This afternoon in sunny Hexham, following three duo gigs, Vasilis Xenopoulos and Paul Edis met up with Ken Marley and Russ Morgan to play the first of two quartet gigs. Queen's Hall Arts Centre's monthly Sunday afternoon concert series is going from strength to strength and, sure enough, the appearance of Vasilis and Paul attracted a large crowd.
Library books as a backdrop, the quartet opened with Going Home. Vasilis, Paul, Ken and Russ weren't going anywhere, at least not for now. Across three concerts on Friday and Saturday, pianist Paul had the luxury of playing an acoustic piano. This afternoon, it was a case of 'make do' with a Casio keyboard. Vasilis didn't require a mic, his tenor projecting to the back of the room for all to hear.
Much of the material heard here in Hexham was given an airing over the previous 48 hours. Three concerts in, to these ears, the compositions were beginning to sound somewhat familiar. Edis' The Coast, Xenopoulos' The Yard (Paul Edis' backyard the inspiration), a tumultuous Awaiting Boarding (bass and drums adding an extra dimension), all played with panache, and to think Ken and Russ had little or no time to get to grips with the charts. Excellent.
Edis' Mikey's Samba featured Xenopoulos' flute, Memories of Home tugged at Xenopoulos' heartstrings, and Edis' late-night composition (composed late at night!) Coming Home to You, took it down a notch before the finale. The now familiar Cole Porter contrafact, with its abundance of quotes (some of them so fleeting they were gone, up there, somewhere in the ether), sent us on our way. Russell
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