Jiannis Pavlidis (guitar); Sam Quintana (bass); Dave Walsh (drums)
The Hellenic sounds of Greek born and Stockholm bred, Jiannis Pavlidis and his trio reverberated heroically at the Heron Theatre on Saturday November 16. Nestled near to the A6 in Beetham at the point where Lancashire merges into Cumbria the Heron seats 70 punters with a decent sized stage and even has a “steam” piano parked nearby, if so required.
The trio performed largely jazz and songbook standards in equal measure. These included Horace Silver’s Peace, Shorter’s Ana Maria, Bill Evans' Nardis and Miles’ Solar. All of which peppered with Pavlidis’ unique and colourful treatments. In addition, Jaco’s Three Views of a Secret had the bassist handling the melodic chores on what turned out to be an epic journey on this multi faceted opus. The concert concluded with a bracing up-tempo romp of Coltrane’s 1957 classic, Moment's Notice. Not for widows and orphans this, the trio prevailed and scored winningly.
Lancs born and bred drummer, Dave Walsh, posed an ideal foil to the leader’s fleet guitar with his lightly and politely percussive tapping creating unique grooves de jour at the whim of what the music required. Dave’s natural ebullience, goading the players and audience alike, went a long way to spreading plenty of joy and positivity throughout the lower Cumbria environs. Leeds-based bassist, Sam Quintana, sported a measured poise throughout with his many profound and melodic solos.
Jiannis’ frequent
announcements were endearing in their wandering, free association adventurousness
which always managed to conclude (eventually) on a positive note. This was
especially welcome and effective in the intimate, low key ambience and
receptive confines of the Heron Theatre.
Jazz at The Heron,
indeed, and let’s have more of this please.
For more information,
logon to jiannispavlidis.com.
There will be more jazz at The Heron on March 22, 2025 with the Frank Griffith Quartet on a programme entitled “Jazz Springs to Mind” Frank
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