KSTV: Dan Higham & Noah Stoneman Play Louis & Bud - Feb. 9

Dan Higham (trombone); Noah Stoneman (piano).

(Screenshots by Ken Drew).

One thing about Smitty's is they don't deliver any duds so that any reservations I may have felt about a trombone/piano duo sans bass and drums were quickly dismissed within the opening bars of the first number.

Stoneman played the verse out of tempo quite beautifully - and tantalisingly too. You know how it is with verses, you know them, you can sing them, but can you name them? Can you 'eck as like until the melody comes in and you say, "Of course!" whilst kicking yourself at the same time when Higham kicks in with the familiar melody line of Tea For Two. 

Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? I don't know if these two guys have spent any time in Louisiana but the way they were playing it sounded as if they were natives of that very state.

From Basin St. to 52nd St. is a 19 hour drive but it only took minutes before Dan and Noah had bid Louis Armstrong a temporary farewell and were in NYC bouncin' with Bud Powell on Bud's composition Celia. It says so much for today's younger musicians that they can switch genres so easily without losing identity.

Back to N.O. but not before dropping off at Washington DC to say hello to Duke with a Prelude to a Kiss and eventually getting to The Big Easy around about When It's Sleepy Time Down South.

It was back to Bud for his fingerbustin' number - The Fruit. Noah confessed the head was too difficult on piano so he was passing that honour to Dan - like it's easier on trombone?!

Uptempo numbers on trombone are like a steeplechase. Your horse is galloping away, ahead of the field, but is clipping the fences and you fear he will come to grief which he invariably does if I've invested 50p each way. Fortunately, I hadn't jinxed Dan and he reached the coda unscathed although there were a few tense moments.

This was quite an amazing live stream. I don't think I've ever witnessed two musicians switch so effortlessly between two such extreme opposites as Louis Armstrong and Bud Powell and throw in a bit of Ellington for good measure!

They finished up with Ain't Misbehavin' which, although long associated with Louis Armstrong (and, of course, Fats Waller) was also the number on which

Bud Powell made his recording debut as pianist with the Cootie Williams Orchestra in 1940. So the link was complete although nobody mentioned it (I know because I have it on a Regal Zonophone 78rpm!).

Lovely session.

Lance

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