It's a regular occurrence for a queue to form outside Cluny 2 long before the doors open. This evening it was unusually quiet on Lime Street. On entering the subterranean venue it was somewhat surprising to see the floor space devoid of seating - cabaret style-layout or otherwise. As the punters began to arrive most of them made a beeline for the tiered seating at the back of the room.
We were there to listen to the Dave Bristow Quintet. It's one thing to check out musicians online, it's another thing altogether to hear them live, in concert. As Bristow's Paris-based quintet walked out onto the stage, would the gulf of some ten metres between musician and listener skew the experience?
Roy Hargrove's I'm Not So Sure for starters. And what a start! Blistering! Absolutely blistering! Scrambling desperately to process what we had just heard, bandleader Bristow hit us with Rauschenberg, the first of several startlingly good original compositions. Rauschenberg? Perhaps something to do with pop artist Robert Rauschenberg. The front line horns - trumpeter Christian Altehülshorst and alto saxophonist Félix Hardouin - were latter day Jazz Messengers on steroids! Imperious technique, not consciously showy, simply subservient to Bristow's musical vision.
Stars of Orion, with its samba feel, Magenta, Bristow's compositions were proving to be a revelation. Searing bebop heads, sleight of hand swing time sections, pressing the pedal to the metal, this was exhilarating stuff! So It Goes, written for Bristow's sister, Nietzsche's Beard, the Dave Bristow Quintet could do no wrong.
Bristow wanted to play some Sonny Rollins. Good for him, it wasn't all about Bristow. The intention was to play St Thomas and Doxy back to back. The quintet duly played the first of them, only for his bandmates to interject, telling Bristow it was time to play Lightspeed. And play it they did. Think 'speed of light'. Quite amazing. An abundance of technique, all the notes seemingly in the right order and it all made sense. As bass players go, Gabriel Pierre takes some beating. Great sound, astonishing technique, in no way grandstanding, simply virtuosic. As drummers go, Guillaume Prévost takes some beating.
The talent on show was something else. The empty floor space between musicians and audience proved to be not much of a barrier as there was a real connection between the two and the frequent bursts of applause had to be heard to be believed. Nights like this - with the Dave Bristow Quintet - are what it's all about. Russell
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