(Screenshots by Ken Drew)
It was a tough call tonight - hip-hop at Ronnie's or some swinging piano jazz at Smitty's? I flipped a coin and called "heads". Fortunately, it landed with the head of Queen Victoria showing so it mean't I didn't have to flip again.
Another ace trio tonight playing a great selection of standards from the Old and New Testament of Bop.
Ornette Coleman, whom many proclaimed as the New Messiah, provided The Blessing and it didn't take long before we got the message that tonight was going to be the jazz equivalent of the Sermon on the Mount or The Beatles at Shea Stadium.
Bud Powell's Tempus Fugue-it was introduced by Cleasby as Tempus Fuggit which gave him the chance to say "let's hope we don't fug it up!"
Star Eyes, one of the truly great tunes whether sung by Carmen McRae or played by Charlie Parker - or, come to that, played by Noah Stoneman.
Everything Happens to me. That lyric (Tom Adair) - "I make a date for golf and you can bet your life it rains, I try to throw a party and the guy upstairs complains" is in a class of its own. Even without the words it's still a great number (Matt Dennis) and Stoneham's reading of the verse and his subsequent exploration of the harmonic possibilities were just (just?) magical!
A couple of Horace Silver's in the form of Pretty Eyes and Nica's Dream. In the former, Daisy George let us know that a woman's bass isn't just in the home but on a jazz gig as she served up as tasty a solo as I've heard since the last time I heard her. On Nica's Dream, Daisy did the business again and Cleasby hit all the pots and pans - if his mask hadn't slipped I'd have sworn it was Elvin Jones reincarnated.
The set finished with a Monk tune that I know well - it wasn't Monk's Dream but it was of that ilk.
Another knock out session. Why anyone who reads BSH doesn't checkout KS is beyond me. Google YouTube Kansas Smitty's and you'll never (virtually) go home again!
Lance
1 comment :
A superb session. As Lance said, if you read BSH you really should checkout Kansas Smitty's!
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