Kansas Smitty's playback Clifford Brown & Max Roach - April 17

(Screenshot by Ken Drew)

Alex Ridout (trumpet); Giacomo Smith (tenor sax); Joe Webb (piano); Daisy George (double bass); Jas Kayser (drums) 

Alex Ridout as Clifford Brown, Giacomo Smith, on tenor sax, playing the part of Harold Land, and Berklee graduate Jas Kayser taking the role of the great Max Roach. It had all the makings of another great session down at Kansas Smitty's. 

Seven numbers, a bunch of them from Cliiford Brown & Max Roach, plus a couple of cookers, our London resident American plays alto sax and flute as well as anyone, here he showed he is no slouch on tenor. Joy Spring opened the set followed by Parisian Thoroughfare. Would Ridout convince as the ill-fated trumpeter Clifford Brown? The answer, emphatically, yes! The 2016 BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year chatted to Smith about the time she transcribed some of Brown's solos. On stage here at Kansas Smitty's our girl showed nerves of steel, she did it! The new boy on piano - 'new' in that he's had a haircut! - Joe Webb, once again played tremendously well. Come to think of it, when doesn't he? 

(Collage by Ken Drew)

Delilah featured a Max Roach solo, sorry, a Jas Kayser solo, she too knew who the bop icon was and what he was about. Daahoud challenged Ridout and Webb, trumpeter and pianist rising to the challenge in fine style. Bassist Daisy George, first heard by BSH in Darlington with Matt Roberts, is as good as they come, and on These Foolish Things kind of proved it. The quintet blew freely on Sandu before closing it out on Take the A Train. More next week (Saturday, 8:00pm) with a Keith Jarrett set.  

Russell

    

Set list: Joy Spring; Parisian Thoroughfare; Delilah; Daahoud; These Foolish Things; Sandu; Take the A Train.