No apologies for the lack of notes the past few weeks. I was in Canada with friends and family, hail, snow, 20C above, everything but rain. We had a wonderful time. I am told that the Sara Oschlag and Ant Law gigs were excellent. I was back for the Christian Brewer Quartet and it was a delight.
Christian Brewer plays alto and soprano saxes, and he brought Leon Greening on piano, Adam King on bass and from New York, Mark Taylor on drums. The set list contained a lot of standards and a few lovely tunes by Christian. Each tune had high points and subtleties. It is a pity more people were not able to hear such beautifully played familiar music.
Mark first. He brought a minimal kit: kick, snare, crash, ride, high hat. He is a maximal talent. His accompaniment is spot on, with perfect volume. A good example of fine accompanying was on Chick Corea’s “Bud Powell”. He had amazing solos. The one that sticks in memory (sorry) was on Mike Nott’s “Dawn Bird”. He combines speed with subtlety in a unique way. His playing throughout was fascinating and a great pleasure to hear.
Adam is a young, award winning bassist, and we were rewarded by his presence at the club. He is not a solemn player: he grins at the unexpected in his colleagues work, and surprisingly, at his own. Christian’s excellent blues, “In the Spur of the Moment” gave Adam the opportunity for a stunning solo.
Leon truly inhabits the piano, becomes part of the instrument when soloing. The ideas flow at an incredible rate. Solo after solo had the audience entranced. I particularly loved his solo in Burton Lane’s “Old Devil Moon”. Beautiful intros are a specialty. We need to see him much more often.
Christian is a lyrical, toneful and tuneful saxophonist on both alto and soprano. I love his tone. Great solos, of course, in “In the Spur of the Moment” and Jim Snidero’s bossa nova “Reluctance” as examples. His own tunes were easy to hear, with lots of blowing room. “Marketa” gave everyone a chance to produce superb solos.
Next week, two bands for the price of one with an early start. The French singer Dahlia Dumont brings her Blue Dahlia project to begin the evening. And then the award winning pianist Eyal Lovett brings his love of melody to two sets sure to be stunning. See you there?
Take care,
Dave