Abbie Finn (drums); Harry Keeble (tenor sax);
Paul Grainger (double bass).
(Review/band photo by
Minnie Fraser. Individual photos by Russell).
There was a select audience in the Jazz Bar at the Globe to hear this
new trio although the faces were familiar, particularly to those who attended
the Black Swan on Tuesday. Many of the tunes they played were also
familiar, but the arrangements were new and exciting. They started
with Janine by Duke Pearson a post-bop swing, a great start
with Abbie showcasing the drums with the call and return of fours. Next
up was Windows by Chick Corea, followed by Love for
Sale which started as a slow and sultry bossa but the tempo picked up
and after some excellent improvisation by Harry, Abbie gave a great solo
focusing on the toms.
Moments Notice,
written by
John Coltrane and included in his seminal album Blue Train was
played with a driving rhythm and ended with a dead stop. Abbie has a good
stage presence and already had a rapport with the audience when she invited
Paul to introduce his own composition Swim. He explained that
the piece had been written a few years ago to accompany Abi Lewis’s film The
Jazzman – a film about Keith Crombie, who ran the Jazz Café for many
years. Paul gave an excellent solo on double bass followed by fours
between drums and sax/bass. This was followed by Nothing Personal by
Don Grolnick which was introduced by Harry, who explained that it was “really
difficult” and had been famously played by Michael Brecker. It certainly
seemed very challenging with a complicated rhythmic structure and another
excellent drum solo. It may well have been difficult, but Harry made a
wonderful job of playing it!
The second half started with a very sultry rendition of Caravan with
the tempo subtly increasing getting the audience heads nodding in
appreciation. Another super drum solo round the toms and rims with
excellent dynamics. Next was a bit of swing with How High the Moon with more brilliant improvisation on the tenor,
fours and then seamlessly morphing into Ornithology by Charlie
Parker at the end! Abbie then introduced Recorda Me by
her “favourite tenor player” (Not Harry???) Joe Henderson which built up from
the lone drums, clicking the rims and stretching the skin on the floor tom to
vary the tuning then joined by the bass and finally the sax. This was
followed by Giant Steps by John Coltrane which was played so
expressively by all three musicians despite a challenging chord progression.
Softly as in the Morning Sunrise by Sigmund Romberg was probably the
earliest of the pieces played – the sax was soulful with Abbie driving the
rhythm on the rims in an Afro Cuban style. The audience sighed sadly as
Abbie announced that the next was to be their last – Seven Steps to Heaven – which Abbie explained was written by Victor
Feldman, not Miles Davis even though he famously played it. Of course,
the audience cheered for more and the trio duly obliged with an encore of Ladybird by
Tadd Dameron.
All in all it was a really excellent gig, these excellent musicians
should be playing to much larger audiences – so watch out for them!
Minnie
1 comment :
One thing I didn’t put in my review was that I was amazed at the musicianship of such young musicians as Abbie and Harry. Both play with an easy confidence of old hands. Another thing is that one doesn’t often come across jazz bands led by a drummer(Clark Tracy comes to mind, and do you remember Yuya Honami?) Even rarer are bands led by female drummers! Anyway, Abbie plays in such a rich variety of ways with superb dynamics - it is great to hear a drummer who adds so beautifully to the quiet bits! The music they played was fabulous in the context of that drumming!
The trouble is, and you might have guessed it, I am a massive drumming fan and I think I might have neglected the other two musicians who were also extremely good!
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