Date/Time
Saturday 1 October 2022
7:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Categories Jazz
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Martin Dale has that classic jazz tenor sax sound, where you can hear the instrument’s history back to Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster, through Lester Young and Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Hank Mobley – all of the greats. He’s invited Andy Williamson of this parish (who has aspirations in that direction) to join him for a night of great live jazz, with a top class rhythm section:
Martin Dale – tenor saxophone
Andy Williamson – tenor saxophone
Gavin Martin – piano
Kevin Sanders – double bass
Dennis Harris – drums
Local musician and poet, Steve Day writes:
”When John Coltrane reinvented the tenor saxophone vocabulary in the 1960s with such classic albums as Giant Steps, A Love Supreme and Live At The Village Vanguard he created a massive hurdle for all future tenor players. What are you suppose to play to follow that?
In the last two years I’ve heard Andy Williamson’s saxophones on numerous occasions in a wide variety of musical settings – be-bop, blues, free improvisation, swing things, plus a scattering of rock-orientated bands. He’s adaptable for sure, a great technician, his ears sense keys instantly, his rhythmic sense is elastic – all top players have that stuff, what takes Andy into that unique group of special players is something that comes from Coltrane… Andy Williamson sounds like nobody but himself.
In a crowded house of sax players, when you get a chance to hear a saxophonist of his stature playing a whole evening with Martin Dale’s band, undoubtedly one of the premier hard-bop jazz outfits in the South West, it becomes a must-go-to-event.
Martin Dale has recently been playing dates alongside Derek Nash, another saxophone wizard [They’ll be back at the Arts Centre in February, Ed]. Martin’s tenor runs the scales between thunder & lightening and beautifully executed ballads. There’s a finesse within his horn which makes him ripple like song. The band is his too, not a ‘pick-up’ group, but a classy rhythm section designed to give emphasis to the Dale agenda.
The UK has a history of producing brilliant two tenor combinations. Don Weller & Art Themen, Ronnie Scott & Mornington Lockett, Paul Dunmall & Alan Skidmore – 1st October 2022, Ashburton, promises to set the seal on another two tenor evening of artistic discovery. The real thing — I’ll see yer there.”
Steve Day, Sept 2022