Durham Jazz Festival: Marvin Muoneke Quartet @ St Chad’s College, Durham - October 25

© Richard Morris

Marvin Muoneke (vocals, trumpet); Dean Stockdale (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums)

Another sold out concert!

I had the benefit of seeing Marvin live the previous evening guesting with the Strictly Smokin’ Big Band at the Gala Theatre. Such was his performance I was grateful I had had the foresight to put this concert in my diary some weeks in advance. This young man is an immense multi-talented  vocalist, trumpeter and arranger. The three other musicians were well known to me. Dean in fact had led his own quartet immediately prior to this concert. I had last seen Abbie play at the Lit & Phil with Greg Abate.

The concert kicked off with Young Man With the Old Soul composed by Marvin on which he sang and played trumpet. Two standards popular with jazz musicians: This Could be the Start of Something Big and I’m Beginning to See the Light showcased Marvin’s vocal range and power. Play it Cool was a tune Marvin had released the previous Friday. Abbie sat out the next song Moonlight in Vermont which featured Dean on piano and the most beautiful of vocals by Marvin.

© Richard Morris

Next up was an upbeat take on Cole Porter’s Night and Day with elegant piano work by Dean and driving drums by Abbie. The pace slowed with the ballad They Say it’s Wonderful. Marvin referenced the song reminding us that it was the first track on the 1963 six-track Impulse album John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman - the only duet album John Coltrane recorded with a vocalist. Marvin is appearing with saxophonist Mark Lockheart as part of the Alex Webb Quintet at a concert on Saturday 14 November at Loughton Baptist Church organised by the National Jazz Archive and titled Coltrane Hartman on Impulse dedicated to those two great artists. Ticket link on National Jazz Archive’s Instagram Bio.

I enjoyed the medley of Old Devil Moon and L-O-V-E which was followed by Forbidden Fruit - a song written by Alex Webb for Marvin in 2025 which has received regular airplay and playlist rotation on Jazz FM. The quartet provided a wonderful take of their own.  Love is the Qnly Way, a song, written by Marvin, that he described as “a relaxed soul number.” It morphed into another relaxed soul number - Lovely Day by Bill Withers. 

The concert concluded with a medley of Nature Boy first recorded by Nat King Cole and What a Wonderful World which was sung most notably by Louis Armstrong.

The perfect end to a brilliant concert warmly appreciated by one and all. Richard Morris