Nicola Farnon (double bass & vocals), Piero Tucci (piano & tenor saxophone) & Phil Johnson (drums)
(Review by Russell)
A beautiful autumnal day on the Yorkshire coast. Scarborough Spa is at its best on a day like this with its enviable waterfront location at the foot of steepling cliffs. Mike Gordon and his team of hard working assistants have refined the workings of a fixture on the jazz festival circuit and this year’s Scarborough Jazz Festival, the fourteenth, attracted visitors from far and wide. The festival proper began on Friday, although some had other ideas…
The 2016 festival began on Wednesday evening at Scarborough Jazz Club’s regular haunt on Cambridge Terrace. The Cask public house hosted Mike Gordon’s house trio – aka the MG3 – working with a three-strong frontline of Yorkshire lad Dennis Rollins, multi reeds man Stuart MacDonald and festival favourite (and compere) Alan Barnes. On Thursday a second session featured Tom Townsend’s eight piece outfit – clearly some just can’t wait for the three days of official action to begin!
A Saturday morning workshop session featuring guests Alan Barnes and Gareth Williams put the Eastern Area Schools Youth Jazz Orchestra through its paces in the Sun Court – a neo classical outdoor construction – in front of a brunching Spa audience. The orchestra – EASY as it’s known – would perform a set later in the day.
Three of Sheffield’s finest opened proceedings in the imposing surroundings of the Spa’s Grand Hall. Double bassist and vocalist Nicola Farnon led pianist and sometime tenor sax man Piero Tucci and Phil Johnson, drums, in a swinging set of Great American Songbook numbers together with one or two original tunes. This Can’t Be Love, followed by Day In Day Out, it was obvious from the beginning that the Nicola Farnon Trio would combine first class musicianship with a genuine enthusiasm for being on stage at a prestigious jazz festival. East of the Sun, illustrated Canadian-born Piero Tucci’s innate sense of swing – a rare commodity, shared, fortuitously, by Farnon and Johnson. A keen regard for the festival’s tight schedule, the ebullient Farnon opted to play, play, play thus curtailing her engaging between-songs chatter. Don’t Know Why (comp N. Farnon), Abbey Lincoln’s Throw It Away, a Tucci arrangement of Moonlight in Vermont, the well-chosen set list flew by.
Almost Like Being in Love (yes, it swung, fours included), One Note Samba, a Don’t Get Around Much swinger, time and again Farnon’s bass playing swung, her winning vocals a delight. Ms Farnon’s Perfect Loverly Day (featured on Farnon’s superb live CD A Day at the Market) made this opening Saturday set at this year’s Scarborough Jazz Festival a perfectly loverly start to the day.
Russell
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