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Mikec
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- Buckinghamshire, UK
They played at Marlow Jazz last night.
I'm very happy to say that Peter King is over his recent health issues and back on top form. He played a slightly more introspective set than usual, perhaps, with more emphasis on short lyrical phrases. The highlight for me was the Lush Life/ Body and Soul medley. He does a long unaccompanied introduction to this which is searingly beautiful.
He was partnered by Simon Spillett. There aren't that many saxplayers around who can occupy the same stage as Peter King, but Simon can. His technique is virtuosic (?) and his sound is big with nice textures to it. His personality is as big as his sound, and he commands the stage.
The second set was even better than the first, and it was one of those gigs where you keep looking at your watch hoping it will stand still! The duetting was remarkably good considering they hadn't played together before; I'd have liked to hear more of that.
The backing band was, again, the Frank Toms Trio, with Dennis Smith on Drums and Matt Ridley on Bass. Frank Toms is a very adaptable pianist. He seems to be able to pick up any style and run with it.
That's three ultra-fast sax players I've seen in two weeks and really enjoyed them all (the other was Vasillis Xenopoulos). If you'd asked me a few years ago I would have said that I don't like what Jools called somewhere here "twiddly music", so what's different about these three? I've been thinking about it and have come to the conclusion that the secret is in that they don't just play solos, they construct meaningful ones. There is logic or narrative to what they improvise, and this in turn derives from careful and meaningful phrasing. If there happen to be a lot of notes in a passage, it works because the notes are to the passage as leaves are to a tree (Ah! grasshopper!) and everything works towards a coherent whole. That's not to say that such speed of playing is essential to good music, there are many great players who don't have such speed, but if the player has sufficient talent speed is another tool in the toolbox.
I hope that makes some kind of sense. Anyway a great gig!
EDIT: I forgot to mention Simon Spillett has a CD in the shops soon. I got one last night, it's good!
I'm very happy to say that Peter King is over his recent health issues and back on top form. He played a slightly more introspective set than usual, perhaps, with more emphasis on short lyrical phrases. The highlight for me was the Lush Life/ Body and Soul medley. He does a long unaccompanied introduction to this which is searingly beautiful.
He was partnered by Simon Spillett. There aren't that many saxplayers around who can occupy the same stage as Peter King, but Simon can. His technique is virtuosic (?) and his sound is big with nice textures to it. His personality is as big as his sound, and he commands the stage.
The second set was even better than the first, and it was one of those gigs where you keep looking at your watch hoping it will stand still! The duetting was remarkably good considering they hadn't played together before; I'd have liked to hear more of that.
The backing band was, again, the Frank Toms Trio, with Dennis Smith on Drums and Matt Ridley on Bass. Frank Toms is a very adaptable pianist. He seems to be able to pick up any style and run with it.
That's three ultra-fast sax players I've seen in two weeks and really enjoyed them all (the other was Vasillis Xenopoulos). If you'd asked me a few years ago I would have said that I don't like what Jools called somewhere here "twiddly music", so what's different about these three? I've been thinking about it and have come to the conclusion that the secret is in that they don't just play solos, they construct meaningful ones. There is logic or narrative to what they improvise, and this in turn derives from careful and meaningful phrasing. If there happen to be a lot of notes in a passage, it works because the notes are to the passage as leaves are to a tree (Ah! grasshopper!) and everything works towards a coherent whole. That's not to say that such speed of playing is essential to good music, there are many great players who don't have such speed, but if the player has sufficient talent speed is another tool in the toolbox.
I hope that makes some kind of sense. Anyway a great gig!
EDIT: I forgot to mention Simon Spillett has a CD in the shops soon. I got one last night, it's good!
