Mark Toomey (alto sax); Jeremy McMurray (piano); Ken Marley (double bass); Paul Smith (drums)
Known to many as a Charlie Parker
disciple, alto saxophonist Mark Toomey is more than a mere copyist, he's very
much his own man. In the heat of the day (doors open, fans working overtime),
in a one hour set of original compositions, intentionally or not, Toomey set
about proving the point.
Teesside-based Toomey arrived on
Tyneside with pianist Jeremy McMurray, all the way from Manchester way, bassist
Ken Marley, and drummer Paul 'Smithy' Smith. In a pad numbering in excess of
one hundred original tunes, Toomey was spoilt for choice. Do You Have
the Time? the first out the hat, typical M. Toomey. Bird-like, fluent,
the quartet on it.
Toomey confessed to not being one for
naming tunes - Mouse in the House and Song for Laura, titles
inspired by home and family. And why not? That's as good as anything.
Jeremy McMurray knows his way around a keyboard, that's for sure, Ken Marley,
propulsive, robust, Paul Smith equally propulsive*, it all added up to a
secure foundation, enabling Toomey to fly high, free as a bird
(Yardbird?).
If Rhythm Changes was
called at a jam session Mark Toomey would be in his element, standing his
ground against the best of them. Ballad (Song for Laura), bop-burner (Mark
Time), whatever Toomey's mood (Parker's Mood?), the Mark Toomey
Quartet scored heavily on this second, sweltering, day at the 2026 Newcastle
Jazz Festival.
* On Sunday (July 5) at Newcastle
Jazz Co-op HQ on Railway Street, Smithy will be driving the juggernaut that is
Gerry Richardson's nine-piece Big Idea. One of the great Hammond-led outfits
here on Tyneside, or anywhere else for that matter, book now at: www.theglobenewcastle.bar. Russell
Set list included: Do You
Have the Time?; One More Try; Mouse in the House; Song
for Laura; Those Rainy Summer Days; I'm Sorry; I
Don't Know What to Say; Mark Time.
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