Paul Hartley Quartet featuring Mike Hope @ the Railway, Stockport - March 8

(© Jeff Pritchard)

Mike Hope (tenor sax); Paul Hartley (guitars); Ken Marley (bass); Eryl Roberts (drums).

For this Tuesday night gig Paul Hartley brought along a couple of guitars. On most of the tunes he played an instrument made by Roger Sadowsky, a New York manufacturer whose name first became known to guitarists  when Marcus Miller and Jim Hall started to use his products.

I recall from his last visit to this venue the Leeds -  based guitarist Derek Harris also uses a Sadowsky instrument. Paul’s other guitar which he likes to use on numbers with a bossa nova feel like Wave is a Yamaha 6 string model which gives him a different sound due to the nylon strings.

Mike Hope is another tenor player who is well worth hearing and if you have seen the Syd Lawrence Orchestra you will most likely have seen him sitting in the sax section. His performance tonight contained mainly standards by the likes of George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Jimmy Van Heusen.  The only deviation from this format was the opening number, Charlie Parker’s Cheryl and Sonny Rollin’s  Oleo.  I think I would have liked to have heard some more tunes from the bebop repertoire but it still excites me when I hear someone who can play a well known standard like Jerome Kern’s  All the Things You Are and hold my interest.

The rhythm team of Ken Marley bass and Eryl Roberts drums did an excellent job backing Mike and I would also like to compliment the audience for being attentive and showing their appreciation for yet another great evening of superb jazz.

The next jazz night at the Railway is March 13 with reeds man Liam Byrne - Mike Farmer

 

Cheryl; Wave; The Way You Look Tonight; But Beautiful; All The Things You Are; Meditation; How Deep Is The Ocean; Oleo; How Long Has This Been Going On?; Invitation; I Want To Be Happy