Orrin Evans (piano);
Buster Williams (bass); Lenny White (drums) + Victor North (tenor sax).It was the best of times (musically), it was the worst of times (non-musically) as BSH donned its gossamer wings and took a trip to Philadelphia for a Club Patio session on Evans' own patio as part of the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival. It was well worth the virtual trip featuring, as it did, some stonkingly fine piano from Evans, bass at its best from Buster, driving drums from Lenny White and excellent tenor sax from Victor North. All but the saxman were masked although even he had a visor such as hairdressers wear and his instrument was swathed in a variety of swaddling clothes held in place by a clothes peg - needs must in these strange times.
The music was straight down the middle hard bop in a setting not unlike that of a Thursday night in Hexham although I guess the temperature in Philly was somewhat higher. By the end of the first set I was feeling jet-lagged having spent the earlier part of the day way down yonder in New Orleans where the mercury had soared even higher so I took to my bed to the sounds of All the Things You Are.
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Haruka Kikuchi (trombone); Z2 Tsuji (keys); Nobu Ozaki (bass); Shannon Powell (drums).
On a Sunday afternoon in New Orleans a visit to the Kikuchi household is compulsory - particularly if you like to hear the kind of trombone playing that was created there around the turn of the century. Little did they know then that the tradition would be carried on by a charming young lady from Japan who, had she been born earlier, would most certainly have been mentioned in the book on J Jazz recently reviewed by Steve T.
As always, on a bright day that looked to be so hot that even the 'gators out in the swamps wouldn't have made the effort to eat anyone today. The augmented trio had Shannon Powell on drums today thus making it a quartet. Young Shouta* took an immediate shine to the drummer - maybe a hint of things to come!
South, Wabash Blues and a few others made it another super Sunday way down there but, I had a plane to catch ... I was headin' north ...
Lance
* Shouta, for those who haven't been following the sessions religiously, is Haruka & Z2's young son who invariably makes his presence known during the afternoon.
1 comment :
I have never managed to catch any of the Haruka sessions had a look and they are available on her public Facebook page so I opened up the first one on the page and I must admit I enjoyed it.
I laughed out loud at the very start when Haruka is adjusting the camera and the keyboard player walks off . You can see the little girl sat at the keyboard waiting for her chance and as the keyboard player walks off she goes for it big style with a bit of jazz improv hitting random keys as kids do .
The player realises does an about turn and lowers the volume on the keyboard significantly. I guess this is the modern equivalent of buying your kids a harmonica or recorder seems like a good idea for ten seconds.
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