(Review by Russell)
August, holidays,
likely as not particpiants and and listeners would be thin on the ground. O ye,
of little faith! Of course they turned out, sitters-in and the regular 'first
name terms' crowd. The Black Swan jam session rarely, if ever, fails to
deliver. As the evening's entertainment was about to begin a bottle of Old
Peculier couldn't be resisted. Cheers!
First up, BSH's Ann
Alex. Bubbling with enthusiasm, AA engaged with the house trio to sing two
numbers opening with the Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer classic Come Rain
or Come Shine. And that was it, no more vocals, from here on in it would be
a top flight instrumental showcase.
The trio - master
guitarist Mark Willams, jam session lynchpin bassist Paul Grainger and ace
drummer Russ Morgan - could hold the attention of an audience anywhere, anytime
but this evening was all about the sitters-in dotted around the room waiting
patiently to be called by Mr PG. Harry Keeble got the nod, played a couple of
tunes including a magical reading of 'Round Midnight. One sensed HK
had been in the woodshed for this one, trying out a few things - whatever, it
worked! Our tenor saxophonist is soon to head to London, if he pops up at
another session before he departs, treasure his contribution because Harry is
one helluva tenor player.
Guitarist Adam Sams
puts in an occasional Black Swan appearance and his welcome presence enabled
fellow six stringer Williams to go to the bar. Someday My Prince Will
Come waltzed along nicely. Good on Sams for following on from Mr MW.
At this juncture, in typical jam session style, it was a case of 'all hands on
deck' with an array of talent reporting for duty. Sams stayed exactly where he
was, Russ Morgan went to the bar as the fabulous Abbie Finn took a spell, John
Rowland meant business (taking off his jacket to blow some robust tenor!) with
Teesside's finest, Mr Jeremy McMurray, occupying the piano stool. Monk's Bright
Mississippi the tune, a definite highlight. Due to an absence of
depping bass players MC Grainger, citing the EU Working Time Directive,
declared the session would 'take five'...everybody out!
And they kept on
coming...David Gray is affectionately known as 'Showtime' thanks to our
trombonist never failing to provide 'good value' but that shouldn't obscure the
fact he is a superb musician and to illustrate the point he played a sublime
version of Corcovado. As if things couldn't get any better 'the
boys' joined the party. Three supremely talented young men, currently 'on
vacation' from their respective universities - Ben Lawrence (Durham), Francis
Tulip (Birmingham), Matt MacKellar (Berklee) - took centre stage for a couple
of numbers (including a TS Monk jam session staple) alongside the horns of
Keeble and Rowland. The standard beggared belief. Millennials with bags of
talent, pianist Ben has developed exponentially, guitarist Francis has the
chops, the language, literally at his fingertips, and Matt is as fine a drummer
you could wish to hear. How lucky is the Tyneside jazz scene to be able to
boast three A-list drummers hanging at one session? We are going through a
golden period, no question about it.
Four (Rowland blowing tenor), the Millennials dazzling, FT taking a look
at Bye Bye Blackbird, a lock-in wouldn't have gone amiss but, as
the eleven o'clock curfew approached, it was all aboard the milk train (Ray
Burns jumping on with no time to spare!). Yes, it had been a canny night,
alright. The next session is on Tuesday 20th. Who knows who'll turn up. One way
to find out...be there!
Russell
Mark Williams
(guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums) + Ann Alex (vocals);
Harry Keeble (tenor sax); Adam Sams (guitar); John Rowland (tenor sax); Jeremy
McMurray (piano); Abbie Finn (drums); David Gray (trombone); Francis Tulip
(guitar); Ben Lawrence (piano); Matt MacKellar (drums); Ray Burns
(harmonica)
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