If Duke Pearson and Cedar Walton were at Fleece Jazz last Friday, they would have left very pleased. The Fishwick brothers’ quintet brought them to us beautifully. The band was Steve Fishwick on trumpet, Matt Fishwick on drums, Dave O’Higgins on tenor sax, Rob Barron on piano and Luca de Lecce on bass.

Steve promised a programme of two halves, the music of Duke Pearson in the first set, Cedar Walton in the second. There was a nice balance of blues, ballads, up tempo and between in both sets. Steve’s explanations of the history of the tunes was very interesting.

We started off with one of the many blues tunes of the evening. “Ready Rudy”. It was written as a tribute to a hero of mine, the amazing sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who worked with just about everybody at Blue Note Records and others. That set up the audience for a great evening of straight ahead jazz, all of its period, superbly played. Both Steve and Dave had excellent solos in that one, and in many others through the evening.

Steve modified his bright clear tone for the ballads. For “You Know I Care” and “Rainy Night” , he made the tone darker. “Empathy” was played with the Harmon mute, which can sound squeaky in the wrong hands. Not with Steve.

Matt was superb throughout. He had very big ears, making it easy for me on the desk to balance the band. Solos and trading 4’s were all spot on. The solo in “Los Malos Hombres” was particularly good.

Dave gave us powerful work throughout. His solo in “Ugetsu” (“Fantasy in D”) was special. That tune, I think, was may favourite of the evening, with its almost fugal head and outro. Everyone had super solos in that tune. “One Flight Down” had him triple timing.

Dario had fine solo in that one. It was his Fleece Jazz debut and I hope very much that we see him again.

The solo I remember most from Rob was on “Los Malos Hombres”. That tune also showed his accompaniment skill, of a very high order, under the beautiful horn chorus. He is returning to us in the summer with his own band.

Lovely evening, happy, small audience. Why small? No idea. Help.

Next week, we are again in familiar territory with the music of Philly Jo Jones. The world class drummer, Luca Santaniello leads this superb quartet, with Steve Fishwick returning to us on trumpet, Gabriel Latchin on piano and Calum Gourley on bass. Come along and hear some great straight ahead jazz.

Take care,

Dave.

Dear Friends,

Sadly we do seem to have a problem. Recently we have had more losses than profits and our cash reserve has vanished. That this state of affairs should arise as we celebrate our 25th Anniversary is I am sure you will agree, sadly ironic. The short answer is, “bums on seats” or to be accurate, not enough bums on our seats. Every week I implore you to come again soon and bring all your friends, or at least, some of them, so please, please try to do that and keep us, and jazz, alive in Suffolk.

Just to remind you, we are a voluntary organisation with no external help or funding so whether we sink or swim is in your hands. Keep us afloat please!

Michael Burgess,
Chair, Fleece Jazz at Stoke by Nayland Hotel

When people walk out at the end of the gig and say “it was a privilege to be here”, you know you had wonderful gig. It was Barb. How else?

Barb Jungr sang, told stories, played harmonica. Jenny Carr played piano and sang. Dudley Phillips played bass, and sadly didn’t sing.

The music was a superb reworking of the CD Barb made 18 years ago of Bob Dylan songs, and a few new ones. Barb’s discussions of the songs, their background and her connections were a wonderful bonus on top of the music. We learned some of the dark side of Dylan as well. Her rapport with the audience is singularly powerful.

We know and remember from recordings and live performances how good her voice is, but it is a shock when she hits you with her first number, “Things have changed”. The beautiful a cappella opening to “Every grain of sand” was memorable. “Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” had people crying.
Barb’s harmonica playing is strong and evocative. The arrangement and performance of “What Good Am I” was just beautiful. My favourite was “Chimes of Freedom”. The poetry is important and powerful, and Barb gave every word the strength and position it required.

Jenny Carr had some excellent solos. “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” was one. I would rather concentrate on her accompaniment. On “I Want You”, her accompaniment was both delicate and intense. How to do you do that? The presence of Dudley’s bass gave Jenny free range for her left hand. She is a super backing singer, with perfect harmonies, and a voice and vibrato to match Barb’s.

Dudley’s solo on “Don’t Think Twice, Its All Right” was special. His perfect timing and intonation made the foundation for the songs perfect. He brought a CD to sell, himself playing bass and singing, and I am sorry we didn’t get to hear him sing on Friday.

To kick off our new season, we have the Chris Allard Band: Chris on guitar, Ross Stanley piano, Oli Hayhurst bass and Nick Smalley drums. “Allard’s master class in electric jazz guitar was worth the price of admission in it’s own right!” – Harrogate Festival. Don’t miss it.

Take care,
Dave

Watching fine musicians communicate on stage is one of the great joys of working at Fleece Jazz, and when they are at the level that these four fellows are at, it is even more special. The quartet was led by Ed Jones, on tenor and soprano saxes. His colleagues were Ross Stanley on piano, Riaan Vosloo on bass and Tim Giles on drums. They knew each other and the music well, having just recorded most of what they played. It played to us as new-born and fresh. The evening was a nice mix of tunes by Ed, one by Riaan and some standards. The arrangements were a delight.

Tim first played the club in the old Fleece pub when he was 14. He is now a top of the tree drummer, with that precious attribute, really big ears: his reaction and even, it seems, his anticipation of what the soloist is doing is superb. In a song of Ed’s Marielyst, dedicated to the great Cecil Taylor who died last Thursday, Tim had a truly beautiful extended intro and solo. His solo on Riaan’s “Solstice” was also special.

Riaan had the very powerful intro for “Solstice”, and a stunner of a solo on Ed’s “Starbright”. He uses the full range of his instrument in the most natural way. He doesn’t make a big deal of the upper registers, he just uses them when he wishes, with perfect intonation.

Ross Stanley. This guy is a Fleece Jazz favourite. He is one of those that seems to inhabit the piano, and I didn’t until this gig realized how he used both the sustain and soft pedals. The sustain is used often during the head, and then ignored during soloing, and the soft pedal not used at all. Ross uses the soft pedal to change the timbre of the instrument like a fine classical soloist. Solos? Well, all of them, but maybe the one on “Marielyst” stood out.

Ed is a senior and much lauded educator and teacher, composer, band leader and, of course, one hell of a sax player. He is powerful or lyrical at need. We do not see him enough. The first number of the second set was (I think) “The 50s”, i s a great 5/4 tune. Ed’s solo and outro were memorable.

We had an evening of wonderful modern jazz by four people who communicated so they were one instrument on the stage.

Next week, John Law returns to us with his Re-Creations of tunes we know. He is the only other guy who uses the pedals in a classical way, not surprising with his background. He brings award winning saxophonist Sam Crockatt, amazing bassist Yuri Goloubev and drummer Billy Weir. John’s gigs are always special, so don’t miss this one.

Take care,
Dave