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| (© Jeff Pritchard) |
This gig was supposed to be a quartet led by bass player Dave Lynane but due to illness Grant Russell stepped in as a last minute replacement. The room was filling up nicely by 9:00pm and after a brief introduction Al Wood got things off to a great start with an uptempo version of Irving Berlin’s Cheek to Cheek, a number that always makes me think of Phil Woods and his superb LP Live at the Showcase which I used to have in my record collection.
I liked all the tunes that Al selected and they covered a wide range of composers including Buddy Johnson, Bernie Miller, Lester Young, Benny Carter, Duke Jordan, Sonny Rollins, and Dizzy Gillespie. If your taste in alto sax players includes Phil Woods, Art Pepper and Cannonball Adderley, you are sure to like Al Wood who I daresay has listened a lot to these legends. I always like to hear tunes that I’ve never heard before and one of these was a blues in F by Gerry Mulligan entitled Blue by Blue. St Thomas is a number more often done by tenor players so I found Al’s version an interesting take on Rollins' classic calypso.
During the second set I was pleased to hear that Martin Longhawn was to be featured on Body and Soul and he really sounded like he knew what he was doing and throughout the evening he was most impressive on what was I think his second appearance at this venue. Grant Russell received much applause for his basswork and Dave Hassell who is well known throughout the UK for his work in education did some excellent brushwork on one of my favourite ballads Moonlight in Vermont, an early hit for Stan Getz and Johnny Smith many moons ago. The final tune was Gillespie’s Groovin’ High a good number to end a gig with and lets hope they all come back real soon. I usually mention who is playing next at the Railway but at the moment that is listed as TBA but on Sunday Jan 22 they have trumpeter Neil Yates with his Quartet. Mike Farmer
Cheek to Cheek; Save Your Love For Me; Blue by Blue; Moonlight in Vermont; Jordu; Tickletoe; When Lights Are Low; Bernie’s Tune; Body and Soul; St Thomas; Groovin’ High.
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