A graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music Manchester, 35 year old Grant Russell is a very versatile bass player, well known in the north west and beyond for his formidable technique.
It’s been a while since Grant has been to the Railway. I think it may
have been during the pre-covid days as a sideman but tonight he was fronting
his own quartet and he could not have picked a better group of musicians with whom to share the bandstand.
It was yet another rainy night in Stockport but in spite of this, the main room was almost full when I arrived and I had to sit by the bar at the back.
After a quick sound check, the concert started with Monk’s Bemsha Swing which featured some high-octane playing from Kyran Matthews who, without the use of a mic, produced a huge sound on his Selmer Mk 6 that was most impressive. He seemed inspired by the brilliant drumming of Luke Flowers and also by Paul Kilvington whose high energy keyboard skills are well suited to this group.
Things cooled down a bit for the next number, Angel Eyes, but then warmed up with Kyran delving into some high register licks before reverting back to the theme.
Unlike the Shearing Sound who played over twenty tunes during their recent gig, the Grant Russell Quartet only played a total of eight tunes. This also may be a record for the least number of tunes played at this location. The energy level of this group remained high throughout the evening and even though they sometimes got into what may be termed avant-guard mode, most people liked what they were doing, myself included.
In the second set I was pleased to hear Paul Kilvington being featured on Smile written by comedian Charlie Chaplin. This made me wish I still had the LP Matador on which Jackie McLean did a great version of the Chaplin tune. Also, McLean played it on one of the Steeplechase recordings that he made with Dexter Gordon.
One thing I’ve noticed which is most likely age-related is I sometimes hear a band play a tune and it is one I ought to know the name of but my mind just goes blank. This happened when the band played a Tadd Dameron bop tune at a fast tempo. I had to ask Luke Flowers after the gig what the tune was called and he said Ladybird. I was astounded as I must have played that number many times!
Anyway, congrats to
Grant for providing a really exciting evening of modern music and I hope you
can do it all again sometime.
Next Railway jazz is Feb 1 - Steve Oakes Band featuring Ray Butcher - Mike Farmer
Bemsha Swing; Angel Eyes; Hello Little Sunflower; How High the Moon; Pure Imagination; Ladybird; Smile; Bolivia.
2 comments :
Hey Mike I know the feeling! With standards it's easy because you can usually remember the words whilst they're playing the head but no matter how familiar I am with bop tunes, although I can often recognise the sequence, I always struggle to connect the titles the 'composers' have given to them!
Sounds like a tasty quartet. Kyran Matthews will, likely as not, be at the Great North Big Band Jazz Festival in Chester le Street on Saturday 5 March with the three times reigning champs in the senior big band competition, the Managers Big Band from Bolton. And what a band it is!
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