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March 2007
gig reviews

Martin Speake's Change of Heart
Forty Thieves Orkestar
Adam Waldmann Group
Michael Garrick Quintet
Gee, Gallo, Minetto
Sylvie Courvoisier and Mark Feldmann
Cameron Pierre
Jamie Woon
Cameron Pierre
Phil Robson à Six Strings and a Beat
Tim Berne à Big Satan
Robert Mitchell

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March 2007 gig reviews by Chris Parker

Mike Garrick Quintet

Tuesday 6 March

Given that I gave the Michael Garrick Quintet more space in my month's preview than practically anyone else, talking them up a storm, it was chastening for me as well as (presumably) for the great pianist/composer to find the band outnumbering the audience at the beginning of their gig.

They soldiered on apparently undaunted, however, breezing through Garrick originals and the odd arrangement of material by the likes of Billy Strayhorn (the latter, 'Strange Feeling', sparking the first – and probably last – mention of my great obsession, Tim Buckley, from the Vortex stage, reeds player Martin Hathaway being something of a fan, and giving me the opportunity to recommend the late singer's peerless albums Happy Sad and Blue Afternoon to anyone who wishes to hear the quintessence of jazz/folk.

He's also mentioned in my e-novel as the archetypal protean figure.

Returning swiftly however – Garrick's inability to attract decent-sized crowds is a mystery, given his current celebrity as a seminal 1970s figure (like Graham Collier, Mike Westbrook et al.) whose vinyl albums reportedly change hands for significant sums.

It's certainly nothing to do with the quality of his current outfit, in which the reeds players (Hathaway and thoughtful, earnest tenorman Mark Hanslip) are crisply propelled by a vigorous but subtle rhythm section, the whole periodically enlivened by the leader's absorbingly idiosyncratic, wholly personal piano soloing.

 

 

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