(Review by Ron H)
The Mark Toomey Quartet, enhanced by the
addition of Jud Downs, became a quintet for this tribute to Julian ‘Cannonball’
Adderley.
The late alto saxist has long
been a favourite of Mark’s as was evidenced on the opening number the well-known Work
Song. Written by Cannonball’s brother Nat, it showed the audience just
how tight a unit this was. The great trumpet solo from Jud set the standard for
the night.
Sack O' Woe by Cannonball opened with a heavy drum & piano intro before
going into a swinging blues with
impressive solos all round.
Frank Rosolino's Blue
Daniel was followed by a terrific up tempo version of Big
"P" by Jimmy Heath with, again, great solos from Mark on alto,
Jeremy on piano and Jud on trumpet.
A beautifully played Latin/swing Azule
Serape by Victor Feldman and the Cole Porter classic What Is
This Thing Called Love? brought the first set to a close.
Taken from the Capital Them Dirty Blues album, Sam
Jones's Del Sasser provided a great opener to the second set.
A bossa nova, Saudade, featured
Jeremy on piano with nice rhythmic bass and drum backing from Pete and
Paul whilst still leaving plenty of scope for Mark and Jud to show their skills.
The Randy Weston Hi-Fly was
given a dramatic piano intro followed by the band playing so well together with
solos all round.
Stars Fell on Alabama, with tasteful piano and sax solos, offered complete
contrast to Sam Jones’ Unit 7 - a great up tempo swinger from
the album the quintet recorded with Nancy Wilson.
With the audience calling for an encore the
challenging Quincy Jones' Jessica's Day was played expertly leaving the listeners aware of the talent on stage and the inspiration that had inspired it - Cannonball Adderley.
A tribute night to a great
saxophonist with the band sounding almost like a big band at times playing many
difficult pieces which was also a tribute in itself to Mark's excellent skills
in arrangements and it certainly left a lasting impression with the audience.
Another successful night at the Dormans Jazz
Club with many thanks to the Dormans Club for their support.
Ron H
1 comment :
A Sack a Woe. Takes me back to a time when I paid £27 for a Japanese CD of Mercy Mercy Mercy (also Live Evil). A friend was shocked but I told him if you need it you need it. How times have changed or - should I say - how the media has changed. Would have loved to have made it but the Boro is largely a mystery to me.
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