Abbie Finn (drums); Harry Keeble (tenor sax); Paul Grainger (double bass)
On Pink Lane is where it all began. In pre-pandemic times Abbie Finn wandered into the then Jazz Café (now Prohibition Bar) to sit-in at one of the regular jam sessions organised by bassist Paul Grainger. The Leeds College of Music alumnus duly sat-in, sometime later fellow student Harry Keeble would accompany Abbie at one of the jam session nights, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The Abbie Finn Trio comprises band leader Finn (drums), Keeble (tenor sax) and bassist Paul Grainger. On Pink Lane is the trio's latest recording and all of its nine tracks are compositions and arrangements by the award-winning Finn. Many/most of the numbers were road-tested at gigs before Finn booked studio time at Blank Studios in Newcastle. The material ranges from robust tenor saxophone workouts to in-and-out of swing-time numbers to familiar-sounding tunes. The title track (track two) with its swing-time sections and extended bass solo has a curious/infectious Scottish lilt about it. So It's True is an earworm number (one of several on the album), hear the hook, the authoritative tenor playing and Finn's drum solo and it's all but impossible to dismiss!
Keeble's old school tenor sax introduces the ballad form of Mirador de Los Poleos, bassist Grainger solos, the track a further example of Finn's compositions often sounding ever-so familiar yet distinctly from the pen of A. Finn. Big Old Spice Cabinet, hinting at a Latin feel, features Keeble's turbo-charged tenor playing, it's one of the album's many highlights. On Pink Lane's fifty three minutes' playing time concludes with Jazz the Cat. The title alone is a winner and the album itself, On Pink Lane, is most definitely a winner. Recommended. Russell
On Pink Lane is available from: www.abbiefinn.com.
Track listing: North Sea Wind; On Pink Lane; The Warren, So It's True; The Labyrinth; Mirador de Los Poleos; A Real Job; Big Old Spice Cabinet; Jazz the Cat.
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