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| (© Sheila Herrick) |
Dean Stockdale (piano); Jamie Taylor (guitar); Andy Champion (double bass); Gaz Hughes (drums)
Dean Stockdale's 'Celebrating Oscar' set has been touring the length and breadth of Britain, Ireland, London, Paris and beyond. This evening the quartet returned to the region to play two sets of first class, swinging jazz. Busy gig diaries brought about two changes to the usual line-up - guitarist Jamie Taylor drove up from Sheffield to not only play the gig but meet bandleader Stockdale for the first time (!) and local hero Andy Champion stepped in on bass. As deps go, none finer.
From Blues Etude through to C Jam Blues it was to be an evening of musical excellence. Have You Met Miss Jones? featured Jamie Taylor. A scribbled note read 'Wow!'. It was as if our man had been in the band all along, great playing. The depping Andy Champion produced several 'Wow!' moments, nothing new there.
Gaz Hughes travelled over from west of the Pennines to play the gig. Drummer Hughes is what you could call a 'listening drummer', all night long making incisive yet sensitive contributions. And then there was bandleader Dean Stockdale, 'Celebrating Oscar' is his project and it's a winner. An excellent pianist, rather than attempting to sound like a clone of the late, great Canadian, Stockdale is his own man, putting his own stamp on the material.
Norrie's Nocturne, Nigerian Marketplace, Old Folks into Wheatland and a rousing C Jam Blues, each and every number a sheer delight. The set fizzed when 'fizz' was required, it swung (after all, we were 'Celebrating Oscar'!) and the collective sensitivity of four top class musicians made this a gig to remember. Russell
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