
(Review by Russell)
Matt Roberts returned
once again to his home town to play a major part in this year’s Darlington Jazz
Festival. The London
based trumpeter brought a bunch of friends with him who just happen to be
superb musicians to play Jazz After Dark, the now traditional opening night
above the Voodoo Café on Skinnergate. Roberts’ previous appearances attracted a
standing room-only audience and this concert proved to be no different.
Festival
regulars warmly greeted Roberts – handshakes, hugs, a catch-up – then at nine
o’clock, the Matt Roberts Sextet took to the stage, the air of informality that
is a key element to the success of Darlington Jazz Festival dispensing with
superfluous introductions, and for the next two hours or so, the audience was
in bop paradise! Six young men – average age thirty or thereabouts – were at
the top of their game, the frontline horns killing from note one, likewise the
rhythm section. A couple from Tadd Dameron for starters – The Squirrel and Good Bait –
the horns laying down bop solo statements right out of ‘50s New York. To
Roberts’ left Leo Richardson, an audacious, powder keg tenor saxophonist, to
his right, George Grant, the reborn George Grant (last year’s Matt Roberts
Sextet gig effectively made up the altoist’s mind to come out of premature
self-imposed retirement), and, of course, bandleader Roberts himself treating
the capacity audience to a trumpet masterclass by way of Fats Navarro, Miles
Davis and Freddie Hubbard.
Roberts
revisited Cannonball Adderley’s Blue Note classic Somethin’ Else; Miles on Autumn
Leaves and a Latin vibe on Love for
Sale. Some gigs work, they just do. This festival date ticked all the
boxes. Applause rang out time and again, the on-side audience cheering each and
every sublime solo. Lee Morgan’s Tom Cat (an
album recorded in the 1960s but not released until 1981) further stoked an
already incendiary atmosphere with Roberts, Leo Richardson and the sextet’s
newest member, the Royal Academy of Music graduate, pianist Will Barry, nailing
it. Barry, a new name to some, has an impressive CV not long out of music
school…NYJO, Mark Lockheart, Stan Sulzmann and most recently working with
Jasper Høiby’s Fellow Creatures. Roberts couldn’t resist another Tom Cat cut – Twice Around. Roberts is an enthusiast, conveying his love of the
music, expressing his admiration for the jazz tradition and his band mates, the
sentiment no doubt reciprocal.
The interval
flew by, just enough time for a Firebrick Brewery (Blaydon) refill from the downstairs’
bar. A seemingly unanimous verdict on a first set being nothing short of
sensational. Second set, more of the same! In the engine room drummer Dave
Ingamells reprised his memorable 2016 performance. The British jazz scene has
innumerable top class drummers and Ingamells is right up there. Bassist Loz
Garrett, perhaps another new name to some, worked like a Trojan – a
hand-ringing performance, Loz G will become a familiar figure, be sure to check
him out, he’s a busy young man having already worked with a list of stellar
names including pianist-vocalist Lianne Carroll and Jamie Cullum.
Altoist George
Grant dug deep on Milestones here at
the Black Hawk, SF, sorry, Darlington ’s Voodoo
Café. Eyes closed, you could have been there, way back when. More of the same
brilliant playing on Jimmy Heath’s Big P
(for big brother Percy), not least Ingamell’s stupendous gig-closing solo. At
something like twenty minutes to midnight this first evening of 2017’s
Darlington Jazz Festival ended with sustained applause, another hour of the
same wouldn’t have gone amiss, but hey, in a little over twelve hours, day two
would dawn on this friendliest of jazz festivals.
Russell.
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