Esther Bennett - Words for Wayne Shorter

Esther Bennett

Esther Bennett - voice
Tim Lapthorn - piano,
Oli Hayhurst - bass
Flavio Li Vigni - drums
Brandon Allen - saxes

02/02/2024
Polish Cultural Centre, Posk, Jazz Café, King Street, Hammersmith
https://www.jazzcafeposk.org/

Flavio Li Vigni 

One of the great nights of originality, performance and raw creativity at Jazz Cafe POSK in Hammersmith. Singer Esther Bennett premiered her latest project, Words for Wayne Shorter, at the West London Cultural hub in front of a packed house. Created specifically for POSK, Bennett created lyrics, voice and poetry for a selection of Wayne Shorter compositions.

Oli Hayhurst 

The tunes chosen from Shorter's Blue Note period gave plenty of opportunity for Brandon Allen (saxophones), Tim Lapthorn (piano), Oli Hayhurst (double bass) and Flavio Li Vigni (drums) to shine. As well as an intertwining of likeminded musical threads from Bennett and Shorter, it was also a night of shared philosophies and existential views. What stood out most was the sheer pizzaz of Bennett, the Brummie belter had more spark than a Black Country furnace.  

Tim Lapthorn

Esther Bennett is one of the jazz scene’s most highly respected and widely loved vocalists. Her innate sense of musicality, gleaned from her earlier years of saxophone playing and study of the jazz idiom, inform a voice that has individuality, originality and flair. Bennett's debut album “Just in Time” was produced by multi award winning singer Ian Shaw and launched at London’s 606 Club in 2005. Since then, she has carved out a prestigious career as a jazz singer, performing extensively in major venues in and around London, across the country and in Europe, accompanied by some of the UK’s leading jazz musicians.

Bandon Allen

Catch more Bandon Allen at Jazz Cafe POSK in the coming weeks, when he brings his Groove Band to the venue on 23rd February 2024.

Esther Bennett 

Alex Garnett & Brandon Allen Quartet

Alex Garnett - Tenor Saxophone

Last Thursday (25/09/2014) at the Twickenham Jazz Club was more about the double act of tenor saxophonists Alex Garnett and Brandon Allen than anything else. Yes, they were capably supported, but this was a case of the duo employing the Zulu 'Horns of the Buffalo' offense to break our post-summer malaise to smithereens.

Brandon Allen - Tenor Saxophone

I have admired Garnett since seeing him a year ago at the Whirlwind Festival and his charm, then as well as now is earthy and real. It was not lost on the Twickenham faithful either, TJC webmaster Lister Park commented "there's a certain understated arrogance behind the 'cheeky chappy' persona". The stomping Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis' tune 'Foxy' epitomises Garnett's mixture of punch and drawl. While Brandon Allen whipped us up, chopping hard, knee knocking and straining just on the end of his lyrical leash it was Alex Garnett that egged him on. More than naughty schoolboys they were men with a passion to take risks.



David Ingamells
Drums

Alex Garnett has a new album on the way from his Bunch of Five crew (inc. Tim Armacost, Liam Noble, Mike Janisch, and James Maddren) called Andromeda. I can confirm that this isn't a homage to the Greek beauty who was chained naked to a rock to sate a monster appetite but the galaxy which is 2.5 million light years from earth. A galaxy which is approaching us at 68 miles a second and is equal in force to the bullish Alex Garnett.

Pete Whittaker - Organ

Pete Whittaker gave us more of what we had been waiting for. Squelching our feet in the oozing cool of Illionis Jacquet's 'Embryo', it even resulted in some spontaneous hip action from Messrs Garnett & Allen. Consistently it was Brandon Allen which caught the eye. A rich and expressive solo on Billy May's 'Somewhere in the night' was backed up by an exuberant and hard-hitting whack on the aforementioned 'Embryo'.

Kelvin Christiane
Tenor Saxophone

In the gloom I grabbed a quick black & white sketch of David Ingamells and Kelvin Christiane. The latter played angry and mean, as though he had something to get off his chest. The three tenors on the stage were faster and more furious than their operatic counterparts. Although this may not be much of a compliment, despite Placido Domingo been known as Pitbull on the classical concert circuit.

AL.

Next up at Twickenham Jazz Club 7th October - Kelvin Christiane Big Band, 16th October - Mikhaly Borbely (Hungarian Saxophonist) with the excellent Mike Gorman Trio, 30th October -Sarah Moule.

Purity not Parody - Nick Mills' Blue Note Project

Nick Mills - Trombone

The fur-cheeked trombonist Nick Mills brought his Blue Note Project to Twickenham Jazz Club earlier this month (10/04/2014) in a display of love and devotion to the long established record label. This was not a history lesson but a celebration of classic compositions by six intelligent performers.



Brandon Allen -
Tenor Saxophone

First impressions do not suggest that Nick Mills is a paid up member of the Jazz intelligentsia but as you hear him speak about his chosen subject you realise that still waters run deep. With his round face, furry chops and a face that turns a subtle shade of puce when in the groove I always imagine he sprung from the Jackanory episode when the BFG meets The lion who came to tea.

Jeremy Brown - Bass

Early exchanges were in honour of Wayne Shorter whose "Hammer head" and "Children of the night" could have been dedicated to saxophonist Brandon Allen who has recently became a father of an infant young enough to disrupt a few nights sleep. There is always a little knee bend in his expressive playing and his solo during the latter tune included a series of rhythmic small steps as though he were a toddler having a tantrum. This was grown-up performance though by Allen and he excelled on the subsequent Lee Morgan tune "Calling Miss Khadija".



Leon Greening -
Piano

Behind band leader Mills I caught brief glimpses of bassist Jeremy Brown who looked every inch the corduroyed  professor complete with spectacles and wild hair. Leon Greening also lurked in the shadows, and visually he was even more incognito under his 'Cousin Itt' bouffant. Not for long, the Twickenham Jazz Club crowd were not going to let him lurk at the back of the stage and he received the strongest response from these wise men and women. In fact Greening was central to the overall performance, his musical motifs during another Shorter tune "Ping Pong" was as light and esssential as the air in a table tennis ball.

A murmuration from the audience greeted Henry Armburg-Jennings on "Skylark" but it was the lines of attack opened up by drummer Matt Home that continued to impress especially on Curtis Fuller "Buhaina's delight" where his direct playing rolled down from dexterous clenched paws to a driving twisting left leg. I raise this Low's hat to his high-hat in admiration.


Henry Armburg-Jennings
Flugel and trumpet

Matt Home wasn't the only player with attack and drive on the Fuller tune. Nick Mills was territorial on his fellow trombonist's composition and roamed the stage with lager in hand like a man eager to once again engage in combat.



Matt Home - Drums

The familiarity of "Caravan" as their final tune could have signalled this as a pastiche of past glories, but in the hands of the Nick Mill's Blue Note Project  it had a sinister and discordant edge that made one feel alive like a kick in the vein. It was frantic and leftfield. It reflected a time when drug addiction was synonymous with moments of creation and originality but in this case it proved that this was not a night for parody but for purity.

AL.