Sunday night @ the Globe: Guido Spannocchi Quartet - May 5

© Ken Drew

Guido Spannocchi (alto sax); Danny Keane (piano); John Pope (bass); Steve Hanley (drums)

The moral of the story re last night's gig at the Globe is that, just as you can't judge a book by its cover, nor can you judge a band by listening to a few bars on YouTube.

I made just such an error of perception when I concluded it was going to be a long haul until the final coda.

I was wrong - boy was I wrong and I'm delighted to admit it! Pass me my suit of sackcloth and ashes.

After the recent surfeit of top class tenor players: Watson, Themen, Gould, Keeble and Teimoori it was good, despite my initial reservations, to here some very fine alto playing.

I wasn't familiar with the name Spannocchi - it sounded Italian but was in fact Austrian - however, the sounds that came out of the alto were truly international.

Pianist Keane and Spannocchi are longtime musical partners whereas Pope and Hanley were first time deps and yet they gelled as if they'd been with the quartet longer than Hodges and Carney were with Ellington.

© Ken Drew

A programme of originals by the London based man from Vienna kept the deps and the audience on their toes and, as far as I could detect, not a contrafact among them apart from the swinging Uphill Blues. The leader gave each tune a verbal explanation of the inspiration behind the title. My personal favourite was A Walk in Yoyogi Park which, it seems, is a park in Tokyo where various artists did 'their thing' on a Sunday - a bit like it used to be in Jesmond Dene and Armstrong Bridge - culminating in a jam session involving the many different cultural genres. This was brilliantly evoked as the composition unfolded.

A beautiful tone throughout the range of the instrument and beyond, executed with a jaw-dropping (mine) technique. This was my kind of alto playing. At one stage he removed the mouthpiece and blew air into the instrument which is a bit like trying to eat a biscuit sans teeth. In truth that particular bit did nothing for me or the music.

As always, John Pope is the man for all seasons and once gain he was outstanding. Equally outstanding was pianist Keane. At times melodic and sensitive, at other times ferocious and aggressive but always au fait with what's needed. Hanley, a not infrequent visitor to the north east, kept the fire burning with his powerful drumming - just perfect for the music.

Did I say it would be a long haul? It flew past. If you missed it, and a few did, get yourself over to Manchester where they are gigging tonight at the Carlton Club. Lance