Simon Spillett - Bear Grills

 

Simon Spillett - Saxophone

Striding into the arena of the Twickenham Jazz Club last week (19/12/2014) was the handsome and manly Simon Spillett. It was the final bout for both the TJC and myself in 2013, a Christmas party of sorts that was mercifully short of festive melodies but full of good cheer.


Colin Kyte -
 TJC designer

It has been a healthy first year on the Art Of Jazz site, with plenty of variety from within and outside the Jazz fraternity. In fact the most popular entries have been those about my time on a Simulated Mental Health Ward at Kingston University. Fine Art exhibitions and album design work still occupy most of my time so it is always a balancing act. The body is weak sometimes after a night sketching followed by family duties and a day in the studio. Nevertheless the site has been visited 20,000 times in 2013, with the Whirlwind Jazz Festival in October the pinnacle of the year.

Roger Beaujolais - Vibes

It was a fittingly breath taking night to bow out. Simon Spillet resplendent in a black winter beard looked more like a suited gladiator than a jazz frontman. With an air of Crixus about him he was combative in both technique and speed. His microphonic patter has a dark humour that matched his hirsute appearance. The opener for the quartet was 'The night has a thousand eyes' and our gazes were indeed trained on heartthrob Mr Spillett who roamed the stage like the love child of Grizzly Adams and one of his bears.

Alec Dankworth - Bass

The man who always attracts our attention and a favourite amongst the TJC crowd is Roger Beaujolais. Despite the tenderness of the second tune 'My Funny Valentine' Beaujolais extended a high whip, really putting his shoulder into the thrashing of his vibraphone. He exploded from the gates on 'A Night in Tunisia' (from Simon Spillett's most recent release Square One). It was the cue for a Spillett attack, his delivery as quick as a jelly sliding off a plate. You caught a handful of notes in you mitts before it slid through your fingers, he was so rapid, but it was Beaujolais who broke the mould. On Clifford Brown's 'Sandu' he slid off his glasses and let down his hair for this meaty groover. When at full tilt Beaujolais has a tendency to part the mouth like a Page 3 model and moistens his lips in the most alluring of poses. An unlikely flaxen haired sex symbol.

Alec Dankworth on bass made his mark later in the second set. His playing on 'But Beautiful' (Jimmy Van Heusen) was more satisfying than taking a rich long draw on an illicit cigarette. With his unflappable persona and those happy/sad eyes he remained somewhat of an enigma.


Kelvin Christiane - Sax

Trevor Tomkins brought in his own fan club to swell the already bursting audience numbers. Despite a couple of visits to see him at his Red Lion residency in nearby Isleworth, he has been an absentee in my sketchbook all year. Even though he was bathed in a deathly ghoulish light his performance was anything but undead. If the lights had been dimmed any further you could still have identified Tomkins' silhouette. With a head that often lists to the left and a shoulder that kicks like a mule trying to dislodge a troublesome fly he has a Zen aura that radiated to the back rows of the Twickenham Jazz Club. I wish that he could have been my Mr Miyagi when I was bullied at school for being a teenage Acker Bilk lover.


Mike - New Face

We all had an early Christmas present when Kelvin Christiane came back to join us after his enforced substitution due to Mallet Finger. He is the Club's Spartacus and with Lesley alongside him they once again packed The Bloomsbury pub. It has not always been this way and the TJC has seen ebbs and flows this year. What is encouraging is the new faces amongst the regulars and I sketched a bestubbled Mike who was accompanied by a bevvy of beautiful women.

Andy Rock -
TJC Regular

I will leave the final word to Twickenham Jazz Club double act, Andy Rock & Colin Kyte. Sitting on the front row like iconic Muppets Statler & Waldorf, the aforementioned Rock turned to Kyte and said
"Spillett and Beaujolais are so fast and furious they're bucking the trend and shedding a few pounds before Christmas".

Like the rest of us I've started the slimline regime after the festivities and I'll be ready for action in the New Year.

See you then.
Alban

Tommaso Starace - Tender is the Night

Tommaso Starace -
Alto Saxophone

With an intense screwed up face Tomasso Starace wooed us with his tenderness last Thursday (04/07/2013) at the Twickenham Jazz Club. After waiting months to shed Spring's dark clouds the night felt plump and heavy with latent promise. On the eve of the Wimbledon finals and with the smell of cut grass after the first summer sheerings you could quite accurately say we were waiting for something to happen. Yet we teetered on the edge of indifference.

Kelvin Christiane -
Tenor

Maybe we were the worst sort of audience, a little understrength and occupied with the sensual night outside on the suburban streets. To his credit despite a shaky start, Tommaso Starace didn't despair or cast us aside as lost causes. Lets face it he wasn't going to get in our knickers like Gilad Atzmon the week before, his was a more subtle approach, like the suitor who charms you by having tea with you granny. It is always underrated how far you can get with the power of politeness and attentiveness. Well if you didn't already know you can go straight to the heart.

Chris Nickolls - drums

I don't want you to think Starace is an exponent of limp wristed attrition, his playing was direct not dominating, and fluid not fervent. Again I undersell this charming man, and I have to admit that not only did I underestimate him but his band too. None more so than Chris Nickolls his drummer who I have drawn for many years now. Over this period it has taken some time to appreciate his art but I do believe this is not all my fault. Despite our paths crossing regularly he remains a intensely private man and what little titbits of information he feeds me I gobble up with enthusiasm.

Andy Rock - Jazz Advisor

I do know Nickolls has been working tirelessly with both TJ Johnson and Ola Onabule recently. He's got those deep dark eyes on The Ealing Jazz Festival later this month and The London Jazz Festival further afield. He's part of the mysterious Mark Perry Experiment that has had such a long gestation period for their debut album that the baby, once born, will be a giant! Their CD, Road Ahead, will see its first outing at the LJF itself, featuring no less talents than Gareth Lockrane, Ola Onabule, Sam Leak, Duncan Eagles and Max Luthert. While I was fussing and knotting my brow over our drummer, Andy Rock, our PRS representative simply said " Sharp, driven and propulsive!" Here's a man I listen to, he has better ears than me, in fact he's in the process of applying to be the Jazz Advisor to the PRS Foundation no less.

Roger Beaujolais -
Vibes

It wasn't just Starace that was courting us this evening but it was he who made the first assault.  His renditions of Michel Petrucciani's 'Looking Up' and 'Brazillian Like' were fast and airy. When he blows hard it is his knees that are the barometer, all musicians have their idiosyncrasies, and it is his 'biscuits' that weave from side to side like a slalom skiers when he's in the flow, or knock one another like two flints eager to ignite. His spark did in fact catch in our unreceptive tinder and we caught alight.

Shane Alessio - Bass

The man who added the oxygen to the night's fire was Roger Beaujolais whose light melodies and rhythm only added to the air of Mediterranean freedom. I must admit when an audience member, who shall remain nameless, shouted "It's Mr Pastry" I was a total blank. I've since found out who Mr Pastry was and I can confirm that Beaujolais has little in common with the bumbling comic. His movement and dexterity was a joy to watch and I wasn't the only person spellbound with his physicality during Horace Silver's 'Nica's Dream'.

Tommaso (left) and Christiane (right)

A new bassist to me, Shane Alessio more than played his part, he was inventive on 'In A Sentimental Mood', throwing in edgy abrasive and distress strokes amongst his fluent swoops. A spicy mix. Lesley Christiane introduced the second set with 'The More I See You' in customary style and her husband Kelvin shone when he took to the stage. His girdle has made all the difference and he was comfortable and expressive on 'Donna Lee' and 'Some Day My Prince Will Come'. 

It was an exchange on the later tune that strongly affected my mood and I believe epitomises the spirit of the evening. Christiane upon finishing his solo took a breather and the hand of Tommaso reached out to him, a sign of affection and admiration, the younger man touched his shoulder. You rarely see Jazzmen touch each other, maybe it is not the done thing, but this sign of tenderness made my knees buckle like the afore mentioned slalomer.  

I was obviously not the only one swept away by the performance of Tommaso Starace and his group, the crowd at the Twickenham Jazz Club stood on their feet and applauded unreservedly upon the finale. We reached out to him in our humble way because his music had touched us with its tender grasp.

AL.