Paul Edis (piano), Graham Hardy (trumpet), Danny Barley (trombone), Graeme Wilson (saxophone, flute), Mick Shoulder (bass), Adam Sinclair (drums).
(Review by Steve T/Photo courtesy of Russell.)
I don't speak for Paul but I'm guessing, of all the bands he plays in, this is his flagship, so, appropriate for it to headline the first night.
A new selection taken from their two albums, both essential for anyone who follows north east jazz, with one track from Graeme Wilson’s Quartet album which is every bit as compelling.
They started with Administrate This, especially for anyone who's had an unpleasant experience with a parking ticket or something similar, which must be all of us.
I Wish I Was a Monk was appropriate for the setting, and, given that it’s Thelonious' centenary year, found Adam Sinclair doing some tricky syncopated drumming that I'm sure Monk would have approved of. We don't see enough of Adam these days but he's launching his very own trio, so something to look forward to there.
It's Been, it's Gone is a saying from mother Edis, but is for all the sayings of all our mothers everywhere.
Madeira is inspired by a winding road discovered on the Portuguese island and had the Wilson Graeme switching to flute and the Hardy Graham playing muted.
Cluster Fluster takes the Fender Rhodes sound of early jazz-rock Miles as a reference point, back to when he [Miles] had Hancock, Corea, Zawinul and Jarrett, not because he needed four keyboardists, but so no one else could have them.
Elegy is a lovely ballad with a tastefully programmed and delivered bass solo, and that from someone [me] who gets frustrated with bass solos for the sake of it.
The final piece was Brand New Mountain from Wilson, and we learned that it formed in Japan, but we need to go and see them again to find out how and why. Solos from sax, trombone from Danny Barley, at all of twenty-two, doing a splendid job depping for Chris Hibbard, piano featuring, if I'm not mistaken, a thinly veiled reference to A Love Supreme, and a concise and perfectly formed drum solo.
Lance highlighted this type of thing when he reviewed their last Caff gig, that you only get a bass solo when it's exactly what's required and you don't get unnecessarily long drum solos.
The Sextet are spread from Darlo to Edinburgh and they're all very busy, but a trilogy would be nice Paul, when you're ready. This is still one of the powerhouses of British jazz; classic and forward looking at the same time, and performed with taste and class, with a frontman growing in stature with every performance.
Steve T.
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