Andy Davies quartet, Ronnie Scott's upstairs

Switching between trumpet, flugelhorn and pocket trumpet Andy Davies was on 'grandiose' form last night at the weekly Ronnie's jazz jam upstairs. The affable porkpie hat waistcoat-and-bow tie-wearing Welshman has a showman's instinct, hands to the …

Published: 12 Mar 2020. Updated: 4 years.

Switching between trumpet, flugelhorn and pocket trumpet Andy Davies was on 'grandiose' form last night at the weekly Ronnie's jazz jam upstairs. The affable porkpie hat waistcoat-and-bow tie-wearing Welshman has a showman's instinct, hands to the sky, as he scooped up and expected applause at the end of each number, horn high to the ceiling when his solos were at their most dramatic.

Speaking to marlbank later he mused that the evening crowd was smaller than usual because of coronavirus and yet earlier had in his positive and amusing chats to what nonetheless was a fairly decent sized turn out notwithstanding the peril, counselled punters to forget the virus 'get the jazz bug' and 'you've come for the conversation' (as some serious loud mouths were yakking away in a booth for sure) 'and stayed for the jazz'. Saleem Raman 'best drummer in his price range,' quipped Davies was to his side shifting the tempo to tickle the fancy of classic guitarist Nigel Price somersaulting up and down the frets all night while the newcomer bassist, sadly I didn't catch his name, a protégé of the Julian Joseph Jazz Academy in Hackney, played beautifully on double bass, a new star on the scene, tremendously quick and agile pulsing throughout the first set. Numbers included 'Speak Low', 'Polka Dots and Moonbeams' and 'The End of a Love Affair' were my pick of the set.

Andy Davies pictured top left with Saleem Raman and the jazz jam returns on Wednesday. Pic. Marlbank

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Xhosa Cole quartet, Vortex, London

Themed around the Larry Young Blue Note album Unity released in 1966 delivered in the second set of the concert tenor saxophonist Xhosa Cole cut a tall, dapper presence dressed in a striped blazer, tie, and flannels, his style as classic as his …

Published: 11 Mar 2020. Updated: 3 years.

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Themed around the Larry Young Blue Note album Unity released in 1966 delivered in the second set of the concert tenor saxophonist Xhosa Cole cut a tall, dapper presence dressed in a striped blazer, tie, and flannels, his style as classic as his look, in the front line jousting throughout with the pure toned trumpet star and bandleader in his own right Jay Phelps a little less formally dressed but stylish as ever. Jim Bashford was on drums playing the Elvin Jones role while Noah Stoneman on Nord C3 organ if you like was the Larry Young figure and rose to the challenge. Cole of course was our Joe Henderson and Jay, Woody Shaw. But this was not impersonation and each player has his own style and brought personality to a sound for it to become more than the sum of its parts. Stoneman has a lot of potential and reminded me of Kit Downes in his early days (who Jay recorded with in Empirical on their first award-winning album in the early days).

The first set begun by a boogaloo in the Lee Morgan mould, in terms of highlights of this part of the concert the real moment was within a tribute to the late great McCoy Tyner with 'Contemplation' beautifully rendered by Xhosa up high in the register on that achingly beautiful tune as the melody floats down the scale so tenderly.

By contrast trad jazz got a look in with the romping 'John Brown's Body' something I haven't heard live in years.

Cole has a fantastic technique and his solos have an intensity to them even when his timbre is light and airy there is strength and stamina to his method and plenty of detours ahead in the improvising journey.

Hot on the stage and a warm-ish night the relaxed but attentive audience responded well to the Young material later, the tunes played in the order they occur on the album.

The audience helped Xhosa gloss 'Zoltan' named for the Hungarian composer Kodály as he chatted engagingly explaining the tunes, and we all warmed to the lovely 'The Moontrane' with 'Monk's Dream' and 'If' coming in between. 'Softly as in a Morning Sunrise' was a warm treatment, while earlier the band displayed their facility in the tricky time shifts on the Monk. (Even more so on the very hairy 'Played Twice' in the first set.)

An excellent band: I'll be looking to hear Cole as soon as reasonably possible. His rapport with Phelps especially the way they can riff contrapuntally so deftly as Stoneman soloed was great to witness and added to the lush voicings ornamenting the organ. The level of syncopation throughout especially on the Monk material and then taking the tempo up on the super busy 'Beyond All Limits' was outstanding. SG