The Stuart Fowler Quintet: Freddie Hubbard's Open Sesame + jam session @ Central Bar, Gateshead - Nov. 8

Stuart Fowler (trumpet, piano); Jamie Toms (tenor sax); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (bass); John Bradford (drums) + Harry Keeble (tenor sax).

The second of the Central Bar's monthly sessions continued with the Blue Note theme which was fine by me - it's my era!

Tonight's opening set concentrated on Freddie Hubbard's debut album for the label - Open Sesame.

The room was crowded and when Fowler hit the opening notes of One Mint Julep I knew this was going to be as close as we were gonna get this side of Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey 60 years ago.

They did the album justice.

(Pics by Pam)

Fowler has "a tone" not the strangulated apology of so many modern trumpet players but a sound that resonates from mouthpiece to bell - Fats Navarro and Clifford Brown had it - Miles didn't.

Jamie Toms slotted nicely into the Tina Brooks role. Brooks is surely one of the most underrated of tenor players - known only to the cognoscenti.

McCoy Tyner could never said to be underrated but his understudy tonight certainly is.

Alan Law may not have many, if any, CDs to his name but he certainly should. Tonight he was on fire.

Shoulder and Bradford seem to have been on every other gig you've ever been to and, tonight they proved their worth.

So far so good, now bring on the jammers - that meanlooking bunch of saxslingers out to kick ass. Jam sessions are, in theory, the equivalent of jousting contests, battle royals, bare knuckle brawls where the combatants go toe to toe and slug it out.

Apart from Keeble, who could kick ass at Birdland there were no takers - maybe he scared them off!

Nevertheless if the fireworks weren't there it was still interesting when Fowler proved he was no one-trick-pony by playing piano on Take the A Train.

By this time the audience had begun to dwindle and the final number was called. It should have been a showstopper: Dexter v Wardell, Harry v Jamie - the stuff that jams are made of. It didn't quite happen that way. Nevertheless, despite my misgivings it was still a great session and I can't wait for the next one and to discover which gem Stuart has mined from the Blue Note catalogue.

Blue Note, real ale - Shangri-la! Lance

One Mint Julep; Open Sesame; But Beautiful; All or Nothing at All; Gypsy Blues; Hub's Nub.