Graeme Taylor's FatSax

Piers Green

Andy Tolman

FatSax
Graeme Taylor - piano
Sam Walker - tenor saxophone
Kelvin Christiane - tenor saxophone
Piers Green - alto saxophone
Andy Mears - alto saxophone
Ollie Weston - baritone saxophone
Andy Tolman - bass
Mike Bradley - drums

Graeme Taylor

Graeme Taylor's FatSax project tips its hat to the world's most classy tribute act of all time, Supersax. Created in 1972 to honour the iconic bebop music of saxophonist Charlie Parker it went on to feature a ever changing role call of talented musicians. Taylor has trimmed the original Supersax format for this concert at Twickenham Jazz Club by removing the trumpet/trombone element but still there was plenty of brass to go round with 2 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones and baritone alongside bass, drums and of course Graeme Taylor himself on piano.

Sam Walker

It is two years since I have experienced FatSax and not much has changed apart from the personnel and why should it. If you have a winning formula then all that is needed is a gentle caress. Taylor spices up his own recipe with changes in arrangement and a subtle stir of the musicians. Fatsax is unashamedly macho in the flex of its muscle. It is fast, furious and virile.

Ollie Weston

On what would have been Bud Powell's 92nd birthday FatSax gave us the emperor's bullet of Tempus Fugit. Clashing and proud this was pectoral jazz as puffed chests smashed together. Ollie Weston was the slippery Deepthroat, he lathered himself up, writhing in his solo like a electric eeled Schwarzenegger, his baritone was a throbbing manliness. Andy Tolman's bass was the ebullient fizz as Mike Bradley popped the corks on drums. Piers Green's alto had the easy lasso of a rancher, the steer man held his reins while waving victoriously to the Twickenham Jazz Club crowd.

Mike Bardley

Moment's Notice was a rich chop, ducks all lined in a row for the audience, shooting fish in a barrel, sugar coated and cigar puffs. It was easy to lay down and let the sax wash all over us. The meat of the music was laid on a plate, full in the mouth, a gravy indulgence. With the glittering of the saxophones' golden thrusts we all became locked in FatSax's bronze cell of speed and dexterity. It was a metallic cascade which rained upon us, we were the accommodating Danae and Graeme Taylor was our Zeus.

AL.

Kelvin Christiane

Andy Mears

Sax Appeal - Derek Nash

Derek Nash

Sax Appeal

Alec Dankworth

Derek Nash - Alto Saxophone
Scott Garland - Alto Saxophone
Duncan Eagles - Tenor Saxophone
Rob Hughes - Tenor Saxophone
Bob McKay - Baritone Saxophone and Flute
Alec Dankworth - Bass
Rick Simpson - Keys

Scott Garland

Mike Bradley - Drums


Date - 27th October 2015

Venue - Twickenham Jazz Club, Cabbage Patch, Twickenham

Current Albums
Sax Appeal - FUNKERDEEN
Derek Nash - You've Got to Dig It to Dig It, You Dig?


Duncan Eagles

Derek Nash in concert
He is currently on tour with the Jools Holland R&B Orchestra until 2oth December 2015. More details at http://www.joolsholland.com
He does have a duo gig at The Cross Keys, 236/238 St Johns Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN4 9XD on 16/12/2015 - 20:15



Rob Hughes

The audience like Derek Nash, they quite simply like him as much as a person as they do a musician. To build this rapport with an audience isn't necessarily an easy thing to do and Nash never holds back in his commitment to a performance.

The tenors of Rob Hughes and Duncan Eagles (fresh off the plane from Partikel's epic tour of China) give us an early Jazz wedgie with the title track to Sax Appeal's latest album Funkerdeen.



Bob McKay

Blue for you feels its way through sleepy eyes into Sax Appeal's performance, Bob McKay wears the metaphorical pyjamas, stretching out his long limbs, propping himself on an elbow and fires up a little smoke. There is an epilogue to this song from Rob Hughes who puts the melting cheese on this morning fry up, a toasty delight, crisp and even. Eventually and unavoidably sinking teeth into much more meaty fare.

The optimistic Seville being the tune. An infectious march and leap, that spurred toes in the audience, from drum to bass, top to bottom, forward and back. Mike Bradley's hard persuasive beats, a beast happy in its sweating skin.

Mike Bradley

The stage was not only set for Jazz music but also the imminent World Cup rugby final, the crowd already full bolstered by Antipodean visitors dancing in the aisles and drinking champagne. The stage bulbs above Sax Appeal start to swing with the convection heat pulsing from the 5 strong saxophone line. Derek Nash's music never talks of empty landscapes it always speaks of people and to people. He is a showman in the kindest definition of the word, his music is a bus ride, a tram journey perhaps. It is about chatter and rubbing shoulders, the joy of being amongst other people. It seems obvious but that is why we come to clubs like Twickenham Jazz Club rather than watch our heroes on Youtube.

Rick Simpson

Sax Appeal aren't a one trick pony, neither in personnel nor subject matter. Derek Nash's Phoenix Suite is testament to that. No hitch kicks from Nash on this occasion, he instead leans back and calls like a howling wolf. Eagles takes up the challenge,  angular and sharp, he is both the builder of the song's motifs and its wrecker. You'll be unlikely to see a tattoo on Eagles knuckles but for this song his fists might well of spelt out Love and Hate. Ghosts, rather than make us dwell on death, awakened an interest in Rick Simpson and were the foundations for a wall of saxophone sound. Simpson was forever present, eventually pulling the teeth from the deadly big band saxes. His was a Hammond silt that eventually sieved out Derek Nash, like gold in a prospector's pan.

AL.

Graeme Taylor - Fat Sax

Piers Green - Alto saxophone

Ahead of us are so many obvious pitfalls that I will endeavour not to afflict upon you too many cringeworthy metaphors, nor make this journey to odious. Despite having 9 musicians and an elephant in the room at Twickenham Jazz Club (19/06/2014) Graeme Taylor's Fat Sax still had room to swing the modest audience by their coat tails. The elephant in question shot himself in the foot midway through the performance with the aid of two goals from Luis Suarez. Yes, this was the night of England's game against Uruguay in the 2014 World Cup. I will not say anything more it, for all our sakes.

Damian Cook - Alto

Graeme Taylor's Fat Sax project tips its hat to the world's most classy tribute act of all time, Supersax. Created in 1972 to honour the iconic bebop music of saxophonist Charlie Parker. It went on to feature a ever changing role call of talented musicians, including a personal favourite, Blue Mitchell. Taylor has kept true to the original format of 2 alto saxes (Piers Green, Damian Cook), 2 tenor saxes (Sam Walker, Toby Stewart) and  baritone (Ollie Weston), trumpet (Sid Gauld) and a rhythm section of bass (Rob Hutchinson),  drums (Mike Bradley) and the man himself on piano.

Sid Gauld - trumpet

The early exchanges surprisingly weren't dominated by the saxophone, this was reserved for trumpeter Sid Gauld. He was the lone herald on a battlefield, playing with clarity while the cavalry's steeds pawed the ground behind him. Gauld certainly wasn't cannon fodder and his 'hammerhead' approach broke through our defences with power and grace. On the 3rd tune, John Coltrane's 'Moment's notice' he stood proud, but we were starting to feel charge of the saxophones.

Toby Stewart - Tenor Sax

It was a overwhelming sensation to be sat in front of the Fat Sax wall of sound. It was not only their broad shoulders that blocked out much of The Bloomsbury 'atmospheric' lighting but the rolling wave of music that dominated the rest of the night. Often playing as one organic force they resembled a manly waterfall. Bud Powell's 'Tempus Fugit' epitomised this fast and furious approach, where the saxophones seem to fire all together yet spray off in their own jets of pleasure. A little like 5 men synchronised at an urinal but with much sweeter consequences.

Graeme Taylor - piano

Graeme Taylor broke into the rush of joyous and swinging saxophones with his own up-tempo artistry. Taylor is hard to capture in the sketchbook, he looks both muscular and light of foot and his eyes seem to have the sort of permanent twinkle reserved for American sitcoms and Casanovas. He is one of the movers and shakers at The Gunnersbury, where Big Band's perform on Sunday lunchtimes including his very own the Hot Waffle Big Band. Modest as always he lurks in the background but let me shed just a little light on his talents as a composer and arranger. You can now gets your hand on his 'charts' at Big Jazz Face, which isn't a euphemism but an invitation to play White Sand, his fast, furious, fantastic Latin composition with your own big band.




Sam Walker - Tenor Sax

The second set was equally attack minded with Sam Walker's tenor proving a talking point amongst the modest, attentive and knowledgeable crowd. Attributes (I do not know about modesty) displayed by Walker himself, for no other performer listened more keenly at his comrades playing nor applauded more generously. 'Moose the Mooche' gave us the shot in the arm that is Rob Hutchinson on bass but also a vocalising scatting interlude by polymath and drummer Mike Bradley.



Mike Bradley - drums

The over-riding theme of the night was the interchange between the Brass' togetherness and each individual's skill. Dexter Gordon's 'Cheese Cake' was the manifestation of this theory, compositionally switch-hitting between pace and personnel. Continuity kept on taking a cigarette break while the aforementioned Hutchinson and Bradley decadently blew smoke rings in our direction.

Ollie Weston - Baritone Sax

It is hard to single out one performer from the united line of saxophones but Ollie Weston's baritone was at it's most lyrical during Fat Sax's rendition of Charlie Parker's 'Confirmation'. Weston was nimble and light footed whilst negotiating the tune's complex chord changes. He was the gate that let me enter Fat Sax's wall of sound and sit up in my ivory tower as I watched the desolate England football fans sadly trudge below.

AL.

Rob Hutchinson - bass