Newcastle Central Station. Wednesday evening, sometime after nine. Walking through the door into an otherwise deserted portico, someone was playing the station's piano. Recently re-sited from the main concourse to a quiet corner in the portico, the Challen upright was being played as never before.
Standing a respectful distance behind our pianist, this was some playing! Who could it be? An established name, perhaps? Was he waiting for a train? Central Station's piano hadn't encountered a pianist like this guy before, that's for sure! Hunched over, backpack at his feet, our unidentified pianist was digging deep into an Evans-to-Jarrett improvisation. The thought occurred that someone should offer the man a gig!
After a while, our man stopped, looked around and beamed a smile. Hey, Joel! A handshake, it had been a while. Back in the day, the old 'Caff' on Pink Lane (one minute's walk from Central Station) was a regular jam session haunt for a young, still-at-school Joel Brown. Leaving school, Joel went travelling (West Africa). That was pre-Covid, and this evening's chance encounter was the first time BSH had seen or heard anything of him for quite a while. Sadly, we won't be hearing Joel play piano at the Black Swan jam session any time soon, our man was waiting for a train... Russell
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