Simon Spillett/John Critchinson

Wendover Bookshop, Monday 11th April 2011

Tenor saxophonist, Simon Spillett and pianist, John Critchinson, are the latest duo to savour the unique atmosphere of Dennis Harrison’s Wendover Bookshop. On Monday 11th April they provided a potent reminder of the musical riches to be drawn from the 1950s, a wonderfully fruitful though often neglected decade, when local musicians were looking for a champion to rival the masters from across the Atlantic and found him in the person of Tubby Hayes; Spillett’s great inspiration.

?No, I Woodnyn’t’, set the standard for the evening as Spillett launched into Hayes’ very first composition, with such blistering speed that he almost drew the dust from the bookshelves. Sparks continued to fly in ?Bass House’, from the pen of the great Scots trumpeter, Jimmy Deuchar, dispelling any fears that the limitations of the duo format might present. Ideas bounced back and forth between the musicians, demonstrating an empathy born of years playing together and the challenge of exploring the potential of each tune.

?Tin Tin Deo’, perhaps Dizzy Gillespie’s most subtle and evocative collaboration with the Cuban conga player Chano Pozo, brought a release in the tension, leading perfectly into ?All This And Heaven Too’. Once a feature for Ronnie Scott, this revealed Spillett as a master ballad player with a beautiful interpretation of Max Steiner’s title tune from the long forgotten 1940 Bette Davis movie; a stature confirmed later in the evening with ?I Remember Clifford’, Benny Golson’s moving tribute to trumpeter Clifford Brown. With sensitive support from Critchinson, Spillett captured both the effervescent joy of Brown’s playing and the deep sense of loss that Golson must have felt with the passing of his friend and colleague. He admitted that Golson’s tune is one of the most difficult to play in the jazz repertoire. Perhaps the need to express such a conflicting mix of emotions adds to that difficulty?

As the evening progressed, it became more and more apparent that Simon Spillett not only has: a) an encyclopedic knowledge of the minutiae that makes jazz history so fascinating (for example, that Chano Pozo met his end in a knife attack and that ?Bass House’, in fact refers to the brewery rather than the instrument, and comes from the LP ?Pub Crawling with Deuchar’, a concept dreamt up by an American recording executive to give an English ?flavour’ to its release in the U.S. (?IPA Special’, ?Treble Gold’, ?Colne Springs’ and ?Final Selection’ are the other tracks); b) more importantly, a remarkable ear for finding material from the most unlikely of sources. ?Wonderful, Wonderful’ is best known as a hit for Johnny Mathis, Jerome Kern’s ?Nobody Else But Me’ was an addition to a 1940s revival of ?Show Boat’, while most improbable of all, ?I Never Know When To Say When’ was written by the light orchestral composer, Leroy Anderson and is possibly all that survives of his ill-fated musical, ?Goldilocks’! Each was transformed into a perfect vehicle for straight-ahead jazz improvisation.

?Cherokee’ closed the gig in storming fashion. The slightly hard-edged tone of Spillett’s tenor, combined with his incredible phrasing, machine-gun precision and natural swing, breathed new-life into Ray Noble’s old war-horse.  John Critchinson meanwhile, revelling in the break-neck tempo, presented all the inventive qualities that make him a world class musician and first-call accompanist for many illustrious visitors. 

Simon Spillett is undoubtedly one of the most exciting talents to emerge recently in British jazz; the more so, since he eschews the fashionable pretensions that sometimes pass as contemporary jazz. I look forward to the next opportunity to see him in action. Thanks also to Dennis Harrison, whose initiative, hard-graft and love of the music has built up a loyal jazz-base in the midst of the Chiltern Hills.

Trevor Bannister

 

blog comments powered by Disqus