MINGUS MOVES : THE GARY CROSBY SEXTET
Bassist of genius and Jazz warrior Gary Crosby appeared tonight with his brilliant young line-up. Cool hardly covers the look of these keen as mustard players, but their sound was something else. Mingus Moves is Gary Crosby’s devotional homage to the great composer and he has chosen a fresh new set of super talented but super youthful players to bring the Mingus music to the contemporary audience.
He succeeded. The gig was fun relaxed and laid back - with a strong driving sense of jazz joy to make anyone feel like dancing ( urged on by Gary). But it was also well rehearsed and precise. Except when it wasn’t. their ultimate performance was the very first time the players had put the number before an audience, and it was superbly timed, with split second tempo and cool expressive resonance.
But how can you go wrong with musicians like , Kavuma on trumpet? Never over arching the collective sound this player made music sound as good as Miles himself, well a young Miles that is. David Kayode on tenor sax did.a brilliant job of brining a depth to the entire sextet, effortless playing to delight a keen crowd at the Gonville Hotel. Luke Bacchus was apparently making a début performance , yet who would have known it? The sound was so sophisticated and nuanced and it was tested to some pretty high demands when the alto sax Aleksandra Topczewska took over, the rest of the band left the stage and she duetted with Luke on a moody melodic combination worthy of Duke Ellington ( whispered more than once at the ensuing interval) . Mind you, we had plenty of time to talk, the bar staff at the Gonville are on a permanent Go-Slow which mixed with a No- Smile policy makes for a frosty rather break-time. Good thing The Modern Jazz Club move back in December to their spiritual home, Hidden Rooms in Jesus Lane under the old Pizza Express.
Never mind, we were back soon enough with fabulous music which included Eddie Hine , dreadlocks under a massive headdress, on drums. He was superb - his bold massive drum strokes straight Out of West Africa via New Orleans. Exceptional playing for a great band . As Gary reminded us “ Make the most of these young musicians, when they get better known, you won’t be able to afford the tickets.” It happened with Jazz Warriors, it will happen again.
