Dean was here recently as a sideman with the Ben Crossland Quartet but tonight he was leading his own unit who were all excellent musicians and who did a fine job of playing his arrangements.
Dean started the concert with that familiar standard Have You Met Miss Jones? and that was followed by another standard I always like to hear, Falling in Love With Love. There was something for every taste in Dean’s selection including bebop themes, ballads, standards, and a couple of his own compositions Mia’s Lullaby and Elaine.
Guitarist Williams was using a more attacking approach than on previous visits and he made each note count during his many solos. He certainly went down well with the Sunday night regulars.
Gavin Barras was taking care of things on bass and he was featured extensively on Polka Dots And Moonbeams as well as on Stella By Starlight. The latter theme was given an out of tempo treatment by Dean which I thought worked well.
Gaz Hughes, well known in in the north from his many visits to that area, did some creative things in the drum department and he handled the tempo changes with ease.
The evening ended with Dean's version of Night Train a blues written by tenorman Jimmy Forrest who I recall playing in Stockport with trombonist Al Grey at the Warren Bulkley Jazz Cellar just down the road from the Railway.
The next jazz night at the Railway is Tuesday April 4 with the Ed Kainyek Quartet. Mike Farmer
Have You Met Miss Jones?; Falling in Love With Love; Joy Spring; Bossa Beguine; Mia’s Lullaby; Nobody Else But me; Anthropology; Elaine; Out of Nowhere; Polka Dots and Moonbeams; Stella by Starlight; Night Train.
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