Sunday Night @ The Globe: Shirley Smart Trio - May 16.

(Screenshot by Lance)

Shirley Smart (cello); John Crawford (piano); Demi Garcia Sabat (drums/perc.)

When Jazz Co-op and Jazz North East meet up you can guarantee the end result will be something different. Love it or hate it, one thing is sure - it won't be boring. I have to hold my hand up and say that initially I felt that this wasn't going to be for me until, seemingly, pre-empting my thoughts, they swung into a number that could have been by Grappelli had he played cello instead of violin!

This may have been the oasis as the next opus was Opals, a doom-laden song that, although played brilliantly, changed the mood generated by the previous number.

Smart does get a beautiful sonorous sound from her instrument and only very rarely had me thinking of Sir Thomas Beecham's famous quote re a lady cellist.

(Collage by Ken Drew)

However, I did find it interesting, particularly the middle-eastern influences which, at times, related to the turbulence in that area and I do appreciate both organisations for presenting music other than the straight ahead as well as the opportunity to hear three very talented and forward thinking musicians who may not otherwise have been on my radar. 

And now I've got egg on my face as they jump in with a bebop inspired original that could have been written by Bird! This made it
all worthwhile! Thank you - Lance