The Panharmonia Quartet @ The Exchange, North Shields - April 9

Keith Barratt (guitar); Alan Law (piano); Andrew Porritt (double bass); John AC Allen (drums)

Panharmonia's horns were indisposed, pianist Alan Law stepped in, and a new drummer was making his debut with the band. To paraphrase bandleader Keith Barratt, 'the show must go on', and go on it did. The Exchange's impending changes made for an interesting Easter Sunday evening, although the Panharmonia Quartet didn't allow uncertainty about the venue's future to affect the performance.

In the absence of the Findens (Panharmonia's horn players) the band's original material was set aside in favour of tried-and-tested standards. Guitarist Barratt and bassist Andrew Porritt, joined by Alan Law and newbie, drummer John AC Allen, opened with There Will Never Be Another You. The acoustics aren't the best in the bar, drummer Allen, somewhat hemmed in on the raised stage with its low ceiling, soon got to grips with the situation, and, all things considered, the quartet produced two excellent sets of bebop-infused numbers. 

From time to time Barratt played fingerstyle, similarly, on occasion, Allen used brushes to good effect. Andrew Porritt's rock solid bass lines impressed (an excellent solo on Sonny Rollins' Pent Up House), as did Alan Law's all round contribution with a series of fine solos, not least on Sacha Distel's The Good Life. Russell            

Set list: There Will Never Be Another You; Softly, As in a Sunrise; Bye Bye Blackbird; A Night in Tunisia; The Old Country; Bebop; ?; Lullaby of Birdland; Watch What Happens; Pent Up House; The Good Life; You'd be so Nice to Come Home To.