It seems like years since I last saw Laura Jurd
and I couldn’t remember how many times I’ve seen her. I know the first time was
at the Scarborough Jazz Festival and Mrs T reminded me of one occasion I’d
forgotten about. Nor had I done my homework properly and wasn’t expecting the
eleven piece group I’d seen at Sage Gateshead a few years back. Interesting to
see if the intervening years had affected my appreciation of this generation of
British jazz.
The set included compositions from Jurd, Galvin, Dick and Norwegian artists she’d collaborated with in the past, beginning with her own Stepping Out from the album Stepping Jumping In.
Jurd’s sound and technique is no less fantastic on cornet and Luft is never less than impressive, but the whole band demonstrated exemplary musicianship, blending the disparate sections seamlessly.
Our busy schedule meant we came out before the end for a quick drink from the bar, essentially to get a couple of glasses for the bottle of prosecco we’d successfully stashed, but who knew – after all these years - the draught lager and cider would be so good, if – less surprisingly – so expensive. Also a chance to check the site out, reduced in size since the pandemic, with food stall prices inflated from expensive to silly, the CD store a no-show, presumably a result of the rise of streaming, the demonisation of CD and the damp squib of a vinyls revival. Most alarming of all was the absence of a programme, an essential tool for the hapless reviewer, which wasn’t a popular move amongst festival-goers or volunteers either. Steve T
1 comment :
I've just noticed I've put Conor Chaplin down for bass guitar on this gig but he was playing upright and it was the following gig he played bass guitar. Sorry Conor.
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