Mark Williams (guitar); John Pope (bass)
(Review by Steve H/Photo courtesy of Dave Parker).
A recent article posted on these pages was so negative as to be almost offensive. Personally, if I don’t like a gig I don’t feel the necessity to broadcast the fact on social media, after all what do I know? Luckily Thursday night's gig was one that I felt very comfortable reporting about.
Mark and John seem to be in more bands and combinations then there are books in the bible both old and new combined though whether they’ve been in a quartet with Matthew and Luke I can’t confirm.
Although they have played many times together in various combos, the first time they had actually played as a duo was on the Sage Gateshead Concourse as part of GIJF2018. Everyone present that afternoon was mighty impressed so it was no surprise that, when I turned up the at the Jazz Bar, the room was already full. Some of the correspondents on these pages will be pleased to hear that the music had melody, rhythm, harmony and in my opinion great instrumentalists so there was no danger of anyone leaving at halftime. It is this sort of music that gives jazz a good name.
Joking aside, this was a really fabulous gig with the biblical brothers turning in another great performance. Most of the tunes were their own interpretations of songs written by jazz greats Clifford Brown, Wayne Shorter, Don Grolnick and Joe Henderson. All expertly and sensitively done and at times played so slowly that I thought my watch had stopped. My own personal favourite on the night was a song from David Lynch’s movie Eraserhead called In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator) tonight’s version was a version that John had lifted from a Pixies version but, however it came about, it was an excellent synopsis of the entire night – tasteful, elegant, brilliantly executed and very enjoyable.
Steve H.
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