CoCo Rouzier w. Pete Gilligan Trio + Saxophonics @ Jazz Café - November 4.

 CoCo Rouzier (vcl); Pete Gilligan (pno); Paul Grainger (bs); Rob Walker (dms).
(Review by Lance/Photos courtesy of Mike Tilley)

Circumstances decreed that I miss this year's Classic Jazz Party. However, with Russell in situ, the weekend is being covered (watch this space).

Instead, I was patrolling the Pink Lane beat. CoCo Rozier was headlining at the Jazz Café. The reports were good - check her out.

The reports were wrong, she wasn't good, she was MAGIC! This wasn't Friday night in Newcastle - it was Friday night in Harlem, or Pittsburgh or Washington DC where Rouzier hails from.

In fact, if ever the Classic Jazz Party extends its parameters by say 10 years then CoCo will be in line to take over the spot once held by Cecile!

That's how good she is.

Gilligan and co were up for it. From the opening One Note Samba the audience (of which there could have been more) knew they were in for a treat. East of the Sun; Hallelujah I Just Love Him So; Perhaps, Perhaps,Perhaps; I Got Rhythm; My Favourite Things - this was neither Julie Andrews or John Coltrane but, delightfully, somewhere in the middle - finally S'Wonderful and it was exactly that.

CoCo has an engaging personality and a jazz voice that echoes (and only echoes because she's very much her own woman) Ella, Sarah, Dee Dee and maybe every other jazz diva that ever lived. Discovering CoCo is like getting in on the ground floor of  Ella ahead of Norman Granz.

A brief chat with CoCo and a promise to catch her at the Cherry Tree (9 Osborne Rd., Jesmond) on Tuesday. A bottle of Grainger Ale and the [hypothetical] curtain rose for the second set.

Autumn Leaves; The Man I Love - they don't come much better than this! A tour de force Take the A Train; a bluesy Since I Fell for You; an original which may have been called Rescue then It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing - it had that swing tonight! 

The evening drew to a triumphant close with What'd I Say?

This had been an eye opener - tremendous!
Roll on Tuesday!

Saxophonics: Keith Robinson (alto); Steve Summers (alto/tenor); Alan Marshall (tenor); Niall Armstrong (baritone).

Earlier, the four-man saxophonics sax quartet played to a more select audience. They're a polished ensemble and, although Graeme Wilson has departed (leaving some of his scores behind) replacement Alan Marshall does the job admirably.

Armstrong is, as ever, a power of strength, pumping away on baritone sax compensating for the bass whilst adding his own harmonies to the mix. Contrapuntal jazz chamber music. Mainly originals the standout number was the enigmatically titled Strangled at the Wine Bar. A good opening set missed by those who didn't appear until the second set - their loss.
Lance.