Jazz Café Jam Session - October 18.

(Review by Lance).

A cracking session and what did I do? I misplaced my notes! Apologies for missing names and numbers.

So I'm winging it! The house trio set the standard with Whisper Not and Amando's Rumba. They were on form. All three were on fire. 

A quartet of students from Sage Gateshead's BMus degree course took centre stage. Seemingly lead by guitarist Brent March they played acceptable versions of Sunny and All of Me. A work in progress. Brent told me this was, in fact, the first time they'd played together so the future looks promising. Fine musicians not heard to their best advantage. Do they have any original material? You betcha they will have! Watch this space. 

Time for the big hitters.

Don Forbes on trumpet, Nick Gould on tenor, his fellow Scot, David Midas on guitar, Matt Mackellar (now an old man of 18) on drums and John Pope on bass. Softly as in a Morning Sunset and Lester Left Town - nobody left town whilst this was going on

Like Rick's Café Americain in the film Casablanca, Newcastle's Jazz Café has, for time immemorial, rarely been without an international presence and this night was no exception. As well as the aforementioned Scotsmen, we had trombonist Fabio Sousa sliding his way around Blue Monk and a fellow Portuguese, a singer whose name got lost with my notes (the English translation sounded something like Edie Gonsales but I now know is called .InêsGonçalves.) Fly me to the Moon (in English) and The Girl From Ipanema (in Portuguese) made Inês a hard act to follow. However, Germany was up for it. They may have beaten Portugal 4-0 in the 2014 World Cup and Frau Heller's Lullaby of Birdland suggested that the Fatherland were in for a repeat. Nevertheless, despite her Angel Eyes, the BSH pundits declared it a 1-1 draw.
Another singer, who reminded me of Kath Lowdon with short hair, sang Sentimental Journey and Someone to Watch Over me before Forbes and Gould lit the blue touchpaper for the grand finale.

Photos.

Lance
Pete Gilligan (pno); Paul Grainger (bs); Russ Morgan (dms) + Nick Gould (ten); David Midas (gtr); John Pope (bs) Matt Mackellar (dms); Gabby Heller (vcl); Fabio Sousa (tmb); Don Forbes (tpt); Brent March (gtr); Sage students (keys/bs gtr/dms); InêsGonçalves (vcl)