roar that sent every saxophone player north of Plymouth Sound and south of John O'Groats reaching for their Jerry Bergonzi tutor books.

Well not everyone. Co-bandleader Toomey is the perfect foil for Watson. Charlie Parker, Cannonball his Gods - meeting the Rollins/Coltrane juggernaut with his own serpentine lines that made for the perfect match.

In the engine room, McMurray comped and soloed in his own inimitable style, Smith was in overdrive and Ayton on, was it a Fender upright?, bass provided the heartbeat. Together, the five combined to produce some fine post-bop modern jazz.

I recognised the opener but couldn't put a name to it. What's in a name anyway as Shakespeare once said, - or was it John Surman?  In Walked Bud kept us on 52nd St., Mark Time, the first of Toomey's toons, then A Weaver of Dreams. This latter tune featured Watson who began and ended the ballad with lengthy Rollins-like cadenzas.

The set ended with a blast On Green Dolphin Street.

Wayne Shorter's Footprints began with a bass intro before the horns took off. Toomey the more orthodox, Watson less so, extending the range of the tenor into sopranino territory! 

Another Toomey original, Rain is for Today would have been deemed appropriate by anyone peering outside past the Bordello Red drapes, as the backdrop was described by our man JC who obviously knows a thing or two about these matters. Whatever, it was a good number as the altoists compositions invariably are.

Toomey's ballad feature, One Time There, was also one of his own. An enigmatic title for a melancholic piece that reminded me in places of Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.

Joe Henderson's Recorda Me ended my evening as I had a train to catch and for once I caught it!

Great gig. 

The band can be heard again at the Opus 4 Jazz Club in the Traveller's Rest, Darlington on July 15.

Lance.