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| (© Jeff Pritchard) |
Tonight the spotlight was on the vocal talents of Emily Masser who happens to be the daughter of saxophonist Dean, a familiar figure to those who are regular attendees here at the Railway, a venue that rarely features singers. For this gig, Dean assembled an excellent backing group and, once again, the house piano was used to good effect by Robin Dewhurst a musician who always produces interesting solos.
On bass was Steve Berry who I don’t recall seeing at this venue before but I remember, back in the day, when I made an occasional visit to the Rhythm Station in Rawtenstall, he was the resident bassman and he was also part of that iconic and unusual big band Loose Tubes. The drummer tonight, Gaz Hughes, did a great job of making things swing and he is rapidly becoming well known throughout the UK due to extensive touring with his own trio.
The tunes that Emily chose were, in the main, standards all done at up or medium tempo with the exception of Billie’s Bounce and the closing Monk tune Straight No Chaser. One thing I noticed was that there were no ballads in the set list but, as this was the final jazz session before the Xmas break, we did get Emily’s interpretation of Mel Tormé's Christmas Song.
No gig seems to be complete these days without a bossa nova and I liked her rendition of No More Blues another tune that has suddenly become popular again in jazz circles. Emily did well on her debut appearance and although I’m not the world’s greatest authority on jazz singers I found her voice very pleasing and I hope she enjoyed the favourable reception she received.
A Merry Xmas to you all and a happy jazz-filled New Year. Mike Farmer
If I Were A Bell; East of the Sun; But Not For Me; Billie’s Bounce; How Deep Is The Ocean?; There Will Never be Another You; The Man I Love; A Foggy Day; No More Blues; Bye Bye Blackbird; Christmas Song; Straight no Chaser.
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