Julian Siegel
Frank and Mark’s Jazz, Iffley Church Hall,  Iffley, Oxford.
4 October 2025

Julian Siegel – tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, Frank Harrison – piano, Mark Hodgson – double bass, Jay Davis - drums

This month’s invitee to play with pianist Frank Harrison and double bassist Mark Hodgson was saxophonist and clarinettist Julian Siegel, said by Ian Mann to be “one of the most significant figures on the contemporary UK Jazz scene”.  Source https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/julian-siegel-quartet-vista

As always there was a guest drummer too. This time the seat was occupied by the on the rise London based drummer Jay Davis who was a member of Misha Mullov-Abbado’s sextet at the Wall2Wall Jazz Festival in September, a performance that was reviewed by Ian Mann.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/friday-at-wall2wall-jazz-festival-melville-centre-abergavenny-26-09-2025

Looking ahead Davis has a number of gigs coming up touring with Yazz Ahmed.

This was Frank and Mark’s first Saturday show and like their established monthly Wednesday night events it was sold out. I was there as a paying customer rather than as a reviewer and had left my had note pad at home, so these are some brief impressions rather than a full account.

Previously when I’ve been at Frank and Mark’s, I’ve been eased into the evening by the pianist and the double bassist and the guest drummer playing as a trio. Tonight it was the full line up going full tilt from the start with the propulsive ‘Bolivia’ composed by pianist Cedar Walton. Siegel’s expansive playing had an edge and in the engine room there was great work by bassist Mark Hodgson and drummer Jay Davis who seemed to gel immediately.

It was an exhilarating start to a first half which happened to feature compositions by pianists. Siegel’s playing of John Taylor’s ‘Ambleside Days’ had a relaxed lyrical quality and it was easy to imagine how pleasant those days must have been.

This was followed by the four musicians’ earthy gritty take on Thelonious Monk’s ‘Epistrophy’ which felt more late night dive than Iffley Church Hall.

They then soared with Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Skylark’, with Frank Harrison’s upright piano emitting bird calls, before bookending the first half with a second propulsive number, the title of which wasn’t announced.

In the second half Siegel’s velvety warm lyrical tenor led a gorgeous, ‘It Might as Well Be Spring’ for which Siegel name checked Stan Getz’s version.

The highlight though, not only of the second half but of the whole night, was when Siegel swapped his tenor sax for bass clarinet for Wayne Shorter’s ‘Footprints’. He dazzled with the ease he switched from upper to lower register in an instant, and those deep bass clarinet notes were spine tingling. It was as if ‘Footprints’ had been written for the bass clarinet.

The changes in mood and pace in the set list added to the enjoyment of the evening. The ensemble playing and soloing of the other three musicians was of a high quality. Harrison as always did marvels on the upright piano, Hodgson was very much ‘on it’ on the night and Davis had a pleasingly sensitive touch with the sticks to go with his power drumming.

It was clear the inventive Siegel thoroughly enjoyed both playing with them and the atmosphere. He said he hoped he would be invited back. The only slight disappointment was that as far as I could tell, he didn’t play one of his own compositions

The four of them concluded the night’s music with a lively upbeat number that wasn’t announced but I think was Sonny Rollins’ St Thomas’. It was an excellent way to round off what was another excellent night at Frank and Mark’s Jazz.

COLIN MAY