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| © Richard Morris |
Sunday's 5.00pm slot featured the Gwilym Simcock and Nick Smart Quintet. Gwilym and Nick had appeared with Rob Cope’s Joy Ride band on Saturday, today they were joined by three amazing musicians.
Josh Savage , a local Sandbach lad, Simon who had flown in from Berlin where he is based and Laurence, one of the UK’s most accomplished bass players. All five apart from Laurence are also due to appear in the Gwilym Simcock Big Band on Monday.
There was an overall feeling of a long weekend social party with musician friends meeting up. Simon and Gwilym had lived in Berlin for several years at the same time and knew each other well but had never played live together so, as Gwilym described, this concert was five years in the making as they had clearly played a great deal in private. Several of the tunes were composed by Gwilym who, over the years, I had previously seen in duo format with Tommy Smith and Emma Rawicz and I recall hearing at least one of the tunes played here earlier. I am a big fan of Gwilym and have many of his albums. A sought after musician and composer and highly regarded.
Nick as Head of Jazz at the Royal Academy of Music is a fabulous trumpet and flugelhorn player. I managed to have a nice chat with him about cricket between concerts. It was good to see the musicians hanging around and supporting the other artists. Josh also played in Trio SKW's concert which immediately followed this one.
The opening tune Any People was a good start. A very funky number. Nick starred on flugelhorn and it featured a solo by Simon. This was followed by the Pat Metheny tune Bright Size Life which was most enjoyable. A crowd pleaser. Horsey Verdant, composed by Simon, featured piano and an extended guitar solo. Antics, commissioned by the City of London Festival, was composed by Gwilym for the 2012 London Olympics. Fifty upright pianos were placed in public places around London and Gwilym and two dancers from Sydney were commissioned to perform on them all. The first was in Gillet Square but only 49 were actually played as the Southbank Centre, within which one piano was positioned, was locked up at the time so could not be accessed. This was a high energy tune in which all five musicians played a full part. This concluded the first set.
After a hydration break the second set opened with Ted’s Great Adventure composed by Gwilym, a tune I had heard him play in duo format. Good to hear the arrangement for a five piece ensemble. It had rumbustious sections and sparkling solos by piano and guitar. Nick was also strongly featured on flugelhorn. Whilst age-wise Josh was the junior member of the band you would not have known it. His sensitive and at times energetic drumming complimented the other musicians and he formed part of an outstanding rhythm section. Song No Dance was written by Gwilym whilst he and Simon were both living in Berlin.
The last two numbers were both written by Gwilym and featured guest
saxophonist Rob Cope who injected great energy into the concert with his
vibrant tenor sax work. Holding had
Gwilym on its opening phrases and was a beautiful tune. The concert concluded
with Weathered a funky up tempo number strongly featuring sax, flugelhorn and some searing guitar licks by Simon.
All tunes were greatly appreciated by an enthusiastic audience.
Set list included: Any People; Bright Size Life; Horsey Verdant; Antics; Ted’s Great Adventure; Song No Dance; Holding; Weathered
Swan and Chequers, 16 Hightown, Sandbach, Cheshire CW11 1AE Open 7 days
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