Gareth Hunt/Wally Shaw/Steve Plumb + Sid Gauld, The Griffin, London

First published in 2014. The landlord behind the bar wearing a pork pie hat, a little rescue piano tucked away in front of him. Frank Sinatra on the pub’s sound system in raconteur mode telling anecdotes about Dino. A bunch of writers spotted drafting preparations for a play in a little spot by the bar. It’s not a bad way to first encounter north London pub the Griffin in Whetstone, under the new jazz-friendly regime. Pub jazz has been on the up since the licensing laws changed, and no better a spot than the Griffin at the Whetstone end of Totteridge Lane where the man behind the bar with the pork pie hat is landlord and trumpeter Matt Hope, an alumnus of Leeds College of Music. Besides calmly pulling frothing pints of Bombardier and the like alongside his small staff of attentive barmaids Hope has used his musician connections to establish a Sunday night session at the pub in recent weeks.

It was just after seven when the Finchley and Whetstone locals started to drift in for the latest running last night, where joining the house rhythm section of London taxi driver Steve Plumb on drums, Wally Shaw on bass, and Gareth Hunt, piano, was guesting trumpeter/flugel player Sid Gauld, an in-demand session player and arranger also known for his work with Incognito, Delightful Precipice and Mark Lockheart.

The scene for the now established Sunday session had been set some weeks earlier with appearances by Finn Peters, Georgia Mancio, and Dave O'Higgins at the little playing space near the fireplace. The house trio generates a steady swinging pulse with material performed last night that included Mingus’ ’Nostalgia In Times Square’, and best of all, where Gauld really shone in terms of composure and tone, Thad Jones’ ’A Child is Born’ a tune you can also hear on Avishai Cohen's new album Almah released today. Matt Hope, above. Photo: marlbank

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From May 2015. Piano trios sometimes arrive on a wave of curiosity and acclaim, a word of mouth created somewhere else first. This was definitely the case with Swiss trio Vein, the piano player and drummer Arbenz brothers Michael and Florian joined by bassist Thomas Lähns still very much unknown in the UK when they released Vote for Vein last year.

Following quick fire touring with former MBASE saxophonist Greg Osby and then Jazz Talks their lively highly virtuosic most recent album featuring their guest here at the Vortex former Miles Davis saxophonist Dave Liebman they’re now becoming very big cheeses indeed among the new wave of piano trios striking out internationally.

What’s their secret? Well that’s hard to say on a first listen live. But above all they gel as a unit driven by the amazing pianism of the baseball cap-wearing Michael Arbenz. Liebman was on superb form and highlights for me included ‘Negative Space’ and when the NEA Jazz Master switched at one point from wooden recorder deliberately overblowing and squalling at the top of its register to step down to mould to the key of the soprano saxophone it was one of those moments that lifted the music into new areas folding an ancient Eastern mysticism into a modern jazz setting. Tonally magnificent particularly on tenor saxophone there was plenty of energy in the two sets emanating both from Liebman and the trio.

Of the original new album material ‘Black Tortoise’ an easy highlight was definitely the pick here too and towards the end of the evening the flat cap-wearing Florian Arbenz came out of his shell a little more and this was good to witness as more space was clawed back by him at the kit. An abiding overall impression was the sheer athleticism and joy in Michael Arbenz’s vaulting sense of abandonand his punchy left hand vamps did much to hold the big turn-out at the Vortex rapt for long spells. SG

Dalston at dusk, above, photo: marlbank

Gareth Hunt/Wally Shaw/Steve Plumb + Sid Gauld, The Griffin, London

Vein + Dave Liebman, Vortex, London