Andrea Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass, bass guitar); Abbie Finn (drums) + Harry Keeble (tenor sax)
Earlier in the day Andrea Vicari played to a capacity audience at the Lit & Phil up the road in Newcastle. Here at the Traveller's Rest in Darlington, Vicari, Andy Champion and Abbie Finn were greeted by an enthusiastic Opus 4 Jazz Club crowd. The lack of a piano at the venue - upright or grand - pressed into action Vicari's well-travelled keyboard. Bassist Champion brought along his electric as well as his trusty double bass. From Think of One to Blues on the Spot, the set list would mirror that of Newcastle plus a whole lot more.
The Monk opener led into Someday My Prince Will Come, almost catching Harry Keeble unawares, our tenor sax man was down to join Vicari on the Frank Churchill/Larry Morey number! Up jumped Keeble, slotting in nicely. The Opus 4 regulars liked what they were hearing, whistles aplenty. The Monkish Tonci's Song got its second outing of the day, whereas jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby's Just Had to Tell Somebody was being heard for the first time (Vicari champions female jazz musicians, past and present). Abbie Finn, very much of the present, played as well as we've come to expect, ditto bassist Andy Champion.
An undoubted highlight, as it was at lunchtime, took the form of a Vicari party piece, namely the stride patterns of Honeysuckle Rose going into Scrapple from the Apple. Tremendous! It had been a good day's work for Andrea Vicari. If she, Andy and Abbie enjoyed themselves half as much as the Newcastle and Darlington audiences did, the prospect of a return visit in the not-too-distant future seems assured. Russell
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