Paul Hartley Quartet featuring Alex Clarke @ the Railway Stockport - March 28

(© Jeff Pritchard)

Paul Hartley (guitar); Alex Clarke (alto sax/tenor sax); Peter Hartley (bass); Dave Walsh (drums).

Most of the tunes played tonight were ones that have been played at this venue many times apart from I’ve Never Been in Love Before, a great number written by Frank Loesser for the hit show Guys and Dolls in 1950. I think I’ve heard Cannonball Adderley play this on record or maybe it was Phil Woods.  Tuesday nights usually attract a good sized crowd and they got to hear the rest of Alex’s selection which included tunes by Clifford Brown, Bob Haggart, Naceo Herb Brown, Carlos Jobim, Jerome Kern, Hoagy Carmichael, and Sonny Rollins.

Paul’s son Peter was for the first time at the Railway trying out a new triangular upright bass and he sounded pretty good on it, establishing a close rapport with drummer Dave Walsh. Most of the tunes that I thought worked best were played on tenor sax with Alex getting a powerful sound on the larger horn and I liked what she did on What's New? a great ballad composed by bass player Bob Haggart. I wonder if Alex has heard Dexter Gordon’s version of this number on the Jazz Icons DVD. This tune was also in the repertoire of the Max Roach Quintet and was recorded a few times when Sonny Rollins was in the band.

Alex sounded impressive on the opening Kern standard All the Things You Are which featured her forceful alto style and she certainly knows how to get a good sound on both horns. The finale was a fiery rendition of Sonny Rollins’s Oleo and everyone seemed highly delighted with what proved to be another great evening of swinging jazz.

The next jazz evening at the Railway will be Sunday April 2 with the Dean Stockdale Quartet. Mike Farmer

All the Things You Are; Body and Soul; Alone Together; What’s New?; You Stepped Out of a Dream; Sandu; I’ve Never Been in Love Before; Desifinado; Soon; Skylark; Oleo.