January 20th 2018
Enthusiastic applause saw jazz vocalist Claire Martin OBE (described by The Times as “our finest jazz singer”), jazz pianist David Newton, drummer Matt Skelton and bassist Sam Burgess on-stage for the third of this season’s Visiting Artists’ Tindall Recital Series. An upbeat atmosphere was created immediately in opening number Come runnin’, as much by Claire Martin’s exuberance as by the fast tempo and almost volatile mood of the bebop-style “bombs” on the snare which, in addition to the demanding interval leaps and pushed rhythms of the pianist, were bound together by a walking bass. Sam showed us his mettle with an introductory solo, suddenly doubling his rhythmic rate whilst touring scale after scale.
After such a vigorous opening I was expecting a less wild pace to set in. However, in the second number – Better than Anything – the tempo grew positively feverish. In this number, the vocalist presented a list of dos and don’ts for lovers which exploited every opportunity for word play. This was accompanied by typically exciting Newton playing; his pianistics demonstrated tempo-play with syncopated parallel octaves in his right hand, whilst visiting increasingly daring and chromatic chords in his left. I have heard him play in all five Tindall Recital Series concerts since I have been at Sherborne and he is outstanding.
Claire proved her intention to provide “many different tempi and styles in the programme”, by moving on to a Rumba dance for Too much in love to care. The limelight in this number was shared with Matt Skelton and his intricate syncopated drum solo using both brushes and just hands, and playing with accentuation to suggest metres such as 3/4 and 12/8 before fading back into polyrhythmic flair.
A brief mid-concert interval provided a chance to get heartbeats back to resting rate! The second half included a down-tempo ballad Love is a necessary evil, set to a strophic blues structure. A sluggish bassline scooped between notes, accompanied by the atmospheric sweeping of brushes on the snare. The lyrics, about a relationship turning sour, were attentively followed by Dave Newton who reflected the words with variations in dissonance and consonance, complimented by doleful blues licks. The fastest number was a fiendish bebop piece called Tight, which the ensemble broke into with an almost-spontaneous fluidity. A lightning-quick bassline set the pulse, over which the drummer played manic rhythms at a furious pace. Claire Martin was gripping in her energetic performance.
My favourite item of the night was towards the end – a dark piece entitled Devil may care. A loitering bass-line, coupled with a gentle swing rhythm on the ride cymbal, set the mood during which I thought to myself: “if you can’t actually sit in Ronnie Scott’s, this cold January night in the Tindall must surely be the next best thing!” Claire Martin, sitting casually on a stool, gave a laid-back yet highly detailed vocal performance, with decorations such as vibrato flourishes and many delayed rhythms in the style of Teri Thornton.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, with a richly varied programme undertaken by highly skilled musicians. It’s good to know that many of them will be back again next season.
Jordan Berry (Exhib.Mus U6a)
