It is amazing to me that in one year, 1959, so many  important things have happened. The list on Wikipedia goes on for pages: The European Court of Human Rights is established; we lose Buddy Holly; Lunar 4 goes to the moon; Nottingham Forest beats Luton in the FA cup; the Mini is released.

And “Kind of Blue” is released; one collection that changed the music in the multitude of masterly jazz compositions  that year.

Bryan Corbett has designed  a beautiful show of great variety from the music of 1959. He gives us Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Paul Desmond, Horace Silver, Ornette Coleman and more. I loved it all, but “Flamenco Sketches” as played by this quintet will stay with me.

And he plays both trumpet and flugel like an angel. His technique is superb, his tonality is sweet and clear. The soul in his mind comes out clearly in his playing. The listening between Bryan and his colleagues is almost palpable. 

 Chris Bowden is a wonderful altoist. He is serious, fast and slow, inventive and fun. Matt Ratcliffe’s piano obligatos are delightful. Carl Hemmingsley is the perfect drummer for the group. 

The joker in the pack is Tom Hill. He presented “Fables of Faubus”, told bad jokes very well, and was a stunning bassist.

I will remember this gig with pleasure. They honoured the intentions of the composers while remaining theirselves. Unfortunately I will also  remember the minor disasters on the sound desk. And I was  the sound guy

The setlist below is compiled by Steve Jordan, for which thanks.

The next gig is a doozy, The power of nature that is Sarah Jane Morris  with her favourite team: Tim Cansfield and Tony Remy on Guitars, and Henry Thomas on bass guitar. See you then.

Take care,

Dave

THE HI-FLY  QUINTET  

SETLIST, FLEECE JAZZ 28/06/23;

1. So What (Gil Evans/Miles Davis) from ‘Kind of Blue’
2. No Problem (Duke Jordan) from ‘Flight to Jordan’
3. Flamenco Sketches (Gil Evans/Miles Davis) from ‘Kind of Blue’
4. Hi-Fly (Randy Weston) from ‘The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco
5. Take Five (Paul Desmond) from ‘Time Out’ by The Dave Brubeck Quartet
6. Sister Sadie (Horace Silver) from ‘Blowin’ The Blues Away’

*          *          *           *         *        *        *

7. Lonely Woman (Ornette Coleman) from ‘The Shape of Jazz To Come’/ Concierto de Aranjuez (Joaquin Rodrigo) from ‘Sketches of Spain’ by Miles Davis
8. Fables of Faubus (Charles Mingus) from ‘Mingus Ah Um’
9. Stolen Moments (Oliver Nelson) from ‘Blues and the Abstract Truth’.  The tune was originally recorded in 1959
10. Blues March (Benny Golson) from ‘Moanin’’ by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
11. ENCORE: Juicy Lucy (Horace Silver) from ‘Finger Poppin’’

All albums were released in 1959 except for ‘Blues and the Abstract Truth’ although an earlier version of the  tune was recorded in 1959.

 

 

When musicians are truly enjoying their work, the audience feels it, and listen carefully. Part of the joy is to see the musicians listening to each other. Add to that the magic of world class musicianship, with ideas and riff tumbling out of their axes.

In other words, it was a superb gig from all four: John Etheridge on guitars, Theo Travis on tenor sax and flute, organist Pete Whittaker and George Double on drums.

It was structured as a typical Etheridge gig, We had music from many people, including one each from John and Theo. There was lots of off the cuff comments from John, very funny. He was careful to announce the tunes. The first tune of the second set was a solo by John, also typical. They had an encore in their pockets, and it was needed.

The encore was “Summertime”, and they played that lovely Gershwin tune as if they had just read the lyrics again. It got me thinking: there is one word in that song which makes it sad and difficult. The word is “Until”: safe until the child rises up singing. John’s solo was “God Bless the Child”. Is he thinking about children? The solo was truly beautiful, without a lot of added tech.

Theo’s “Three People” was lovely: he has such a lyrical flow in his solos. I wonder who the three people were: I might have liked to know them.

The structure of the gig allowed everybody room to blow, and the blowing was magnificent. I can still hear Theo’s solo on “Off the Wagon”, Pete on “I’m Coming Home”, George on “Sweet Emma”. 

Do not miss the next gig,  ‘Bryan Corbett’s “Hi-Fly” Quintet’. This marvellous trumpeter was booked for a gig during the pandemic; a rebook was cancelled due to illness. So on 

June 28th, we will finally get to hear him. He has a way with tonality like no other trumpeter. 

Thanks to Steve Jordan for the set list.

Take care,

Dave

JOHN ETHERIDGE/THEO TRAVIS QUARTET  

SETLIST, FLEECE JAZZ 14/06/23

1. Take a Walk (Michael Brecker)
2. Georgia on my Mind (Hoagy Carmichael)
3. Off the Wagon (Tubby Hayes)
4. In A Sentimental Mood (Duke Ellington)
5. Sweet Emma (Nat Adderley) as adapted by John Scofield
6. Friday Night at the  Cadillac Club (Bob Berg).

*          *          *           *         *        *        *

7. God Bless The Child – Etheridge solo (Billie Holiday/A Herzog Jr)
8. Do Like Eddie (John Scofield)
9. Three People (Theo Travis) 
10. There Is No Greater Love (Isham Jones/Marty Symes)
11. A Distant Voice (John Etheridge)
12. I’m Coming Home, Baby (Mel Tormé)
13. ENCORE: Summertime (George Gershwin)

 

(I normally put together a setlist for each gig that I attend at Fleece Jazz . Dave Lyons is currently on holiday in Canada and so it falls to me to write this week’s review built around the setlist.)

Last night, we had a fine quintet of musicians under the direction of Nick Tomalin, performing and interpreting the music of British pianist, George Shearing. The band features the original instrumentation of the Shearing quintet, including guitar and vibraphone and performs music ranging from Shearing’s best-known tunes like ‘Lullaby of Birdland’ and ‘Conception’ along with less well-known compositions and arrangements.

The “Shades of Shearing” project is very much a labour of love: the respect and admiration for Shearing and his music from all five musicians is palpable throughout the evening’s performance. For this reviewer, it was a revelation having previously felt little connection with Shearing’s music aside from the odd cover such as Ella singing ‘Lullaby of Birdland’. Shades of Shearing led me to re-evaluate this and realise that there was more depth to George’s music as well as a real jazz sensibility.

The opener, ‘September in the Rain’, combining radio-friendly melodicism with full-blooded bebop, was a big hit for George in 1949, selling nearly a million copies. The head is played in the famous ‘Shearing Style’ with Nat Steele on vibes and Dave Warren on guitar playing the melody an octave apart and Nick Tomalin playing block chords behind them. During the second chorus Tomalin demonstrates the ‘locked hands’ style of George Shearing and plays some technically demanding double-time passages.

Throughout the gig, Nick explains the background to each song in the context of Shearing’s life and work. After the first number, he tells us about the challenging circumstances in young George’s life: the youngest of nine children; blind from birth; his father delivering coal and his mother cleaning trains for a living. George was something of a musical prodigy as he was offered various scholarships to continue his musical education. In true jazz style though, young George instead got a job playing piano for “25 bob a week” (25 shillings or £1.25 in today’s money) at the local pub. He first visited America in 1946 and moved there permanently the following year, arriving at the height of the bebop boom. 

There is plenty of opportunity for each musician in the “Shades of Shearing” quintet to demonstrate his chops and that is exploited to the full in the next number, ‘Consternation’.  Nat Steele is a vigorous, resourceful performer who demonstrated his enormous prowess on vibes throughout the evening – all eyes were on his speed and dexterity as he fronted the band.  Dave Warren’s guitar work echoed this with a distinct bebop style which reminded me of Grant Green’s lithe, loose, slightly bluesy playing.  Once again, we had the pleasure of hearing Luke Fowler on double bass, who impressed us with his nimble finger-work as he took the lead or soloed on many numbers over the course of the gig.  Luke was ‘depping’ and this was his first performance with the quintet. An amazing talent! After two numbers where brushes were employed effectively by Matt Fishwick to set up a shuffling rhythm on the drums, he excels on the latin-tinged ‘Mamboing’ where he knocks out an urgent and vigorous rhythm to drive the pace forward.  Nick explained how mambo became popular in the mid-1950s in New York, triggering a big dance craze. George then began incorporating Cuban music into his repertoire and was at the forefront of blending the new Mambo style with jazz – continuing on from Dizzy Gillespie’s experiments with Afro-Cuban music in the late 1940s.

No tribute to George Shearing would be complete without ‘Lullaby of Birdland’, George’s best-known tune which was written for Morris Levy, the owner of Birdland, as the theme music for a radio show broadcast from the club. Here it was taken at a brisk pace with piano, vibes and guitar delivering the head in unison before Nick takes a beautiful melodic solo, again switching to block chords in the bridge. 

‘September Samba’ – a bossa nova in the style of George Shearing for a guitar-vibes-piano quintet – was an original composition by Nick Tomalin; an uptempo, vivacious tune with a warm feel that complemented the Shearing numbers admirably.

‘Love Is Just Around The Corner’ completed the first set, after Nick related how George and the quintet enjoyed indulging in wordplay, by replacing the word ‘love’ with ‘lunch’ in song titles. Try it for yourselves ….   It was good to hear the band stretch out, with everyone contributing inspired extended solos. Nick’s backing riffs behind the solos and choruses build the excitement. 

The second set opened with ‘Oh look at me now’, from the 1961 album, ‘The Swingin’s Mutual!’ where the George Shearing quintet was accompanied by the vocalist Nancy Wilson. The song is best known from its interpretation by Frank Sinatra.

The more demanding composition ‘Conception’, a 1950 jazz standard written by Shearing  is widely regarded as one of the best original bebop tunes ever written.  As Nick explained, it is one of the most challenging tunes to improvise on, both because of the speed of the harmonic rhythm and the tricky modulations but the band appeared to breeze through it, negotiating the corners with ease. There is a suggestion that ‘Conception’ was written by Bud Powell, but no-one really takes this seriously. Interestingly, the original score was adapted by Miles Davis in 1950, who created an arrangement that kept Shearing’s chord changes and main theme. He also rewrote it in 1950 to create an entirely new main theme for his Birth of the Cool project, giving the composition the title ‘Deception’.  Oh, what a tangled web . . . deception indeed.

A mambo-ised version of George Gershwin’s ‘Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off’ was an interesting adaptation and despite Nick’s self-deprecating comments, the original was easily recognisable and their interpretation was quite charming.  Equally welcome was the second Tomalin original of the evening, ‘Blues for George’.  We were the first ever audience to hear this and it would be very nice to hear it again on a future recording.

As a prelude to the next number, Nick explained how he had met George Shearing in 1993 as a student at the Guildhall School of Music as part of a South Bank Show special about George’s life and work. Nick took part in a masterclass with George teaching some of the piano students. The students, including Nick, were asked to perform a piece in front of George and receive constructive feedback.  Nick performed the ballad ‘I’ll Never Smile Again’ after which George told him that it was fine but too loud! No such concerns from the rendition that we got to hear.

We conclude (almost) with Charlie Shavers’ ‘Undecided’ as arranged by Shearing and originally featuring Toots Thielemans, the harmonica player, on guitar. But of course, this being Fleece Jazz we couldn’t go home without an encore and the band duly obliged with a George Shearing composition that he never recorded: ‘She’.  Not to be confused with the Charles Aznavour ballad, this was Nick Tomalin’s imagined version of Shearing playing his own tune. Bud Powell recorded it and I would recommend that you give that a listen, if you can. Much of what we heard during last night’s gig combined a light, mellifluous melodicism with the harmonic complexity of Bud Powell and was a commendable tribute to George Shearing and his legacy.

We have a three-week break before our next gig on Wednesday 14^th June, when we are excited to have the Etheridge–Travis Quartet, a veritable jazz super-group featuring electric guitar, saxophones, flute, organ and drums. John Etheridge and Theo Travis have been the frontline of the legendary band Soft Machine and are joined by a topflight rhythm section comprising one of the most go-to keyboard players in the British jazz and blues scene, Pete Whittaker and drummer Nic France.

Take care, 

Steve Jordan

People seem to be afraid of original music. All but two of the tunes we heard on this lovely gig were written by Philip Clouts, our leader on piano. Philip writes beautiful, varied and accessible music that any jazz lover would enjoy. 

My favourite tune was Nyasa Lullaby. It was a beautiful slow lullaby based on a single tone row. The variations on the row seemed without end. I was sorry when the tune ended. 

But Philip is a very talented composer. I don’t know whether he has ever visited Cannery Row (we had our honeymoon there and thereabout). That was 60 years ago, but I think he caught it as we saw it back then. So he took us all around Africa, South America and the U.S. west  coast. It was a joyous ride.

The band is very happy with standards: both the Rogers and Hart and the Horace Silver were delightful.

I hope we have the band back. They deserve a much bigger audience. The comments afterwards were from very happy people. Steve Jordan’s setlist is below.

Next gig, 24 May, will celebrate the great British pianist and composer, George Shearing. Nick Tomalin’s quintet will do them honour. 

Take care, 

Dave

PHILIP CLOUTS QUARTET  

SETLIST, FLEECE JAZZ 10/5/23

All compositions by Philip Clouts except (3) and (9)

1. Tilt – with influences from Latin America
2. On West Hill – inspired by John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row about a small seaside community in the U.S.A.  West Hill is the area where Philip Clouts lives in Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast.
3. Have You Met Miss Jones? (Rodgers & Hart) featured two wonderful solos by Tim Fairhall on double bass 
4. Umoya – titled from the Zulu word for life-force.
5. Nyasa Lullaby – inspired by musicians from Tanzania using notes from just one scale
6. Marula – named after the fruit-bearingl tree with a dome-shaped canopy indigenous to the savanna woodlands of East Africa and Madagascar.

*          *          *           *         *        *        *

7. Going to Congo Square
8. Solitude – written during lockdown
9. Song For My Father  (Horace Silver) 
10. Scintillate
11. As Evening Falls
12. Rubik’s Rubric – inspired by West African music
13. ENCORE: Beeram Blues

I really enjoyed this gig. Alex Clarke is a superb performer with a range of warm timbres and with proper jazz in her soul. She is also clear on the talk mic about what she is playing, which I guess is a great help to Steve Jordan when he writes the set list (see below, and thank you). I am not surprised that she attracts a back line as celebrated as Clark Tracey on drums, Dave Green on bass and Rob Barron on piano.

The tone Alex produced on “Ballad for Very Sad and Very Tired Lotus Eaters” was really beautiful. It was a great performance. There is nowhere to hide when you are playing in duet mode. The synergism between Rob and Alex was lovely. Alex gave the trio lots of room to blow. I could see her enjoyment of their work, particularly when trading 4s with Clark. We are thankful too that she spoke to us about each song: not a lot, just enough.

Clark had one terrific solo in “Oleo” . There is a phrase about good drummers: “playing the room”. Clark’s understanding of the room acoustics and the volume of his colleagues is exemplary. He is such a class act.

Dave is one of those rare bassists that you can listen to their accompaniment with pleasure and interest. He seems to find fascinating things to say under other people’s solos, and his own solos are great.

We haven’t seen Rob for far to long, and people thought of him as new to us, which he is not. They commented on the delight they had listening to his solos and his work throughout this excellent gig,

Our next gig will be the Philip Clouts Quartet. The music will carry us to South Africa and beyond. One quote: “Precise ebullience and relaxed funkiness” – The Guardian

Take care

Dave

ALEX CLARKE QUARTET  

SETLIST, FLEECE JAZZ 26/4/23

1. Sound for Sore Ears (Jimmy Heath)
2. Where or When (Rodgers and Hart)
3. Autumn Leaves (Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prévert, Johnny Mercer) arrangement by Alex Clarke inspired by Chet Baker’s
4. Ballad for Very Sad and Very Tired Lotus Eaters (Billy Strayhorn) – a duet featuring Alex Clarke and Rob Barron
5. Like Someone in Love (Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke)
6. Oleo (Sonny Rollins)

*          *          *           *         *        *        *

7. Who’s Smoking?! (Paquite d’Rivera) written for James Moody
8. I’m Old Fashioned (Jerome Kern)
9. Only A Year (Alex Clarke) 
10. Brazilian Affair (Phil Woods)
11. I’ve Never Been In Love Before (Frank Loesser) from the musical Guys and Dolls
12. Just One of Those Things (Cole Porter)
13. ENCORE: Shake It But Don’t Break It (Erroll Garner) 

Steve Jordan described this gig as stellar, and it was in many senses. First of all, the music which was originally performed by Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane is amazing. The sextet is certainly starry: they were Andy Panayi (tenor and soprano), Alan Barnes (alto), Steve Fishwick (trumpet and flugel), John Donaldson (piano), Simon Thorpe (bass) and Peter Cater (drums). The arrangements were gorgeous, rich and exciting with beautiful harmonies (and dissonances) and great rhythms. The playing was terrific: the timing was spot on, and the solos just engulfed one. 

Andy and Alan commented on the music, but Andy was the conductor. It seems that nothing except the set list was decided in advance, and they had freedom to construct each song as they wished. This just added to the joy of the evening.

All of the musicians were jaw- droppingly awesome, the horn section especially so but the rhythm section was tremendous too. A special mention for Steve Fishwick for depping so faultlessly – a measure of his talent and professionalism and he appears so calm!

Favourites? Difficult: the first tune, “Miles” hit you in the face with the horn chorus. Maybe also “Dat Dere”. By that time in the second set everybody on stage was grinning at the quotes and riffs of their colleagues.

We are lucky to have Steve Jordan about. He supplies the set list below.

We complete our January/April programme with the stunning young saxophonist and flautist Alex Clarke. She brings with her the dream rhythm section: Rob Barron piano, Dave Green bass and Clark Tracey drums. We hope to see you on Wednesday 26 April.

Dave

ALAN BARNES/ANDY PANAYI SEXTET  

SETLIST, FLEECE JAZZ 12/4/23

1. Miles (Davis) from the 1958 album Milestones
2. Two Bass Hit (Lewis-Gillespie) also from the album Milestones
3. Jeanine (Duke Pearson) from the 1960 album Them Dirty Blues by the Cannonball Adderley Quintet
4. This Here (Bobby Timmons) from the 1959 album The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco
5. Wabash (Julian Adderley) from the 1959 album The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago
6. Blue Train (John Coltrane) from the 1957 album Blue Train by John Coltrane
7. Lazybird (John Coltrane) from the 1957 album Blue Train by John Coltrane

*          *          *           *         *        *        *

8. Locomotion (John Coltrane) from the 1957 album Blue Train by John Coltrane
9. Jive Samba (Nat Adderley) from the 1962 album Jazz Workshop Revisited by The Cannonball Adderley Sextet
10. Dear John (Freddie Hubbard) from the 1991 album Bolivia was dedicated to John Coltrane and based on Coltrane’s Giant Steps
11. Naima (John Coltrane) dedicated to Coltrane’s first wife
12. Dat Dere (Bobby Timmons) from the 1960 album Them Dirt Blues by the Cannonball Adderley Quintet
13. I’m Old Fashioned (Jerome Kern) from the 1957 album Blue Train by John Coltrane
14. ENCORE: Del Sasser (Sam Jones) from the 1960 album Them Dirty Blues by the Cannonball Adderley Quintet

Superb gig, big audience, couldn’t be better.

Something about the instruments: first the piano. Oddgeir Berg brought some electronics driven from a small but very good mic clipped to a bar on the open front piano. This gave Oddgeir a variety of soundscapes driven by the piano. He used his hand on the strings at times to produce a percussive sound. Mind you, while playing without the electronics, his touch is such that the full range of dynamics from softly lyrical to loud percussive was there.

Audun Ramo’s bass also was driven through a stomp box set, but the changes to the sound of the bass were very subtle. It was lovely to hear such bowing with varying timbre. Audun also used the instrument as a drum with his hands and fingernails for one song. A bit of magic: the bass folded into a cello shaped case at less than airline maximum. 

Bands flying from Norway don’t bring a drum kit. Lars Berntsen used a very nice rented kit (thank you, Webby, who even brought 5 snare drums for Lars to choose from). Lars brought his own cymbals, of course.  No mics or electronics on the drums.

With one exception, the tunes were all written by Oddgeir. They varied through stormy, light happy and subtle, melancholy and happy swinging. The arrangements didn’t leave much room for applause after solos. Watching our audience from the sound desk, its listening was visibly intense. There was applause and hoots after each number, and some stood to applause after the last song. Can we have them back, please?

Steve Jordan builds annotated set lists from gigs, for which we are very grateful.

Tickets for Barnes/Panayi on April 12th are going nicely, so do book with David or WeGotTickets soon.

Take care

Dave

ODDGEIR BERG TRIO SETLIST, FLEECE JAZZ 22/3/23

1. Here Comes The Toughest
2. The Dream of Adam – a lullaby for one of Oddgeir’s three children.
3. Dancing Through The Storm 
4. Happy Morning
5. Psalmist
6. Sunday Mood

*          *          *           *         *        *        *

7. List
8. Scenes From A Movie
9. Vagabond
10. Oldies
11. Bring On The Night
12. Mermaid’s Dance
13. Wonderwall*
14. Post Mortem

All compositions and arrangements by Oddgeir Berg except * written by Noel Gallagher of the rock band, Oasis.