Peter Morgan, away from his duties as MD of the Customs House Big Band, played a couple of interesting sets at the Globe as indeed he did earlier this year in February during one of the lockdowns as part of the Jazz Co-op's ongoing livestreams that, ultimately, led to them picking up a couple of prestigious awards for their efforts.
The Globe, like BSH, didn't throw in the towel when all around were heading for the hills but followed the traditional show biz maxim that The Show Must Go On!
And, like it or not, jazz is, or should be if it wants to survive, show business and Peter Morgan knows that which is why he always endeavours to bring the audience into the act with his often amusing introductions to numbers - both verbally and musically.
As I said earlier, these were an interesting two sets and, on this occasion, I say interesting without any hidden undertones.
The intros and endings were obviously cleverly crafted but, with some hard swinging in between and, frequently, surprising changes of tempo.
The three Bs were omnipresent - Brubeck, Bird and Bach - with JSB turning up on Autumn Leaves via some contrapuntal passages twixt Morgan and Kuby which seemed to contradict the announcement that they'd updated the tune. Perhaps they took the long way round and came in via the Bach door (I'll never live that one down!) Nevertheless, it was very effective.
This is not your average piano, bass and drums trio - there's a lot of imagination in there along with a few of Morgan's originals that he hoped we'd be whistling on the way home.
I once commented that we no longer heard compositions that we could whistle on the way home and was duly mocked for such heretic thoughts by one of the local jazz pundits to the extent that I've kept my lips tightly closed when heading home from a gig ever since - until tonight. Now, how did that last one go? Got it!
An enjoyable gig - Lance
ps: The Peter Morgan Trio are at The Prohibition Bar on October 8.
pps: Bass and drums were never less than perfect.
There Will Never be Another You; Skylark; Autumn Leaves; It's a Raggy Waltz; Jo Jo (original); A Dam Sa Moi (original); Ornithology; I Remember Clifford; Cute; I'm Beginning to See the Light; In a Capricornian Way (Woody Shaw); Willow Weep For Me; Silhouette (Q); Five Times as Good (original); On a Roll (original); My One and Only Love; Shuffle That (original); All Blues.
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