Another trip up into the
hills for what is Coquetdale Jazz’s 10th gig. I hope they have reached that point
where sustainability looks more likely than not. A programme so far of high
quality gigs by reasonably local musicians has the support of Rothbury
residents, a few incomers and the musicians themselves.
For tonight’s outing three past/present members of the Strictly Smokin’ Big Band and two or three friends old and older crammed themselves into the corner of the Newcastle House’s dining room and proceeded to try and blow the doors off. I can’t remember the last time I was at such a good natured, good humoured gig. The only lowlight being the point in the second set when my chair started to come from together and I wasn’t far from dancing with my heels in the air.
The music ranged through Cuba and Brazil via New York and Rothbury itself as the band essayed a collection of bop, post-bop and Latin grooves with a couple of more melancholy Roy Hargrove pieces added to the mix. Steve Summers really loves his Latin and covers of tunes by Paquito D’Riviera and Hermeto Pascoal along with a Portuguese piece, Aqeuelos Coisa Todas, and Hank Mobley’s Recoda Bossa Nova were the perfect antidote to the bleak, dreek night without. Summers is a forceful saxophonist, rarely straying from a template of full voiced blowing with more complex runs mixed in with the gale force approach.
Tanton excels on bluesy flugelhorn and sharp notes intended to strip the paint off the walls. It’s a big sound for such a small room. He and Summers frequently featured on some excellent unison blowing which took the excitement up to another level and it was interesting, at other times to hear them play together, or pursuing separate lines, challenging and complementing the other’s solos.
Law, once he’d returned from a pre-gig wander
round the town, contributed some lovely soloing, dealing enthusiastically with
whatever rhythms came his way, vamping behind the solos and pushing them all
on. Robertson was solid at the back and Whent’s electric bass seemed to hold it
all together.
They played some more
modern pieces by Joshua Redman, Donny McCaslin, John Scofield, Michael Brecker and
others as well as a couple by Summers himself, including one that was written
on a piano in Rothbury, a town he knows fondly. The newer pieces contributed
differences in tone and atmosphere and helped to give fuller shape to the
evening, demanding more concentration than the joyous Latin explosions.
An encore of folk song The Rothbury Hills as a “mangled jazz
waltz” (according to Summers) helped ease us all down. It was a good natured,
late night piece, an affirmation of the simpler blessings of life. Dave Sayer
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