Frank Griffith Quartet @ the Railway, Stockport - Sept. 25

(© Jeff Pritchard)

Frank Griffith (tenor sax/clarinet); Richard Wetherall(piano); Ed Harrison (bass); Victor Lundberg (drums)

Here at the Railway I arrived early in order to grab a good seat in front of the bandstand and the room was already starting to fill up with the usual Sunday night regulars. Ed Harrison was the first of the band to arrive but by the time 9pm rolled around there were no other musicians to be seen. This was weird as I’ve always found that bass players are normally the last to arrive at gigs but, on further investigation, it appeared that  both Frank and Victor were on their way and had got delayed for traffic reasons. The next to arrive was Richard Wetherall and you could almost hear a sigh of relief from the assembled jazz fans.

By the time Frank and Victor finally arrived at the (Count Basie) special time of 9-20, Ed and Richard had already played a duo version of Autumn Leaves and Frank apologising for the delayed start said "I’ll just have to play faster" joined them on a rousing work-out on Perdido. Halfway through they were joined by Victor who had been rapidly building his drum kit and things were back into quartet mode.

Frank next demonstrated his love of Ellington’s music by playing Sophisticated Lady and this I thought was one of the best renditions of this great ballad that I have heard since I started coming to the Railway. During this gig Frank mentioned the sad news of the death of tenor sax legend Pharoah Sanders. This made me think of the time I went to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and heard Sanders with his quartet for a memorable night of modern jazz. 

As well as Sanders, I think Frank may have listened a lot to Gene Ammons as his approach to the tunes played tonight had me thinking of the late Chicago tenorman.

We heard some great music tonight and one of the highlights for me was Frank's version of Bésame Mucho a number we heard only a week ago when trombonist Suzanne Fonseca used it as her closing number as she does on all her gigs. 

In spite of the shaky start this turned out to be one of the most enjoyable nights I’ve had this year so big thanks to all involved including the bar staff.

Next jazz night at the Railway is Tuesday Sept 27 with the Paul Hartley Quartet playing the music of Rodgers and Hart featuring Bryan Pendleton on piano. Mike Farmer

Autumn Leaves; Perdido; Sophisticated Lady; I’m Getting Sentimental Over You; In A Mellotone. Cottontail; Jody Grind; Una Mas; Bésame Mucho; Fungi Mama; One O' Clock Blues.