JazzMain @ JATLP, Newcastle - Feb. 21

© Patti

Nick Gould (tenor sax); Steve Grossart (piano); Iain Harkness (bass guitar); Kevin Dorrian (drums) 

Edinburgh based JazzMain are no strangers to Newcastle having played the Newcastle Jazz Festival and the Globe on more than one occasion. However, I suspect that the majority of the audience today at the monthly Jazz at the Lit & Phil session were hearing JazzMain for the first time. They were in for a treat!

Although a set list was provided in the program, Nick Gould started his introduction by saying they would probably play what they felt as they went along. Given that they have been playing together, in his words, since ‘the last century’, I had no doubt that we were going to listen to an hour of four consummate musicians enjoying themselves.

© Patti

Ballads  followed bossa novas, jazz standards followed relatively unknown pieces, all played with verve and panache. It’s impossible to pick out any solo or any member of the band to credit individually. It was all great! The  sold out audience received it with enthusiasm and at the end, a queue formed to buy the CDs available.

JazzMain’s next trip down the A1 will be to the Globe later this year. They said that they are looking forward to it. Me too!

We heard (in no particular order): Darn That Dream; Simone; Recado Bossa Nova;  Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most; Angel Eyes (with a blistering change of tempo and impressive solos from all four musicians); and Cheese Cake as well as two numbers whose titles escaped me. Sylvia