Chris Williams, Pete Grogan (alto saxes); Toby McLaren (keyboards); Liran Donin (bass); Mark Holub (drums)
(Review by Steve H/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew).
Led Bib have been frequent visitors
to Tyneside ever since JNE supremo Paul Bream heard them playing on a boat in
London in 2005 and thought they were worth a punt. I have been lucky enough to
see them several time over the years and have always thoroughly enjoyed them.
I reviewed their last
gig in Newcastle, at The Jazz Café almost 18 months ago, very positively.
However, on Sunday night the band seemed to have taken a quantum leap
such was the quality and level of their performance. I would say it was the
best gig I had seen from a British based band in years. The capacity audience,
some of whom had travelled from far and wide, seemed to be in agreement. The
band always play thumping, raucous, rocking jazz but on Sunday the performance
seemed more nuanced, taking us all on a marvellous, uplifting, exhilarating
journey.
Although the individual members all
played wonderful solos these were not the highlights of the gig, rather it was
the feel of the ensemble playing which really took one’s breath away. The twin
altos of Williams and Grogan certainly gave the music a certain original
bounce, Donin’s bass playing was sensational and McLaren was wonderfully
inventive on keyboards. The whole shooting match was driven by the relentless,
powerhouse, creative drumming of bandleader Holub. 
All the tunes played bar one were
from their latest album Umbrella Weather. After the gig whilst
purchasing the aforementioned CD I mentioned to the band that I was buying it
despite the fact that my favourite piece of the evening was not even on it.
They apologised but explained that they were not able to reproduce the work in
the studio in the same inspirational way that they had managed to perform it
for us that evening. Proving that the joy of attending live music is that you
never know what you might get and that sometimes you are lucky enough to be
euphorically swept away by a band at the top of their game.
Steve H
1 comment :
I saw them at the Gala in Durham a few years ago, a gig at least one of them has forgotten. I know I liked it but I certainly don't remember them being this good.
I remember asking one of them how they felt about people walking out only to be embarrassed that they didn't know. Shows how perceptions of Jazz have changed in just a few short years.
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