Kind of Blue & a jam session @ Central Bar, Gateshead - Dec. 12

Pete Tanton (trumpet); Sue Ferris (alto sax, tenor sax); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums) + Ike Stow (trombone); Giles Strong (guitar)

Kind of Blue on a bitterly cold Monday evening. Freezing outside and, to be honest, not much warmer inside, the lure was the rare opportunity to hear the Central Bar Quintet 'play through' perhaps the most famous LP and, to this day, probably the biggest selling jazz album of all time. The ace rhythm section - Messrs Alan Law (Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly), Mick Shoulder (Paul Chambers) and John Bradford (Jimmy Cobb) - would provide the foundation for the modal frontline of Pete Tanton (Miles Davis) and Sue Ferris (John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley). 

That's one helluva star-studded line-up, isn't it? Pete, Sue, Alan, Mick and John! And off they went, as per the Columbia recording, with So What. Mick getting his head and fingers round the instantly recognisable bass line, Pete coming in right on cue, as Milesian as you're likely to hear. Open horn or tightly muted, Pete's playing couldn't be bettered. Freddie Freeloader with Sue on alto (Cannonball), Pete sublime on Blue in Green, we were right there, 1959. 

Sue blew the alto sax blues on All Blues, fantastic! And then, to take it out, Flamenco Sketches. A little over one hour, the audience as attentive as it was possible to be, it had been a treat. 

Interval, colder than cold, it looked as though second set sitters-in would be thin on the (icy) ground. 

Ike Stow threw his hat into the ring calling Frankie and Johnny. Bold 'bone from the lanky enthusiast, staying on for Dark Eyes and Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. Giles Strong dropped by, Ralph Rainger's If I Should Lose You his first selection followed by I'll Remember April. Guitar playing of the highest order, whenever Giles is next in concert, be sure to be there. Gateshead's Central Bar on Half Moon Lane, second Monday in the month, it's the place to be. The Central Bar Quintet will be giving January a miss, the next session - put it in your 2023 diary - will be on Monday February 13. Russell