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| (© Sheila Herrick) |
Paul Edis (piano); James Brady (trumpet, flugelhorn)
Jazz Co-op's annual weekend workshop attracted participants keen to learn from two of the busiest performers and tutors on the British jazz scene. Over the course of two days Paul Edis and James Brady would inspire students to develop their improvisational skills. You would be hard pushed to find two better tutors. What's more, on Saturday evening, our two principals treated their students and a wider audience to two sets of top quality jazz.
At eight o'clock Messrs Edis and Brady took to the Railway Street stage, opening with But Not for Me. It's not for nothing that these guys are at the top of their chosen field. It all looked and sounded so casual, this was sublime stuff. Edis and Brady are composers and during the evening's two sets we were treated to a selection of their tunes: Edis' Snakes and Ladders, Brady's Hermeto's Tune (for Hermeto Pascoal) and pianist Edis' terrific blues Muddle Through.
James Brady's tone - trumpet and flugelhorn - is that of a schooled brass band player. Perhaps back in the day Brady emerged from the disciplined world of competition-standard brass band performance. Paul Edis' lineage is well-known to a Tyneside audience...top class pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger and more. The Globe can't have had many, if any, better pianists in the house than Edis. And this evening our London-exiled northerner played, arguably, better than ever. Brady's occasional N'Awlins' growling trumpet playing seemed to inspire Edis to ever-greater heights, swinging it, dazzling stride patterns, more Monk than Evans on this set.
Brady's Primary Blues - or was it Lamb Chops? - came into being thanks to his experiences - and frustrations with school administrators - as a brass instruments' tutor in primary schools. Gritty, bluesy, one of the highlights of a marvellous concert. As the evening drew to a close, Edis introduced Angel Eyes as a tune 'many singers have murdered'. No names, no pack drill, our instrumentalists produced a 'killing' - ie superb - performance! Russell
Set list: But Not for Me; Snakes and Ladders; Hermeto's Tune; Muddle Through; In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning; In a Mellotone; Bye Bye Blackbird; Will o' the Wisp; Primary Blues/Lamb Chops; Angel Eyes; Caravan; Straight No Chaser.
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