 |
| (© Ken Drew) |
Jazz North East returned to the upstairs room at the Globe on Sunday night to mixed feelings about the choice of performance area. A full house meant that rather than the more relaxed club setting with tables, the audience was tightly packed in rows of seats with wriggle room at a premium. Added to this, the lack of draught beer in the upstairs bar meant the social experience was not as good as it might have been.
However, the acoustics of the room and the intimacy of the setting made the musical experience far more fulfilling so I guess it’s a case of swings and roundabouts and anyway as the late great Ronnie Scott used to say ‘Quiet please you not here to enjoy yourselves’.
Enjoy ourselves we did as the trio conjured up two highly accomplished sets of improvised jazz.
The trio seemed to blend seamlessly and it was impossible to spot the joins as the music ebbed and flowed from hard driving bursts to lyrical romantic ones with everything else in between. Within the first couple of minutes Sanders gave notice of the shape of things to come with a brilliant opening solo. His drumming seems effortless despite constantly producing driving and creative percussion without ever seeming to break into a sweat.
Brice seemed to be in his element conjuring wonderful rhythms and sounds and incorporating the bow to great effect.
Vicente was a revelation playing throughout the entire evening. The only time the trumpet wasn’t in action were a couple of brief interludes when he gave a whistle and a wooden pipe a bit of a blow. The ranges of style and sounds he deployed was mesmeric aided by a tableful of various types of mute. Thrilling trills followed by breathy toots as sounds and moods revolved around the room.
Quite obviously all three performers were masters of their craft but it was as an improvising ensemble that they really shone. A great start to the year for Jazz North East. Steve H
2 comments :
a car crash
Excellent review of a brilliant gig!
Pam and Dave
Post a Comment