Abbie Finn Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle - June 27

Harry Keeble (tenor); Paul Grainger (bass); Abbie Finn (drums).
(Review by Lance/Photos courtesy of Barry Luccock)

I'm always a bit wary of pianoless trios, it invariably requires a Sonny Rollins or a Joshua Redman to carry it off without becoming a masterclass in boring self-indulgence. Well, you can add Harry Keeble to the above list, this was an absolute gem. Straight down the middle hard bop blowing by a tenor player who should be a jazz household name and, on the strength of last night's Jazz Coop promotion at the Globe, soon will be.



Behind every great man, there's a woman, so the saying goes, and in this case, it was Abbie Finn driving the tenor player ever forward as well as soloing with power and panache herself.

In between the duo, the ubiquitous Paul Grainger not only provided the harmonic foundation so important in this kind of line-up but laid down some melodic lines of his own when soloing.

Grainger, surprisingly, contributed the only original tune - Swim - dedicated to the late Keith Crombie although I didn't get the connection.

After Caravan, which had an eerie, esoteric opening before settling down, tributes to tenor players were very much the order of the day. Impressions (Coltrane); Cheese Cake (Gordon); ESP (Shorter); Nothing Personal (Brecker); Recorda Me (Henderson) How High the Moon/Ornithology (everyone). Other pieces were Satan's Child (Joe Locke); Softly as in a Morning Sunrise; Seven Steps to Heaven (Victor Feldman) and Ladybird (Tadd Dameron).

This is as good as it gets!

Next Thursday the Alan Glen Trio - that too will be as good as it gets!

Lance