Ed Kainyek Quartet @ the Railway, Stockport - May 2

(© Jeff Pritchard)

Ed Kainyek (tenor sax); Freddie Garner (keys); John Sandham (bass); Tim Franks (drums).

This was an interesting line-up for the first Tuesday in the month with Ed selecting most of the tunes with occasional suggestions from Freddie which included two of his original compositions Paulus and Blues for Brownie. The other tunes played tonight were mainly standards plus Sugar by Stanley Turrentine and Black Nile - Wayne Shorter. There were some unfamiliar faces amongst the audience which was good to see and there were almost as many people here as there usually is on Sunday nights.

A Tale of Two Jams @ the Black Swan and elsewhere - May 2

Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (bass); Michael Mather (drums) + Steve Summers (soprano sax); Paul Gowland, Luis Verde, Haaruun Miller, Esther Coombes (alto saxes); John Rowland (tenor sax); Edgar Bell (trumpet); David 'Showtime' Gray (trombone/vocals); ? (guitar); John Pope, Owen ? (bass); Kris Finney, Val ?, Adam ?, Freddie Richards, Sid White (drums); Kate O'Neill, Jan Spencelayh, Roger ?, Minnie Fraser (vocals)

The house trio kicked off with a number they thought was Bud Powell's Buster Rides Again and it probably was. Alan Law, wearing some cool threads looked sharp as a tack on piano. On bass, Paul Grainger was at the other end of the sartorial scale whilst Michael Mather, looking as if he'd just returned from Hawaii or some other Geordie outpost, was somewhere in the middle.

Who Can I Turn to? and My Silent Love followed. They'd set the musical bar high for the jammers waiting in the wings.

Ezra Collective @ Cheltenham Jazz Festival - April 29

Femi Koleoso (drums); TJ Koleoso (bass); Joe Armon-Jones (keys); Ife Ogunjobi (trumpet); James Mollison (tenor sax).

It went dark in the Town Hall in Cheltenham so we all turned to look at the stage but the first notes came from behind and a spotlight picked out a trumpeter in one of the boxes on the first floor. An answer came from a saxophone in a box on the opposite side of the pit and then a bass note rang out and a light shone on a bassist sat high at the back of the stage on the top level of the choir steps. Was this an homage to the opening wedding scene in Love, Actually or, more likely, was it Ezra Collective announcing their ‘collective’ presence from all points of the arena?

Corrie Dick ‘Sun Swells’ Band @ the Globe - April 30

(© Ken Drew)

Rebecka Edlund (vocals); Norman Willmore (alto sax); Tara Cunningham (guitar); Caius Williams (bass); Corrie Dick (drums)

Well, what a way to celebrate International Jazz Day, which is good timing as it also marks the anniversary of Jazz.Coop owning the Globe and this year marks 9 years of ownership.  So it was anticipated that it would be busy - and it was!  

The afternoon was kicked off by 'More Jam' with a house trio keeping the music flowing as various instrumentalists and vocalists stepped up from the floor to join in.  Then a free jazz buffet party was laid on before the evening concert, which was an International Jazz Day co-promotion between the Jazz.Coop and Jazz North East, so the room was quite full well before the start. 

BRB - The James Brady Ed Rice Brazilian Project @ Gala Studio 1, Durham - April 23

(© Malcolm Sinclair)

James Brady (trumpet, flugelhorn, melodica, percussion); Ed Rice (piano)

Originally billed as the Brady/Rice Boss Nova Project, the billing was changed three days before the concert to Brazilian Project. This prompted me to see what jazz reference books had to say about Brazilian jazz and in particular bossa nova. In their programme notes James and Ed describe the project as “building on their shared love of Brazilian music and Brazilian jazz in particular ….. focussing on their shared interests in in-the-moment improvisational playfulness”.  

Michael Bublé @ the Utilita Arena, Newcastle - May 1

"Is this the way to Utilita?" was an unnecessary question. All we had to do was follow the crowd along - all 10,000 of them - who came from north, south, east and west to converge upon Newcastle's largest concert venue the Utilita Arena for the hottest ticket in town in the form of superstar Michael Bublé.

Even before the show started, fashionably late, the atmosphere was electric. How could it not be in a hall at 99.99% capacity. An audience ranging from the very young to the very old eagerly anticipating the appearance of the great man and when he did emerge from amidst the smoke, dry ice and glitter to sing Brand New Day the place erupted.

Cheltenham Musings 1

The Virgin Cross Country Train arrived at Cheltenham on time and I was grateful for the fact that Richard Branson’s trains blew up less frequently than his rockets. Steve came up from Reading and we met on the platform. We were staying at Clematis B&B. I told Steve that I had misheard when he had told me the name of the B&B on the phone and told him what I thought he had said. “No,” he replied, “If it had been called that, as blokes, we never would have found it.”

Suzanne Fonseca Quartet @ the Railway, Stockport - April 30

Suzanne Fonseca (trombone); Jim Collins (tenor sax); Richard Wetherall (piano); Gavin Barras (bass).

This was a drummer-less outfit and fortunately on hand to keep the groove solid was bassman Gavin Barras who has been involved in many great gigs here at the Railway. Jim Collins is often seen here as a member of Freddie Garner's Quartet but on this occasion we heard him using a more mellow approach to blend with Suzanne’s trombone. The twelve tunes played tonight were mainly familiar standards done at a relaxed medium tempo. There was one which was played at a slower tempo and that was the ballad Nancy With the Laughing Face.

Preview: Hexham Jazz Festival (May 12-14)

After a long hiatus Hexham Jazz Festival returned last year and it could be said to have been a resounding success - Hexham Abbey the grand setting, the jazz top quality, the weather kind. The 2023 event is set for the long weekend of Friday 12 - Sunday 14 May. Hexham Abbey will once again play host to a series of concerts with the bonus this year of Queen's Hall, Core Music and the Forum Cinema coming on board.

Concerts in Hexham Abbey will be hosted by Jazz FM's Nigel Williams, beginning at 7:00pm on the Friday with the acclaimed Ushaw Ensemble. Directed by Paul Edis, the star-studded line-up doesn't get together too often, so this is your chance! And at half past eight vocalist Rachel Sutton will be on stage with pianist Roland Perrin, bassist Andy Champion and drummer Steve Hanley.

Preview: The Windy City Weatherbirds - The Vault, Hexham (May 19)

Surfing the internet your correspondent chanced upon the Windy City Weatherbirds. YouTube clips of the young, six piece London based band playing '30s Chicago jazz, inspired by the likes of Louis Armstrong, Bobby Hackett, Muggsy Spanier and Jack Teagarden impressed, big time. An email exchange with the Weatherbirds led to the lads accepting an invitation to undertake a three-date 'up north' mini tour. A lunchtime concert at Newcastle's Lit & Phil sold out in next to no time and an engagement at Darlington's New Orleans Jazz Club is set to attract a full house (the regulars know their stuff!). How can I get to hear the band? you ask...