Brundibár Arts Festival: jazz from the Warsaw Ghetto @ The Globe - Jan. 26

(© Pam)

Emma Fisk (violin); Jamie McCredie (piano);  Faye MacCalman (tenor sax, clarinet); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone); Andy Champion (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums)

Brundibár is Tyneside's annual showcase of music associated with the Holocaust years. Music composed and or performed before, during and after the period would feature across two sets at an expectant Globe on Railway Street in Newcastle. Trombonist Jason Holcomb researched the material and on the evening adopted the role of MC. In deference to those present with a greater knowledge of the subject, Holcomb would frequently check that his pronunciation of names and place names was somewhere near the mark. 

(© Pam)

As I Got Rhythm got things underway it quickly became apparent that this Brundibár Arts Festival event would be accessible to all. Foxtrots (The Merry Foxtrot, J. Kagan), Weintraub's Syncopators, tangos (Polish composer Jerzy Petersburski featured), Tin Pan Alley, WWII (Django and Stéphane), all would play a part in Holcomb's unfolding narrative. The Hot Club element featured Emma Fisk (Nuages, with its superb cadenza, Minor Swing), Jamie McCredie as Django (and much more during the evening) with string bass maestro Andy Champion playing as brilliantly as always.

The horns (Graham Hardy, trumpet, Faye MacCalman, tenor sax, clarinet, and trombonist Holcomb) more than did the job as a section and as soloists. The evening's finale featured drummer Abbie Finn on a rip-roaring Sing, Sing, Sing. Prolonged applause won an encore with the ensemble reprising I Got Rhythm.  Russell