A warm welcome
as usual was given by staff at Davenham Theatre on a very warm evening with
free bottles of water offered on arrival free and ice creams at the interval at
modest cost. One of my favourite venues for jazz in Cheshire, it's an intimate
theatre, perfect for an evening of jazz and meeting friends old and new.
The band were all very well known by me having seen them on multiple occasions with various groups some very recently. The last time I saw Jamie was in Trio JDM at Buxton Festival with Dave Walsh and Martin Longhawn. He travelled from Sheffield. Dean from Darlington is one of the UK’s very best jazz pianists and I see him together with James from Birmingham and Gaz from Macclesfield multiple times each year as well as with other musicians.
This concert had originally been billed to feature vocalist Hannah Brine but unfortunately she was not available due to illness. However, it was still a wonderful concert. Dean has in recent years been touring with his band a celebration of the music of Oscar Peterson and this evening’s concert including many tunes played by or composed by Oscar but also some original compositions by Dean which will be included in an album already recorded by Dean and his band of new tunes plus some new arrangements by Dean of other tunes. It is scheduled to be released in Sept/Oct 2026.
The evening kicked off with Reunion Blues by Milt Jackson followed by Falling in Love with Love the well known show tune from the Rodgers and Hart musical The Boys From Syracuse but rearranged by Oscar as a swinging jazz standard for his 1957 album Oscar Peterson at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival. All musicians had solos throughout the concert to show their virtuosity. On Bossa Beguine Jamie was splendid taking up the main theme at the beginning before being taken over by Dean. The mood slowed down for another Rodgers and Hart tune namely Have You Met Miss Jones? and this was followed by the fast paced Noreen’s Nocturne in which James’ elegant playing stood out. The first set concluded with the title track from Oscar Peterson’s album Night Train.
The second set began with Cool Walk by Oscar Peterson, Roy Hargrove and Ralph Moore. On the Outside Looking In was the first of three new compositions by Dean which were very much enjoyed by the audience. This tune featured an intricate solo by Jamie. Throughout the concert Gaz as normal was stellar on the drum kit. A real pleasure to hear. The jazz standard Embraceable You was followed by Dean’s composition The Boathouse written by Dean for his wife about one of their favourite places to visit namely the Duke of Portland, Boathouse in Ullswater. Another Dean composition Ray’s Reflection was dedicated to Dean’s piano teacher and the concert concluded with a rousing version of the calypso St Thomas by the legendary American jazz tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins who died aged 96 on 25 May 2026.
I have lost
count of the number of concerts I have seen by Dean which include Oscar
Peterson tunes and arrangements but each time he makes them sound fresh. Dean
clearly is a very talented composer and arranger and I look forward to seeing
his band play the tunes on his upcoming new album and of course buying a CD. I
had to make do at Davenham by purchasing a CD of Dean’s 2020 album Promise
the Moon with Dean in a trio with Abbie Finn (drums) and Mick Shoulder (double
bass). Richard Morris
Setlist: Reunion
Blues; Falling in Love with Love; Bossa Beguine; Have You Met Miss Jones?;
Noreen’s Nocturne; Night Train; Cool Walk; On the Outside Looking In; Embraceable
You; The Boathouse; Ray’s Reflection; St Thomas
Davenham
Theatre 59 Church Street, Davenham, Cheshire CW9 8NF www.davenhamplayers.co.uk see jazz@davenham section on website
Davenham Theatre houses Davenham Players theatre group and also musical events to include jazz on the last Thursday of each month save for July and August. It is wheelchair accessible. Next jazz gig here is The Stray Horns at 8pm on 25 September.
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