Dave Lyttle Trio @ Jazz Café - September 30

David Lyttle (dms/perc); Tom Harrison (alt); Pete Turner (bs).

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

The trio played, a slow minimalist number that had the audience thinking that maybe they just had time to catch "Chas and Dave" around the corner at the O2 Academy!

The silence was the loudest ever heard,

Irishman Lyttle explained that Lazy Afternoon was dedicated to the late Louis Stewart, an early mentor of the drummer/leader and we all felt slightly uncomfortable that we hadn't recognised it as such.

RIP Louis.

Things levelled out with Perpetual Smile that could have been retitled Perpetual Alto as Harrison soared like a bird for chorus after chorus building up to a climactic end leaving us all breathless . This was fine alto playing with barely a cliche in sight.

After the Flood and some amazing hand drumming. Hand drumming seems to be the in thing amongst present day percussionists  and few, if any, do it better than Lyttle who somehow incorporated shakers and scrapers into the mix. More prodigious alto playing and a bass solo from Turner making his debut with the trio,

Lullaby of the Lost featured Jean Toussaint - talking! No, the former Jazz Messenger hadn't popped in for a bottle of Geordie Jazz, instead, Lyttle who, like Harrison, has been much inspired by Toussaint played a recording of the great man giving out advice to aspiring jazz musicians as a backdrop to the music. The gist of which was to be yourself making an analogy with fingerprints. Every person's fingerprint is different and so it should be with each musician's style.

In a perfect world...

Certainly, as a band, the David Lyttle Trio falls into that category.

The set closed with Benny Carter's Wonderland. A tune, previously unfamiliar to me, with a catchy hook that the guys did justice to. 

Time to refresh and catch-up before we were off again.

A wailing blues with solos all round including some frantic 4's.

Facebook Emancipation - a cynical look at today's obsession with smartphones and their intrusion into all our activities. Demonstrated by Lyttle calling a halt mid-tune to check for a text and later Turner sharing an image on his phone before continuing with the music. It's one of the saddest aspects of society today, not least because we're all guilty of it from time to time! 

I Couldn't Do it involved some taped narration the relevance of which escaped me (I was probably checking my emails when it was explained) but the playing was ace.

Jazz Wars, a tongue in cheek look at what is and what isn't jazz, fused a multitude of styles and genres culminating with the inevitable drum solo.

The encore was a surprise - Lucky to be Me, one of the less familiar numbers from On the Town. In the film, it was sung by Gene Kelly and here Tom Harrison danced beautifully around the melody.

Very appropriate for a Friday night in Newcastle as there were plenty folk On the Town (or should that be Toon?) but they hadn't been to the Jazz Café so I did feel Lucky to be me!

Gig of the Year contender!

Lance.