(Review by Steve H/photo courtesy of Ken Drew).
Not since AZ Alkmaar played a UEFA Cup tie at St James Park in 2007 had so many Dutch players assembled in Newcastle. The assembled 11 consisted of 9 musicians who practise their trade in the Netherlands accompanied by 2 guest players from the UK - bass player Ollie Brice and Newcastle’s very own Faye MacCalman. Saturday night’s team at the Jazz Cafe would have proved a match for anybody. Billed somewhat erroneously as a revival of the music of Sean Bergin and Chris McGregor,(exiles from apartheid South Africa who settled respectively in Amsterdam and London) this gig was a fantastic taster for Jazz North East’s ‘Going Dutch’ all dayer at the Lit and Phil the following day.
The first set lasted an hour and was virtually a tag jam session as all 11 musicians wandered on and off stage at various points to provide a wonderful improvised and exhilarating piece of music which left the audience spellbound at the halfway point. The second half was far more structured as subsets of the ensemble performed short sets. There was a lovely duet by Ig Henneman on Viola and Kaja Draksler on keyboards and the evening was rounded off with a resounding explosive Rollinesque saxophone solo from US ex pat John Dikeman. At the end of the night, the audience was clearly enthused for the main event to follow on the next day.
The first set lasted an hour and was virtually a tag jam session as all 11 musicians wandered on and off stage at various points to provide a wonderful improvised and exhilarating piece of music which left the audience spellbound at the halfway point. The second half was far more structured as subsets of the ensemble performed short sets. There was a lovely duet by Ig Henneman on Viola and Kaja Draksler on keyboards and the evening was rounded off with a resounding explosive Rollinesque saxophone solo from US ex pat John Dikeman. At the end of the night, the audience was clearly enthused for the main event to follow on the next day.
Steve H.
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