Moray Jazz Club

An evening of great variety, good jazz, good humour  and  very much in the vein of Thelonius Monk…’don’t play what the public want-you play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doing..’

With thanks to Colin Henderson on Baritone Sax, Alto Sax and Flute; Jon Hall Keyboards, Bill Jannetta Bass and Fabrizio Conti on Drums.   Colin said his lips had been out of practice for five weeks; we would never have known. Jon, as witty as ever, oh, and pretty nifty on the ivories. Bill, laconic and deceptively dextrous on twanging those four bass strings. Fabrizio, in his element, chilled and dreaming of Coco cabaña when Colin went for the bossa novas. Thanks  Fabrizio for giving  up your  time to show a very young fan your drumkit… the next generation.

So, we were treated to, amongst a number of standards, Black Orpheus [Day in the life of a fool]- Luis Bonfa;Night and Day and What is this thing called love – Cole Porter; Satin doll Duke Ellington; I hear a rhapsody-Fragos,Baker and Gasparre; Darn that dream Jimmy Van Heusen; These foolish things Jack Strachey; Moanin’-Bobby Timmons; A little tear [tare?]– Rumir Deodato; Good morning heartache-Higginbotham,Drake and Fisher; finished off by Sonny Rollins’ St Thomas.

Remember these two names for the future:  Matthew Kilner and Neil Birse.  These two recent  music graduates from Aberdeen University and Guildhall School of Music respectively were an absolute joy to listen to last night. They entertained, inspired, uplifted, enthused and enriched our Moray Jazz Club with their brilliant portrayal of an array of jazz standards and not so standard. ‘Take the A Train’ was more like take the A-Z train, ‘Stella by Starlight’ was sublime and as good as any take by Miles Davis. ‘Georgia on my mind’ would have had Ray Charles singing his heart out to Hoagy Carmichael ‘s ‘30’s hit.  Wayne King would have been chuffed with their interpretation of ‘Beautiful Love’ and Dizzy Gillespie’s  ‘Birks works’ certainly worked for us.

Gentlemen, thank you for entertaining us with the dexterity and sublimity of sixteen fingers and four thumbs on keyboard and sax, we salute you.

To Matthew, we wish you the very best for your Masters at the Birmingham Conservatoire and to Neil, we await your return!

Great evening’s entertainment from the wonderful musicianship that is  Jon Hall – Piano,Graeme Nairn – Guitar and Flute,Bill Jannetta – Double Bass and Harry McFarlane – Drums. One might be forgiven that we were at a comedy club insofar as certain members of the band were getting stick, and giving it back. At one stage Bill Jannetta was so incensed with the flack he was getting that he said ‘it was like being back in school’…not bad for a gentleman who is over……50..ish.  In spite of this well-intentioned banter, the band gave a great exposition of all that is best in jazz with many favourites  including: ‘Without a song’   Vincent Youmans;‘It could happen to you’  Jimmy Van Heusen;  ‘Sometime ago’ Sergio Mihanovich; ‘Gentle rain’ Luiz Bonfá;‘Like Someone In love’ Jimmy van Heusen;‘Night of a Thousand eyes’ Jerry Brainin;‘I fall in love too easily’  Jule Styne;‘Easy to love’ Cole Porter;‘Flamingo’ Ted Grouya;‘Yesterdays’ Jerome Kern;‘How insensitive’ Antônio Carlos Jobim;‘The nearness of you’ Hoagy Carmichael;‘Falling in love with love’ Richard Rogers; and ‘Meditation’ Antonio Carlos Jobim.

It was a real pleasure to have Elaine Crighton return to Moray Jazz Club and this time with the ultra-reliable Mr Bass himself, Lewis Benzies . It was the first occasion we had Neil Birse on piano, what a find! Neil has returned to north east Scotland after completing his studies at the Guildhall in London and  Elaine’s pitch with Neil was seamless and his  piano breaks were sublime. Their partnership bodes very well for the future.

Elaine took us on a promenade through classic numbers starting with Cole Porter’s ‘It’s too darn hot’ ; ‘Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry’ a 1944 jazz standard, with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sammy Cahn; How Little We Know” by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer for the 1944 film ‘To Have and Have Not’; ‘No More Blues’, possibly the first recorded bossa nova song; ‘Don’t Get Around…’ by Mr Ellington; ‘Till There Was You’ ‘ written by Meredith Willson for the 1957 musical The Music Man but popularised by Paul McCartney after he head Peggy Lee sing it; a vocal arrangement of Sonny Rollins’ ‘St Thomas’; ‘Close Your Eyes’ by  Bernice Petkere; Georgie Fame’s ‘The Poet of New York’; But Not for Me” originally written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin; Nat King Cole’s ‘Straighten Up And Fly Right’; Jerome Kern’s  ‘in love in vain’ and Ray Noble’s ‘The touch of your lips’. What a brilliant set Elaine, many thanks and bring that young pianist again!

 

We welcomed back Morag to MJC after a long absence, too long as Morag showed once again what a superb jazz talent she is. If you get the chance go and listen to  Morag at the Edinburgh Fringe on 15 and 22 August. She will be performing sixties numbers, think Cilla, Petula and Witney.

Morag was joined at MJC by Reiner Goldberg – Guitar, Lewis Benzies – Bass Guitar and Harry McFarlane – Drums. Morag took us on a vocal journey from classic twenties and thirties numbers through to the fifties and sixties including:

Harry Warren’s ‘September in the rain’;

Fats Waller ‘Homeysuckle Rose’ and  ‘Saving my love for you ‘;

Kirk Wild & Ogden Nash ‘Speak Low’;

Dorothy Fields ‘I  can give you anything but love’;

Brooks Bowman ‘East of the Sun(and west of the moon)’;

Hank Levy & Duke Ellington’s ‘Caravan’;

Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes ‘The Girl from Ipanema’

Cole Porter ‘Lets  do it (Lets fall in Love)

Harold Ireland and Ted Koehler  ‘I’ve got the world on a string’;

Sonny Burke and Paul Webster ‘Black coffee’;

Carl Sigman &Bob Russell ‘Crazy he calls me’;

Reiner Goldberg also played a guitar original ‘Getting closer’

It was a pleasure having Steve Garrett on acoustic guitar and  the versatile and frequent visitor Pete Lowit on double bass to Moray Jazz Club  on the 18th July. Both musicians provided us with a medley of original and adapted film and folk music ranging from the Joe Pass then ‘For Django’,  Dimitri Tiomkin’s ‘Green Leaves of Summer’, Jerry Goldsmith’s ‘Love Theme’ from ‘Chinatown’,  Alex North‘s ‘Spartacus ‘Love Theme’, Charlie Haden’s ‘Our Spanish Love Song’, John McLaughlin’s ‘Follow Your Heart’ to the Charlie Mingus lament ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ , finishing with what is believed to be Henry VIII’s composition for Anne Boleyn – ‘Greensleeves’.  An eclectic fusion of  music in to a jazz format that worked really well. Thank you gents.

Great to have Pamela Nairn back this week alongside Colin Henderson on Baritone and Alto Sax and Flute, Graeme Nairn on Guitar, Bill Jannetta on Bass and Alistair Stuart on Drums. Pamela’s superb easy  and clear tone so reminiscent of  Doris Day’s light vibrato voice made it a real joy to hear jazz standards such as:

 I could write a book Rogers and Hart;

Dearly beloved Jerome Kerne;

Just one of those things Cole Porter;

Witchcraft Cy Coleman;

East of the sun Diane Krall;

On the Street where you live Frederick Loewe;

Hey there  Rosemary Clooney and many more.

It is reassuring that Jazz in Moray is alive and well with a youthful input by four school pupils  at Moray Jazz Club  last Thursday evening at Elgin City Football Club.   Cameron McPhail, Blair Marleon and Connor Whyte from Academy and Darcy Taylor from Mosstowie Primary played two numbers to rapturous applause from the audience. One was a bluesy number composed by house band member Colin Henderson and the other  was Miles Davis’ ‘Freddie the Freeloader’. They gave a confident performance  on clarinet, trumpet and saxophone and were accompanied by Graham Nairn on guitar, Bill Jannetta on Bass and Alun Murphy on drums

All four are pupils of Glen Macintosh who with Colin have been working on their jazz playing for the past five weeks. Colin’s workshops were instigated after an article in the Northern Scot concerning the threat to the provision and cost of music lessons in Moray attracted a very generous anonymous donation to further promote jazz with young people. The standard achieved in such a short time by the four youngsters who came to Moray Jazz Club just shows what  fantastic potential there is in Moray. The Jazz Club would welcome more young people to showcase their playing and appreciation of jazz.  Colin is especially looking for bass players, pianists and drummers.  If any primary or secondary students would like to take advantage of the free workshops  on offer please get in touch with Colin Henderson on 01343 542969.