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| © Russell |
Ben Shankland opened the 2023 Newcastle Jazz Festival. The Globe hosted the event, it was an unqualified success, and now, two years on, pianist Shankland returned to the Railway Street venue with his top notch trio. Shankland and award-winning bassist Ewan Hastie were the returnees, drummer Jonathan Silk the one change to the earlier line-up.
In front of a select audience (we all know what 'select' means in a jazz gig context!), Shankland's trio would play two sets of largely original material with two or three standards thrown in for good measure. The opening Shankland compositions (three of them - variously, scorching and balladic) were shot through with Monk and Bird.
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| © Sheila Herrick |
Ben Shankland cuts a quiet figure. On stage this evening, the same quiet, if not shy, character communicated with his fellow award-winning musicians with little more than a glance, a nod would have been too demonstrative for the 2023 BBC Radio Scotland Young Jazz Musician of the Year. The trio's second set featured The Road Ahead and several other Shankland compositions, standing comparison with two standards - I'm All Smiles and Everybody's Song but My Own.
The Ben Shankland Trio is deserving of a wider public. Let's hope the next time Shankland is in town he will be met with a full house.
The Jazz Co-op's Dave Parker introduced the Ben Shankland Trio, and in so doing, dedicated this evening's concert to the memory of Dave Clarke. Russell
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