James Borland (trumpet); Nick Manz (keyboards); Ben Love (double bass); Kai Chareunsy (drums) + Joe Steels (guitar)
Sunday Jazz at Queen's Hall is going great guns. Audience numbers are holding up, if not increasing, the concerts a mix of musicians based in the region or drawn from further afield, with this afternoon's guests sharing one thing in common - the 'Birmingham Connection'.
All four musicians, make that five with the inclusion of Sunday Jazz promoter Joe Steels, studied - and in some cases met - at Birmingham Conservatoire. Three of the quartet are currently based in London, drummer Kai Chareunsy opting to remain in 'Brum'. Across the course of two sets the audience listened to several of bandleader James Borland's compositions alongside a couple of standards.
New Day, followed by Same Sky were from trumpeter Borland's live album Looking Backwards, Moving Forwards, recorded live at Birmingham's 1000 Trades venue. Borland, in possession of a fearless, cast iron technique, stood out front, very much the bandleader. It was immediately apparent 'old school' paper charts were nowhere to be seen, similarly, iPads were conspicuous by their absence. How could these guys play Borland's tunes, plus a couple of standards, without having to read the dots? More than impressive!
Pianist Nick Manz we knew about (a 2022 BBC Young Musician of the Year finalist) and drummer Kai Chareunsy had been 'up north' just a few short years ago with Francis Tulip. That left Borland and bassist Ben Love as the unknown quantities. Two or three numbers into the first set, that was more than enough to know these guys could play! And the fifth member of the quartet, if you will, Joe Steels, we knew could play (twenty four hours earlier Steels tore it up at the Newcastle Jazz Festival), Borland inviting Steels to join the quartet on a couple of numbers - again, no charts, no iPads. Marvellous.
Duke's Dream (Borland's contrafact of It Don't Mean a Thing), Monk's Ask Me Now, yes, these guys could play alright. Four fine musicians playing some great stuff, as the title of James Borland's album suggests, they were Looking Backwards, Moving Forwards. Russell
Set list: New Day; Same Sky; Pride; Every Time We Say Goodbye; Duke's Dream; Everything I Love; Dawn; Ask Me Now; Desire; Home.
No comments :
Post a Comment