Sunday Night Jazz @ The Globe: Knats - June 20

(Photo by Lance)

Ferg Kilsby (trumpet); Josh Mitchell-Rayner (keyboards); Stan Woodward (bass); King David Ike-Elechi (drums).

Knats (don't ask me where they got the name from!) are a young, mega young, band and this was their first ever indoor gig although they had played an outdoor gig a couple of weeks back which Russell enthused over and which I felt the need to check out. 

There was an understandable degree of uncertainty about the first set but, hey, what do expect? They're treading the boards where many of the UK's premier jazz musicians have strutted their stuff - no pressure then - and it didn't, at least outwardly appear to faze them. Come the second set and they were firing on four!

Young Ferg on trumpet was already known to me - known as a promising 14/15 year old who'd shown up at jams as well as blowing with some family members on the patio during lockdown. Since then, he's moved from the patio to the woodshed and emerged as Freddie Hubbard or Lee Morgan. If Art Blakey had still been alive and recruiting Ferg would have been on Buhaina's radar.

(Photo by Lance)

King David - is that a name or a title? - has the Blakey drive as well as his own powerhouse approach. His extended solos possibly had the good folk in Gateshead across the river checking out the Richter Scale whilst those inside The Globe were full of appreciation for this, the latest in an ever increasing list of outstanding young drummers to appear in the region. 

Like  King D, the more modestly named frontman and bassist Stan, has just completed his A-levels and he proved his worth with rock solid support and solos as well as composing and arranging some of the pieces. Oh, and another thing, he's rather old fashioned in that he uses those appendages on the side of his head (ears) to tune up rather than some electronic device clipped to the headstock of his fretless bass. How long is it since you heard a musician say to the pianist "give me an A"? Nice to know the old order hasn't completely changed.

The pianist charged with supplying the aforementioned note, 17 year old Josh also, during the course of the evening, gave us the other 87 notes in various permutations. Another outstanding performer to look out for.

(Photo by Russell)

The material was full on, in your face, Jazz Messengers, Herbie Hancock, Miles, Weather Report and, of course, 'knaturally' - Knats. 

Music heard included: Afro Blue; All Blues; Red Room (Woodward original); Kind Folk (K. Wheeler); Resolution (Coltrane); West of the West (Christian Scott) plus music from the film Taxi Driver, a piece by Radiohead and, for the encore, which I had to miss due to the demands of public transport, an opus by Herbie Hancock. Lance.

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PS: When I arrived at the Jazz Co-op HQ my nerves were still as taut as an over-tuned violin E string having watched the highs and lows and, ultimately, the highs of Hartlepool United's penalty shootout out victory over Torquay United in the National League Play-off Final.

I've never experienced a game with so much drama - Alfred Hitchcock couldn't have scripted it better - and, if they turned it into a movie, tonight's music would be the perfect soundtrack - it was played with the same passion and intensity.