Dom Franks’ Strayhorn Quintet, Corn Exchange Jazz Club, The Corn Exchange, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, 09/04/2026.

Dom Franks – tenor & soprano saxophones, Aidan Pope – guitar,  Alex Steele – keyboard, Jules Jackson – electric bass, Euan Palmer – drums

Tonight’s event represented a comparatively local gig for the Cheltenham based saxophonist, composer, arranger and bandleader Dom Franks and he was rewarded with an excellent audience turn out of around sixty.

Franks is both a local hero and a musician with a national reputation. I first became aware of his playing back in 2015 when I reviewed the 2014 release “One Drop Love Chant”, the second album from Franks’ Strayhorn Quartet, a follow up to their 2011 debut “In Native Tongues”.

At this time the group featured keyboard player Alex Steele, bassist Will Harris and drummer Matt Jones, all musicians based in the English West Country.  Rather then interpreting the music of the late, great Billy Strayhorn as the band name might suggest “One Drop Love Chant” found the quartet concentrating to good effect on the original compositions of Franks and Steele. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/strayhorn-quartet-one-drop-love-chant

“Living With Spooks” (2017), the title a nod to the presence in Cheltenham of GCHQ, introduced a new version of the band with Steele sharing keyboard duties with John Law, the latter a well known composer and band-leader in his own right and a regular presence on the Jazzmann web pages. The rhythm team featured bassist James Agg and drummer Billy Weir, both products of the acclaimed Jazz Course at Birmingham Conservatoire. At the time of the recording Agg and Weir were concurrently members of Law’s own quartet.  The Strayhorn Quartet is augmented on three tracks by guitarist Lee Jones. “Living With Spooks” is reviewed here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/dom-franks-strayhorn-quartet-living-with-spooks

More recently I enjoyed seeing Franks perform as a guest soloist with pianist Eddie Gripper and his trio at a Fringe event associated with the 2025 Cheltenham Jazz Festival. He has also worked in a guest capacity with guitarist Will Barnes.

Franks’ latest project is “Duality”, a two album series comprised of what the saxophonist’s Bandcamp page describes as “featuring two different, but distinct bands, showcasing two facets of lyrical, harmonically adventurous composer & saxophonist Dom Franks’ eclectic musical tastes. In ‘Duality Pt.1’ Dom pays tribute to the smoking trio of Hammond master Larry Goldings, as well as David Sanborn’s collaborations with organist Joey DeFrancesco, with a new set of compositions inspired by these models.”

“Duality Pt: 1”  (2024) features a quartet with Franks on tenor and soprano sax joined by guitarist Matt Hopkins and drummer Andy Tween, with Hammond duties divided between Anders Olinder and John Paul Gard.  This is a line up that has gigged widely and which has accrued a considerable following in Franks’ West Country heartland.

 “Duality Pt: 2” (2025) is a more ambitious project that combines Franks’ interests in jazz, Brazilian and classical music, as his album liner notes explain;
“Duality Pt. 2 is the realisation of a long standing ambition to combine my regular quartet with strings. I grew up playing in orchestras and singing classically long before my current role as an improvising saxophonist and composer. I’ve always been fascinated by the common ground between jazz and classical music – Lennie Tristano’s Third Stream, Stan Getz’s ‘Focus’, Vince Mendoza’s pioneering orchestrations, Pat Metheny’s collaborations with Milton Nascimento etc.”

“Duality Pt; 2”  introduces a core jazz quartet featuring Aidan Pope on guitar, Jules Jackson on electric bass and Andrew Brotherton at the drums. Keyboard duties are shared between Jackson and Alex Steele. The album also includes contributions from members of the Carducci String Quartet on four of the seven tracks. The string arrangements are by the Brazilian guitarist / arranger Luiz Morais, who is now based in London. Morais’ string arrangements represent a neat tie up combining Franks’ love of both Brazilian music and European classical music. My review of “Duality Pt; 2” can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/dom-franks-strayhorn-duality-pt-02

Tonight’s performance featured the “Duality Pt; 2” quintet with Franks, Pope, Steele and Jackson joined by Euan Palmer, now the regular drummer for the Strayhorn quintet. The material featured a mix of Franks originals, largely sourced from “Duality Pt; 2”, and a selection of jazz and Brazilian standards.

A lengthy first set began with the Franks original “Unity Road”, the opening track on the most recent “Duality” album and a title that I’ve always assumed to be a tip of the hat to Pat Metheny. Introduced by Pope’s arpeggiated guitar, subsequently augmented by keys and tenor sax, this developed into a highly melodic piece led by Franks’ tenor, with Jackson’s five string electric bass providing a beguiling melodic counterpoint to the sax driven main theme. Fluent solos came from the leader on tenor and the consistently impressive Pope on guitar. Jackson was also featured as a soloist on electric bass while Steele deployed an acoustic piano sound (hereafter just ‘piano’) on his Yamaha keyboard throughout.

Franks’ love of Brazilian music found its first expression via a version of the Sergio Mendes composition “Groovy Samba” in the style of the jazz arrangement recorded by the American saxophonist Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley. Introduced by Palmer at the drums the Brazilian rhythms underpinned Franks’ opening theme statement and the subsequent soloing of Steele on piano and the leader on tenor. Substituting tenor for Adderley’s alto Franks’ solo was particularly expansive and was followed by more concise offering from Pope and Jackson. Franks, Steele and Pope then ‘traded fours’ with drummer Palmer as this hugely enjoyable item drew to a close.

The quintet cooled things down a little with Franks’ transcription of the traditional Brazilian folk tune “Daiana”, which he heard on the 2024 album “The Room”, by American saxophonist Sam Gendel and Brazilian guitarist Fabiano do Nascimento. In effect it’s transcription of Gendel’s own transcription. Although Gendel is a soprano sax specialist Franks tackled the tune on tenor and the piece began with a delicate duet between saxophone and guitar, with brushed drums, electric bass and piano subsequently added. With a strong focus on melody this was a beautiful piece that represented something of a showcase for the excellent Pope on guitar. It was an item that was particularly well received by the audience.

Franks dipped into the jazz standards catalogue with a heavily disguised arrangement of the Brooks Bowman song “East of the Sun, West of the Moon”, a tune selection that seemed to be particularly pertinent during the week of the Artemis moon mission. Franks’ arrangement was inspired by a recorded version by the duo of saxophonist Stan Getz and pianist Kenny Barron so it was also appropriate that the performance should begin with an extended tenor sax / piano duet.  Drums and electric bass were eventually added but Pope took a little longer to join the party, his entrance the cue for an expansive tenor sax solo from Franks. Steele and Jackson followed on piano and bass respectively, prior to a series of exchanges between Franks, Steele and drummer Palmer.

The as yet unrecorded Franks original “Sometime in September” represented his only outing on soprano. Inspired by the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim this was ushered in by a passage of unaccompanied guitar from Pope. As the rest of the band joined in Franks stated the theme before entering into a subtly probing soprano solo, with Pope following suit on guitar.

The first set concluded with the Franks original “Full Time Mover”, a piece from the second Duality album. The recorded version features the strings of the Carduccis on a piece that sounds a little like a like a 70s movie soundtrack or a track from a CTI recording. Tonight’s interpretation put a premium on the tune’s funk element with Jackson and Palmer laying down a springy, funky, fast moving groove, augmented by Steele’s deployment of an electric piano or ‘Rhodes’ sound.
Solos came from Jackson on bubbling electric bass, Franks on tenor and Steele on Rhodes. Franks and Jackson then doubled up on the melody prior to a ‘Benson-esque’ guitar solo from Pope that delighted the crowd. A high energy and hugely enjoyable way to round off a ‘value for money’ first half that had seen the band members growing in confidence throughout.

The first set had featured rather subdued lighting, but at the group’s request the lights were brighter for the second half, meaning that we could see the band members much better.

Buoyed by the success of the first set the quintet kicked off the second half with three Franks originals. From “Duality Pt; 2” “The Outliers” was introduced by Palmer at the drums, with the sound of Jackson’s bass quickly added. Franks then stated the arresting theme before embarking on the first solo. Steele continued where he’d left off, continuing to deploy a ‘Rhodes’ sound as he and Pope shared the subsequent solos, with Palmer also featuring towards the close.

Also from the second “Duality” album “The Rule of The Blade” was dedicated to the remarkable American musician Brian Blade, a hugely accomplished jazz drummer and composer who leads his own projects as well as working as a sideman with such major jazz names as saxophonist Joshua Redman and the late, great Chick Corea, However, as Franks informed us, there’s even more to Blade than that, he’s also a skilled country music style singer, guitarist and songwriter. Franks’ tribute featured a more contemporary jazz sound, but with an ‘earworm’ of a melody that hinted at Blade’s country persona. Again something of a feature for the talented Pope the guitarist’s solo was sometimes suggestive of Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny, two guitarists who have been known to operate at the jazz / country interface.

The last tune in this medley of Franks originals was a piece that borrowed liberally from the music of both pianist Thelonious Monk and saxophonist Sonny Rollins. The Rollins influence was so obvious that Franks has chosen to name the piece “Larceny”, or maybe even “Lar-Sonny”, with Rollin’s famous jazz calypso “St. Thomas” a readily recognisable frame of reference. Franks opened the piece with a passage of unaccompanied tenor sax, later joined in duet by Jackson on electric bass. As the rest of the band joined the party Franks stretched out with an expansive tenor solo, before handing over to Palmer at the drums. Steele, back on an acoustic setting, and Jackson were also to feature as soloists before the close. Great fun.

Franks’ version of the ballad “When Sunny Gets Blue” drew its inspiration from a recorded version by Stanley Turrentine.  This was introduced by a passage of unaccompanied tenor sax, with the fluttering of the key pads clearly audible. Bass and piano were subsequently added while Franks’ theme statement and subsequent solo were augmented by Pope’s counter melodies. The guitarist was also featured as a soloist on this sensitive and impressive ballad performance.

Franks’ knowledge of jazz is wide ranging and impressive and in addition to his saxophone heroes he is also a great admirer of the American jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein, and particularly the trio that teams Bernstein with organist Larry Goldings and drummer Bill Stewart, the line-up that helped to inspire “Duality Pt; 1”.
Tonight’s performance concluded with a version of Bernstein’s composition “Jive Coffee”, itself based upon the jazz standard “Tea for Two”, but very heavily disguised. This was a complex piece that brought some unusual time signatures into play as the solos were shared between Steele on piano, Franks on tenor and Pope on guitar, with Palmer also featuring prior to the final theme statement.

Although the audience had been a little reluctant to applaud individual solos over the course of the evening they had definitely enjoyed the ensemble overall and the quintet encored with the Dexter Gordon tune “Soy Kalifa”. Introducing the tune Franks informed us that the title translates as “I am The Boss” and that it represented Gordon’s delight at the comparative freedom that he enjoyed as a black jazz musician in Paris, as opposed to the racial prejudices and restrictions that he endured in the US. Introduced by the leader’s tenor the tune’s Latin-esque rhythms helped to fuel final solos from Franks, Pope and Steele, plus a final drum flourish from Palmer.

This had been a very enjoyable evening of jazz featuring a good mix of standards and originals and with the Brazilian elements adding a welcome additional splash of colour and flavour. Franks is a highly accomplished saxophone soloist and also an intelligent and imaginative composer. He was well served by an excellent band that included Steele, a stalwart of the South West jazz scene, and the Birmingham based Palmer. Although they both appear on the second Duality album Pope and Jackson represented exciting new discoveries for me as it was the first time that I had seen either play live. Both were very impressive.

My thanks to the band members for speaking with me at length both during the interval and after the show.

Also to promoter Dave Logan for inviting me to cover this event.

Dom Franks’ recordings are available via his Bandcamp page here;
https://domfranksstrayhorn.bandcamp.com/

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