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| © Richard Morris |
My first visit
to the Swan and Chequers, Sandbach a modern, recently refurbished bar in the
historic market town of Sandbach, Cheshire. Housed in a late nineteenth century
corn exchange, it features an open plan interior, a large outdoor courtyard
beer garden with a dog friendly policy. It hosts regular events such as live
music including jazz and community gatherings.
This free concert featured five of the UK’s very best jazz musicians. Led by stellar sax player and composer Kyran Matthews who I have seen play on previous occasions as indeed I had with all the other musicians save for David Austin Grey the renowned pianist from Birmingham who I was seeing for the first time. I have seen Jamie play in various ensembles to include with Dean Stockdale and Trio JDM. Luke Flowers is a longstanding member of the Cinematic Orchestra since 2000 and has worked with artists such as Corinne Bailey Rae, Roots Manuva and Matthew Halsall. I rarely go more than a few weeks without seeing Josh Cavanagh-Brierley so busy is he mainly on the North West Jazz scene and elsewhere. He is a composer too with a new album out on August 7 titled The Mild Mannered and the Mortal.
The concert was
billed as featuring music composed by Kyran, Wayne Shorter and others. I had
high expectations and was not at all disappointed. The concert kicked ooff with a rip roaring
tune composed by Kyran The End of the World as we Know It. It bore no
resemblance to the song by REM of the same name. No question of the band
starting with a safe down tempo jazz ballad. Kyan was straight into fifth gear
with some powerful and visceral sax playing. This was followed by an epic
version of the Clifford Brown track Joy Spring. Next up the slower paced
Infant Eyes by Wayne Shorter which included stunning guitar from Jamie
and more fierce work on sax by Kyran. These first three tracks averaged about
15 minutes each and had the full attention of a large and clearly knowledgeable
audience used to attending contemporary jazz at this venue.
The first set
concluded with a tune composed by Kyran about a public park and garden in
London near St Paul’s Cathedral he was fond of namely Postmans’s Park which he highly recommended visiting
– it’s in King Edward St, London EC1A 7BT
The second set
opened with It Happened to me a tune composed by Kyran but based on the
Chet Baker recording of It Could Happen to you. The next was a lovely tune
by Sam Dunn namely Not Going to See You which appeared on the album Going
Coastal by Jamie Taylor and Sam Dunn. Kyran introduced the next tune namely
a version arranged by him of The Death of Aase part two of the Peer Gynt Suite No.1 Opus 46 by
Edvard Grieg. The concert concluded with an energised Wayne Shorter tune Yes
or No. A great drum solo by Luke and very fast sax by Kyran rivalling the
speed of the Scottish athlete Josh Kerr.
All five
musicians had solos throughout the concert. It goes without saying all clearly
are very accomplished musicians. Kyran plays regularly with Luke and Josh but
for David and Jamie this was the first time they had played Kyran’s
compositions/arrangements so hats off to them. A great concert on a late Sunday
afternoon at a wonderful venue. A large stage, good acoustics and a warm and
enthusiastic audience. I will be seeing Kyran again on Wednesday August 5 at
Frederiks Wine Bar in Hope Street, Liverpool where he is playing as part of
Misha Gray’s Prehistoric Jazz Quintet with the concert starting at 8pm.
Set list: The
End of the World as we Know it; Joy
Spring; Infant Eyes; Postman’s Park; It Happened to me; Not Going to See You;
The Death of Aase, Yes or No
Swan and
Chequers, 16 Hightown, Sandbach, Cheshire CW11 1AE Open 7 days
Facebook: Swan & Chequers, Sandbach Instagram: @swanandchequerssandbach
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