Sunday night @ the Globe: Zhenya Strigalev 2025 Quartet - March 9

© Ken Drew

Zhenya Strigalev (tenor sax); Ivo Neame (piano); Ewan Hastie (bass); Harvel Nakundi (drums)

One of my better birthdays  maybe the best as, having had quite a few of them, I know what I'm talking about. Cards, a cake with a candle, convivial company and a mindblowing quartet, all contributed to make last night a memorable one - particularly the four musicians on stage .

Having seen Strigalev at the Globe back in July, 2016 I had an idea what to expect and I got it and more - much more.

The opener, Fishing in Plymouth (I think) had a quirky theme that meandered and exploded then meandered off again. The effect was that of four musicians looking for a band and meeting each other along the way. piano and drums, sax and bass, bass and drums with all eventually getting together in a glorious technicolour of sound driven to the brink by Nakundi who's got the technique of Buddy Rich, Art Blakey, Philly Joe, Elvin and a military drum corps combined. Things must be quiet in Miami when he's out of town.

© Ken Drew

American Patrol initially took a few Strigalev first-timers by surprise. However, it soon became obvious that this American patrol wasn't a platoon of GIs in neatly pressed khaki uniforms marching on the parade ground under the watchful eye of James Stewart but a battlescarred unit fighting in a Pacific combat zone so that future generations of Americans would be free to vote for Donald Trump - twice!

Strigalev can finger as fast as the fleetest of  saxophonists but it's his tonal variations that make him unique. The sound often varies from a pre-war dance band vibrato to the wildest outpourings of Ayler, Lloyd or Trane and all within the space of a few bars - incredible!

Neame has long been an influential player both as an experimentalist and a straight ahead swinger. We heard both aspects of his playing and a few more in between.

In Ewan Hastie we have all that is good about the Scottish jazz scene and none of the over pretentious stuff that sometimes sneaks in over Hadrian's Wall.

I didn't catch the names of the originals but they were all first class as were the standards.

Shiny Stockings, What's New? and Moonlight in Vermont were all updated to maybe the next century or two and nobody complained. Everyone seemed to be on a high - it was that kind of night and even the impenetrable fog - a real pea-souper' - that had descended didn't dampen our spirits as we floated home. Lance.