Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ the Globe, Newcastle - Oct. 16

(© Ken Drew)

Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax, flute); Paul Edis (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Steve Hanley (drums) + Ferg Kilsby (trumpet, flugel).

The fourth and final chapter of this ongoing north east saga drew to a close at the Globe where a goodly throng were witness to what most, indeed probably all, rated as the gig of the year so far.

Having read my worthy constituent's glowing reviews of the previous three gigs I felt complacent. This will be easy. I'll just steal a sentence or two here and there, shuffle them around a bit then job well done!

However, as in all good stories there's always an unexpected twist in the final chapter. We all know that the boy will get the girl and the killer will be unmasked but which boy and which villain did the dastardly deed? As they say in grand opera, it isn't over until the fat lady sings.

(© Ken Drew)

The fat lady in this case turned out to be neither fat nor a lady but the slim 17-years-old trumpet player from local band Knats - Ferg Kilsby - blowing some of the hottest trumpet on Tyneside since the days of Mike Gilby. More on this young man later.

Most of the first set and some of the second consisted of numbers played on the previous gigs and based, sometimes deviously, around the theme of 'home'.

(© Ken Drew)

Vasi was simply tremendous, as we've come to expect ever since he first showed on Tyneside in 2008. Back then I came up with the heading Be Aware of Greeks Blowing Riffs. I think everybody's aware of this particular Grecian saxophone god by now! The technique and the tone are modern albeit not without some olde school gutsiness when playing a blues. And when it comes to playing a ballad, outside of Peggy Lee's legendary vocal masterpiece, I doubt if you'll ever hear a better version of The Folks Who Live on the Hill.

He went into Coltranic territory when he played curved soprano - an instrument that is always more sympathetic to my ears than the straight version. The flute didn't project quite as well as his other horns but that could have been due to monitoring problems. Still sounded good though.

Paul Edis - what can I say? He never fails to impress either as a player, a composer or as a raconteur. It was in this latter category that, during some waffle about a raffle, he drew attention to the fact that the Globe didn't have a raffle which in many instances is the difference between life and death for a lot of jazz clubs. Given the large attendance last night the coffers could have been swelled handsomely for the small expense (or donation) of a book of verse, a jug of wine and a thou (or maybe a packet of biscuits). 

The bass and drums pairing of Champion and Hanley worked a treat. The former is comparable with any bass player in the UK maybe beyond whilst the latter's amazing brush solo on Edis' Mikey's Samba proved that drummers too have feelings.

(© Ken Drew)

Which brings us to the fat lady singing. As stated earlier Ferg isn't a lady and whilst he may not be fat, fat could be appropriate as on the final Dexterology, Vasi's tribute to Dexter Gordon, Ferg had a tone that brought to mind Fats Navarro (along with Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard). This young man will go far. He confessed earlier to being, shall we say nervous? However, once the chips were down any apprehension vanished and he proved he was Premier League material. 

As Paul Skerritt sang at the Westovian last week this was Such a Night, it really was! Lance