The Sound of Blue Note - Riverside Arts Jazz

Paul Jordanous

Sound of Blue Note

Jac Jones - saxophone
Paul Jordanous - trumpet
Terence Collie - piano
Dave Jones - bass
Matthew Skeaping - drums

Date - 10th December 2017
Venue - Riverside Arts Centre, Sunbury-on-Thames, UK

Matthew Skeaping

Future Mood Indigo events
JANUARY
07 Riverside Arts Jazz - Jim Mullen
19 Posk - Featuring Duncan Eagles - saxophone, Becky Morse – vocals
FEBRUARY
04 Riverside Arts Jazz - The Music of Michael Garrick
MARCH
04 Riverside Arts Jazz - "Smokin’ At the Half Note" feat. Nigel Price
APRIL
15 Riverside Arts Jazz - Jo Harrop "Anita O’Day - The Verve Years"

The last Riverside Arts Jazz concert of 2018 defied the sleet and snow to present a warm and sweet night of Jazz. Buoyed by mulled wine and mince pies the packed audience were completed absorbed by a repertoire of tunes prised from the Blue Note vaults. Eschewing the usual Blue Note fayre, they presented a plate of light and delicious amuse-bouche rather than the greedy gorging of a 30lb 'hard bop' turkey.

Dave Jones

Despite the presence of Paul Jordanous, who had jetted in after recently touring with Rag'n'Bone Man, this wasn't a night for showboating nor headliners. It was a performance of balance and poise. The rich warmth that spread through the body wasn't just the Riverside Arts' efficient heating system but a familiarity with the music, the musicians themselves, and a genuine sense of community. Generously fostered by Terence Collie and Janet McCunn.

Jac Jones

Historically, Blue Note has principally been associated with the "hard bop" style of jazz. Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Grant Green, Hank Mobley, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson and Jackie McLean were among the label's leading artists. Founded in 1939 by Alfred Lion, Francis Wolff and Max Margulis it continues to be influential to jazz musicians today. Not only does the music live on but also the design, photography and graphic art that helped sell albums throughout the world.

Terence Collie

Terrence Collie has been playing music since he was 10 years old. He is mainly self taught, learning tunes by ear playing along with the record and learning to improvise. He has done formal studies with the Open University and Berklee and has been lucky enough to play with a whole host of musicians over the years in many different genres from rock, soul, funk, blues, reggae, latin to swing. He is currently running and hosting many jazz nights in south west London and playing regularly at some of the best jazz venues in the South of England, both with his own group Prison Break or as a sideman with others. He is also the co-founder of the successful TW12Jazz Festival. He is going to record a trio album in January 2018.

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.