Munch Manship Quartet @ the Railway, Stockport - Feb. 6

Munch Manship (tenor sax, flute, piccolo); Richard Wetherall (piano); Ben Wiltshire (bass); Eryl Roberts (drums)

This was another great night of modern jazz at the Railway with the followers of this type of music out in force. Munch had put together a fine bunch of musicians to interpret his choice of
tunes and everyone was pleased to see the great Richard Wetherall seated at the house upright piano. Also there was a newcomer on the bandstand, an excellent bass player Ben Wiltshire who, Munch told me, was the son of a well known bass player, Brian Wiltshire who used to play in many bands during the Manchester jazz boom. On drums was Eryl Roberts who is another frequent visitor to this venue.

Right from the start Munch got the joint jumping with a fast workout on that classic Clifford Brown number Joy Spring, a tune I keep meaning to learn but never get round to it! His selection of eleven tunes contained only one ballad and Munch displayed his more sensitive side on Mal Waldron’s Soul Eyes, The rest was a well chosen list of numbers by the likes of Rollins, Brubeck, Mobley, Hubbard, Griffin, and Duke Jordan.

Although almost all the tunes featured Munch on tenor sax, his flute not being utilised, he used the piccolo to great effect on a lively samba composed by Z Abreu entitled Tico Tico. Not something you often see or hear in a jazz place but it was certainly a great rendition and received much applause.

Another tune I liked a lot was El Pato  which was featured on a Stan Getz bossa nova album that he made when the bossa craze first occurred. This triggered a memory I have of my first visit to New York when during a mid-week night at the Village Vanguard I heard Getz and his friend Jimmy Raney work their magic on El Pato.

Munch likes to play at least one blues during a performance, more often than not it’s the one known as The Jamfs are Coming  written by the late great saxophone maestro Johnny Griffin. This had Munch producing some interesting high register sounds and once again Richard Wetherall impressed me by his high-energy piano work. Once again I must praise Ben Wiltshire for some rock-solid time keeping and Eryl for some exciting drumming.

The next jazz night at the Railway is Tuesday Feb. 8 with Paul Hartley’s group featuring  Andrzej Baranek - Mike Farmer

 

Joy Spring. In Your Own Sweet Way; El Pato; Jordu; The Jamfs Are Coming; Up Jumped Spring; East Of The Sun; Soul Eyes; Tico Tico; Airegin; This I Dig of You.