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| (Photo by Russell) |
Tickets for Saturday's session were purposely under sold to enable a degree of social distancing to be maintained at Tyne Bank Brewery's spacious Walker Road premises. Illusory or not, the place soon filled up in good time to catch the early bird set by Alice Grace and Pawel Jedrzejewski.
Alice Grace (vocals); Pawel 'Pav' Jedrzejewski (guitar)
Fresh from her triumphant Ella Fitzgerald concert performance on Friday evening, Alice and Pav turned their attention to a different aspect of the jazz spectrum with a Norma Winstone-Kenny Wheeler inspired set of mainly original material. Alice and Pav's A Timeless Place album formed the bulk of the set - Guess Who I Saw Today - with Alice confirming Norma Winstone as an influential figure in her development as an artist. Pav can, and frequently does, turn his hand to any given situation. An unsung guitarist on the scene, our duo are well suited in this paired down context. No More Blues sung in English, understandably so, Portuguese isn't the easiest of languages. Perhaps one day Alice will give it ago - Chega de Saudade and all that! A finely drawn, nuanced set.
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| (Photo by Russell) |
A broken ankle in plaster is no excuse to pass up the opportunity of a gig. Birmingham Conservatoire graduate Francis Tulip answered the call to step in at short notice when one of the day's bands cried off at short notice. A scratch quartet of Francis, pianist Touyo Awala, bassist John Pope and drummer John Bradford rocked up ready to play. All four were well acquainted with the material and their set of some forty five minutes reaffirmed Francis' standing as one of the very best technicians on the contemporary jazz scene. Recorda Me, Moose the Mooch, Impressions, you'll have to go a long way to find a better guitarist playing this kind of material. And your search could well be in vain. Francis' friend Touyo Awala is a fine pianist, let's hear him on a decent acoustic piano some time. John Pope slotted in nicely, no surprise there, similarly the other John, the affable John Bradford, did everything required behind the traps. Post-gig it was good see to Francis hanging out. The best festivals should foster a sense of community and Newcastle Jazz Festival is heading in the right direction, that's for sure.
Swing Manouche: Mick Shoulder (guitar); Danny Lowndes (guitar); Martin Winning (clarinet); Paul Grainger (string bass)
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| (Photo by Russell) |
From I'll See You in My Dreams to, inevitably, Nuages to Djangology and Mystérieuse, this new edition of Mick's outfit made a big impression. Guitarist Danny knows his Django, as does Mick, but it was clarinetist Martin who caught the eye, or rather the ear. Perhaps classically trained, our far-flung member of the quartet dazzled with his assured technique - more Benny Goodman than Hubert Rostaing - allied to a bravura approach, Mr W brought the house down. Bravo! Russell
3 comments :
How odd that you should mention " Guess who I saw today" It has Been a fave of mine since The days of listening to Eydie Gormé. I love that song...so much so that I wrote a short story around it for my writing group in 2012. Clare Teal sang it recently on her show.
I loved Nancy Wilsons version of "Guess who I saw today".
I remember that short story Liz - it was excellent - we've often spoke about that tune. Carmen McRae also made a decent fist of it. I love songs with a story to them - Social Call is another great number that one can relate to.
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