Saturday evening's headliners brought a touch of Charles Mingus to Hexham. Mingus Sings is bassist Arnie Somogyi's tip of the hat to the great American bassist, composer and occasional pianist. The 'Sings' element introduced Danish vocalist Sara Oschlag to a north east audience.
The house lights dimmed, there would be no introduction, simply the strains of Wednesday Evening Prayer Meeting signalling the beginning of an hour of Mingus. Throughout the one hour performance, soaring soprano vocals twinned with Alan Barnes' soaring alto sax made for impassioned sections, ably supported by a stellar rhythm comprising pianist Tim Lapthorn, bassist and bandleader Somogyi and drummer Clark Tracey.
Somogyi addressed the Queen's Hall audience saying the vocal parts were very challenging. To these ears, that sounded about right. Oschlag appeared to be right at home singing the material. Barnes, of course, can handle anything thrown his way, and a journey from the south coast (the previous evening AB was gigging in Hove) up to Northumberland appeared to have no detrimental effects on his playing. Question: Does Alan Barnes ever fail to deliver the goods? Answer: No.
Introducing Mingus' Slippers, Somogyi cautioned it wouldn't be a laid back number. Slippers are made for pottering about, Mingus' Slippers could have been titled Running Shoes or Spikes such was the tempo. All survived an exhilarating ride - musicians and audience. As time was almost up, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat made the set list, a tune for some in the audience to hang their hat on, perhaps Mingus' most familiar composition.
Set list included: Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting; Strollin'; Duke Ellington's Sound of Love; Slippers; Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.
Earlier, Dean Stockdale's 'Celebrating Oscar' set enthralled the Northumberland Jazz Festival audience. Less than twenty four hours earlier, pianist Stockdale, guitarist Tim Williams, bassist Gavin Barras and drummer Gaz Hughes were in Durham to play an almost exact same set - the one change to this evening's set list being the addition of Have You Met Miss Jones?
In this, the centenary year of the birth of Oscar Peterson (b. 15.8.1925), there can be few, if any, finer pianist's than Stockdale paying homage to the legendary Canadian pianist. The quartet boasts a settled line-up, and the show has attracted full houses throughout the land and beyond (Belfast, Dublin, Paris and, most recently, Brussels).
Noreen's Nocturne tested the stamina of both musicians and audience, Wheatland painted pictures in the mind's eye of prairies above a big sky, and the winning set-closer, Night Train won sustained applause.
Set list: Blues Etude; Falling in Love with Love; Bossa Beguine; Have You Met Miss Jones?; Noreen's Nocturne; Wheatland; Night Train.
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