(Review by Lance),
Jam sessions are unpredictable events. Some nights nobody turns up whilst other nights just about everyone shows. Invariably, the instrumental balance is rarely an even one. The other week we had alto saxes growing out of our ears whereas this week there was ne'er an Eb horn in sight although tenors were brandished freely. On this occasion, however, it was the piano that prevailed. Not one of your plug in and wind up keyboards but the good old house Hyundai upright which, defronted and hammers bared, laid down the invitation to "play me" and many did.
Stu Collingwood, with MacKellar and Grainger fuelling the engine - it was to be a long night for Paul, not another bass player in sight - paid tribute to the weather with A Foggy Day and Here's That Rainy Day before bequeathing the piano chair to Ben Richardson who added Misty to the weather report before taking off with How High the Moon?
Kate O'Neill stepped up to the plate for a rendition of Summertime delivered with a voice that exudes raw emotion. Charismatic, a true original. The Very Thought of You had some growly tenor from John Rowlands and more earthy singing from Kate. She doesn't just sing but seems to act the words as she brings her musical drama to a traumatic close. Next stop Covent Garden!
End of Act One.
Two-thirds of the Francis Tulip Quartet were in town so, with the help of the ever-present Grainger, they played a stormer on All the Things You Are and a number that sounded like Alone Together but probably wasn't. Tulip we know is the current 'comer' on guitar and he didn't disappoint. MacKellar had proved his worth since the session began (and, of course, long before that) but the revelation was Ben Lawrence on piano. It's only a couple of weeks since I last heard him but, even in that short space of time, prodigious is becoming an imminent adjective to insert.
The boys retired for a well-earned lemonade, John Rowland returned and Matt replaced Matt for a workout on Bernie's Tune and It Had to be You.
Time for the entry of the gladiators in the form of Michael Lamb, George Sykes, Jamie Toms and Joel Brown. Joel, who may or may not still be a member of the FTQ, kept up the piano performances - he too seems to move up a gear each time we hear him. Lamb and the two tenors did the business on Just Friends. Wow! this was just too much and we had yet to hit the home straight.
Another day, another drummer and yet another piano incumbent. Mo on drums and a Hawaiian shirted pianist from sunny Manchester, Oliver Dowinton, joined Lamb and Rowland for Tadd's Ladybird. Despite the shirt which didn't match the weather Oliver made this truly a pianoramatic evening proving himself to be on a par with what had preceded him.
He stayed aboard for Kate's return. All of Me and Crazy He Calls Me. These were to be her final arias but still, there were others waiting in the wings.
John Bradford, drums, Charlie Gordon, guitar, Ben Richardson, George Sykes and, of course, Paul Grainger. They Waved in true Jobim fashion with Sykes just getting his head in front at the line.
What better tune to finish off with than Cherokee - the second Ray Noble tune of the evening and a belter by the FTQ - 1 + 1.
Even as I headed into the Newcastle night young MacKellar's drum 'n' bass beats hung in the air...
I rode home on the number 27 bus - or was it the number 7 cloud?
Lance.
Photos.
Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (bass); Matt MacKellar (drums) + Ben Richardson (piano); Kate O'Neill (vocal); Ben Lawrence (piano); Francis Tulip (guitar); John Rowland (tenor); Matt Fairhirst (drums); Michael Lamb (trumpet); George Sykes, Jamie Toms (tenor); Joel Brown (piano); Hazem Mohammed (drums); Oliver Dowinton (piano); John Bradford (drums); Charlie Gordon (guitar).
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