An interesting session that was quite different from your average trio gig. Whether it's piano, bass and drums or, as was the case this afternoon, guitar bass and drums trio gigs can be formulaic - particularly when you have a ringer in the band. However, when that ringer is bassist Andy Champion, filling in for organist Martin Longhawn, you soon realise that he is better than your average dep. Champion is rated among the best bass players in the UK so, no worries there.
I used the word formulaic - you won't hear it again in this review. Most trio gigs go something like this: intro, head, solos, fours, head and maybe a coda. It's the easy way, it's a cop-out. Not today I'm pleased to say - no four bar exchanges from start to finish. The word is getting through.
Not that Hanley was inactive he soloed to great effect on several numbers and, amazingly no one applauded! When an audience doesn't whoop and holler and put their hands together after drum solos of this calibre, what chance do the others have?
Even local hero Champion received only modest applause.
Likewise Svarc did some thrashing that wouldn't have been out of place at Glastonbury and maybe that was the problem for the sometimes stoical Lit & Phil audience. Perhaps fewer pedals and effects units would have helped to win them over. Strange - Lance
Bemsha Swing; I Love You; Lawns; Softly as in a Morning Sunrise; Chords; I'll Catch You.
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