Jazz Café Jam Session - March 20

Jeremy McMurray (piano); Paul Grainger (bass); Rob Walker (drums) + Nifemi Osiyemi (vocal); Yuichiro Suzukawa (alto); Nick Gould, Paul Gowland, Jimmy Jefford (tenors); Joel Brown, Ben Richardson, Marcus Tham (piano); John Pope (bass).

(Review by Lance).

The house trio tonight is Jeremy McMurray (piano); Paul Grainger (bass) and Rob Walker (drums). They get the ball rolling with Yesterdays, a samba called Samba that's composed by Jeremy who's making his first JC jam appearance and My Romance. A good start to this fortnightly 'mustn't miss' session.

At the last jam, I waxed eloquent about singer Osiyami even going so far as to suggest that she deserved a gig in her own right. Guess what? May 18 the girl is doing just that - put it in your diary folks.

Tonight she gives us a taste of Honeysuckle Rose which is maybe too fast for comfort and Georgia on my Mind which is just right. Nifemi is aided and abetted by Suzukawa on alto who stays on stage for a Bird bopper the title of which escapes me - somebody help me -  Nick?

Nick (Gould) has blown in from Out of Nowhere or, to be more precise, Edinburgh before toasting that Argentinian heartbreaker, Tangerine.

Joel gives Jeremy a spell at the Joanna for A Weaver of Dreams and Suzukawa pops up again (you can't keep him down) for It Could Happen to You.

Interval time. Normally, Paul Grainger asks if there is a bass player in the house. A plea that usually falls on stony ground. However, tonight John Pope was in, I think he may have been at the hairdresser's last time and took over on bass. No such luck for Rob Walker. Ian Forbes had been spotted earlier but, as is his wont, he'd vanished into the mist from which Paul Gowland emerges brandishing tenor sax. This was not to be his night - at least not yet. The mechanism on Paul's tenor had, in the words of one of Nick Gould's countrymen when referring to the best laid schemes of mice and men, 'gang awry'. This relegates Paul to the bench where various processes are employed until, eventually, the problem is solved and Paul returns in triumph for the final 4 sax jam On Green Dolphin Street.
Before then, however, Jimmy Jefford and Ben Richardson set the room on fire before being joined by Suzukawa for a blast on Mr. PC. Joel Brown works out on My One and Only Love before relinquishing the piano stool to Marcus Tham. Osiyami returns for I Wish I Knew How it Felt to be Free and a soul-searing Hallelujah I Just Love Him So. Gould blows R'n'B tenor, cools down on Autumn Leaves then joins Gowland, Jefford and Suzukawa for the final number. It's hotting up nicely with Paul Gowland making up for lost time. I too have to make up for lost time and catch the Metro which, of course, is late!
Another Terrific Tuesday!
Lance.
Photos.