Paul Edis Trio (and a surprise visitor!) @ Blaydon Jazz Club. August 21

Paul Edis (piano), Andy Champion (double bass) & Russ Morgan (drums) + Roly Veitch (guitar)

(Review by Russell/photos courtesy of Roly Veitch.)

The Paul Edis Trio at Blaydon Jazz Club. A grand occasion. Club promoter Roly Veitch accepting an invitation to join the trio on a couple of numbers. A grand occasion. Jazz at the Black Bull. A grand occasion. Such was the exceptional quality of the music anyone could be forgiven for thinking they were at the legendary Newport Jazz Festival (clue).

Pianist Paul Edis took time out from last-minute preparations for the first Ushaw Durham Jazz Festival to play a trio engagement at one of Tyneside’s premier jazz clubs. Thirty plus years and the club continues to present the best in jazz. Paul Edis’ trio is the living embodiment of jazz at its best. An exceptionally talented pianist, composer and arranger, Edis’ current trio comprises bassist Andy Champion and drummer Russ Morgan. An on-going working relationship of many years’ standing with Champion – considered by some to be Britain’s finest double bass player – and a more recent association with Morgan marks out this line-up as the best in the business. Clifford Brown’s Joy Spring opened the programme setting the highest of standards and, without fear of contradiction, the trio maintained the level of performance throughout the evening.

Roly Veitch stepped up to play guitar on a couple of tunes including There Will Never Be  Another You (Kern & Hammerstein). Edis rightly insisted Vietch take centre stage rather than sit in the shadows as is his want! Classic small group jazz, the essence of Blaydon Jazz Club.

Edis’ Manic received its premiere. It was manic, exhilarating material. Taking it down, as a good set list should do, the trio gave a most sensitive reading of Billy Strayhorn’s Lush Life. The up-tempo first set closer Daahoud capped an hour’s worth of five-star jazz.

The first set had been listened to intently by an honoured guest of Blaydon Jazz Club. As VIP status is concerned, few, if any, come close to the fame accorded George Wein. Jazz has few world-renowned figures, Mr Wein is unquestionably one of them. As founder and promoter of the Newport Jazz Festival (Rhode Island, NY), owner of  the Storyville jazz club (Boston), and the record label of the same name, Mr Wein called in at the Black Bull to hear the Paul Edis Trio. Having played with Bobby Hackett, Pee Wee Russell, Jo Jones and many others in the 1940s, in 1954, Mr Wein staged the first Newport Jazz Festival. It was to soon become the world’s greatest jazz festival. Say ‘Newport’ to a jazz fan and it's understood you’re talking about the jazz festival.

Mr Wein, gracious in his comments, said of Paul Edis: He’s great!  Mr Wein took time to meet well-wishers before heading off into the night. Andy Hudson (left), erstwhile eminent figure on the Tyneside jazz scene, arranged the visit of Mr Wein’s party to Blaydon Jazz Club and it would be great to see them return one day.

A refreshed Edis, Champion and Morgan began the second set with two compositions by none other than Roly Veitch. First, another premiere performance; Pentoid. The audience liked it and so did Edis. It’s highly likely we will hear it again. Joe Shufflebottom is one we’ve heard before. The Paul Edis Sextet has played this one on gigs. Beginning with a New Orleans-like shuffle set up by Russ Morgan, the melody has an irresistible forward momentum. Brass players have had a ball on this one! Tonight Edis fleetingly threw in a quote from Lullaby of Birdland. A favourite tune, perhaps we will hear it again at Ushaw. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Edelweiss is ostensibly an unlikely choice on a jazz gig, but it is just the sort of tune that jazz musicians can do something with. A classical grounding no doubt helps and Edis more than made something of it.

Polka Dots and Moon Beams (Van Heusen and Burke) enchanted, The Shadow of Your Smile (remembered from the film The Sandpiper) was sensitively played as a request and a third, and final, R. Veitch composition received it’s premiere; Rebop. The clue is kind of in the title, if you have to ask…And so we reached the last number of the evening. The hand-wringing tempo set on Cherokee told all – these guys are up there with the very best! Champion and Morgan played their socks off, so too Edis. Encore! Edis obliged, we went quietly on our way with Vernon Duke’s masterpiece I Can’t Get Started.                 

Photos.

Russell.