An Evening of Jazz @ St James' Church, Morpeth - June 28

Emily Masser (vocals); Edgar Ho (piano); Oscar Ho (double bass); Dave McKeague (drums) + Robin Forbes (MD); Ollie  Hall & Will Straughan (vocal duet); Kirsty McDowell (cello); Mid Northumberland Chorus

A summer's evening in Morpeth. A coffee, then a stroll over to St James' Church. The occasion? An Evening of Jazz. The Mid Northumberland Chorus and guests would perform to a full house, all pews occupied long before the scheduled start. At half past seven the chorus filed onto the stage. 

Bob Chilcott's A Little Jazz Mass opened the concert programme. The Chorus, Piano and Jazz Band. The 'Piano and Jazz Band' just happened to comprise Edgar Ho (piano), Oscar Ho (double bass) and Dave McKeague ('David' in the programme, it was a Sunday, after all)! The trio, plus guest, would form the centrepiece of both the first and second halves of the evening's concert programme.

'Jazz Trio featuring Emily Masser'...Del Sasser, then Everything Happens to Me, a superb Star Dust, concluding with The Boy Next Door. The Ho twins, heard most recently at Newcastle Arts Centre's Black Swan, really can play! Meeting Dave McKeague for the first time, the trio played as if a long-established unit. And then there was, of course, Emily Masser. Fresh (not!) from a long drive (Cornwall to Morpeth!), Emily sang her heart out. Fabulous.

An interval of twenty minutes or so, time to say 'hello' to Emily and Oscar, then they, the Mid Northumberland Chorus and jazz trio, were back at it. First, George Shearing's Songs and Sonnets, the trio sight reading their parts.

The evening's high point would feature four numbers: How High the Moon (Emily soaring through the register), A Foggy Day (Emily  knew this one inside out), Ruby, My Dear (our vocalist not so familiar with Monk's tune, singing it for the first time in public - bravo!), then the killer diller. Ray Noble's Cherokee, taken at a ridiculous tempo, was nothing short of WOW! WOW! WOW! Four fabulous musicians going for it. Sensational! It had been a canny night out in Morpeth.           

The concert programme: Chorus, Piano & Jazz Band: Bob Chilcott's A Little Jazz Mass; Jazz Trio feat. Emily Masser: Del Sasser, Everything Happens to Me, Star Dust, The Boy Next Door; Ollie Hall & Will Straughan: Well,  Did You Evah! (from High Society); Chorus & piano, Kirsty McDowell (solo cello): O Love; Chorus & piano, Ollie Hall & Will Straughan: Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat.

I

Interval.

The concert programme continued: Chorus & Jazz Band: George Shearing's Songs & Sonnets (words William Shakespeare); Jazz Trio feat. Emily Masser: How High the Moon, A Foggy Day, Ruby, My Dear, Cherokee; Chorus & piano: Hushabye Mountain (from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang); Chorus & piano: Ain't Gonna let Nobody Turn Me Around (trad., arr. Rollo Dilworth). Russell