Jazz breaking news: Enrico Tomasso keeps things cool in the Garden
Monday, July 15, 2013
Picture this: blissful sun, Pimms on the lawn and celebrity concerts under the awning.
No, we’re not at Glyndebourne but in the ample gardens of Dame Cleo Laine’s rectory home in leafy Wavendon listening to jazz. This latest season of Dankworth-inspired weekend concerts culminated with a Sunday double-header kicked off by Enrico Tomasso’s quartet with The Legends, a collective of former John Dankworth sidemen, as principal attraction.
Tomasso (pictured) has a new solo CD just out and marshalled its personnel for his concert, this giving a sense of cohesion to the performances that just grew and grew. Tomasso is the swing trumpeter par excellence, full-toned, with a star soloist’s ability to weigh up options and build an improvisation that balances shape and satisfaction. It’s an old-fashioned virtue perhaps but Tomasso knows better than to just run the changes, preferring to exploit each tune’s riches to fashion a unique story. Still, with pianist John Pearce, incisive as ever, and the swing subtleties offered by bassist Andy Cleyndert and drummer Bobby Worth, how could he not succeed? Just to hear Enrico’s startling high-note finish to ‘The Good Life’ was enough to put pep in every step.
Fronted by veteran trombonist Bill Geldard, The Legends included trumpeter Henry Lowther, saxmen Jimmy Hastings and Duncan Lamont plus pianist John Horler, Dave Green on bass and the Dankworth Seven’s original drummer Tony Kinsey. Just to reel off those names is to recall past glories (even more so when Dame Cleo sat in for a number), a selected few offering a personal view of JD and their association with him, first talking before playing re-runs of vintage material. If some earlier pieces seemed tame, those composed more recently by Kinsey or the late Eddie Harvey worked better, with Lowther taking flight every time he could. With no rehearsal and heavy amounts of paper to study, it speaks well for their musicianship that so much of worth was revealed. Best of show? The 85-year old Kinsey, as cool and crisp as ever.
– Peter Vacher