(Screenshots by Ken Drew).
Another evening of choice tunes impeccably played by four of the finest. It was good to have Joe Webb back in town, he was perfect for tonight's mainstream set. But, having said that, they all were.
The absence of a drummer led to a more relaxed feel that, nevertheless, swung along nicely.
Blue Lou; Moonglow and Dear Old Stockholm had solos all round each one complementing (and complimenting) the previous one. Surprisingly, Harper sat out Don Byas' Chica-Boom Blues leaving it to the trio who worked it well.
Alec returned for an absolutely delightful Early Autumn - reminiscent of Stan Getz's solo on Ralph Burns' Summer Sequence suite that he wrote for Woody Herman back when I was struggling to make the square on the hypotenuse equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. I eventually sussed it but, from that day on, I never had occasion to put that hard won knowledge into practice - maybe tomorrow ...
I digress.
A medium tempo I Got it Bad which, in this case, was very good followed by a luscious Polka Dots and Moonbeams - bring on the pug-nosed dreams - and Limehouse Blues which isn't a blues at all but swung as hard as if it was.
The show ended with Body and Soul. Harper in Hawkins mode, Archer the epitome of classy guitar playing. Joe Webb, in the course of his solo either discovered the lost chord or made it apparent that the piano needs tuning - again!
Still a super set. My apologies for not mentioning Ferg. He's just so sound and dependable. The Jazz Police have long been searching for one of his wrong notes - they ain't found one yet and I guess they never will.
Lance
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