When jazz pianist Brian Kellock died recently, London’s 606 Club initially cancelled the night where he was due to perform just a couple of weeks later. There’s a memorial concert planned in the autumn, but the night that Brian was scheduled to appear instead because something of a celebration of his music with some of his fellow Scots. Fraser Urquhart (piano), Calum Gourlay (bass) and Corrie Dick (drums) were joined by trumpeter Bruce Adams and the irrepressible Jim Mullen on guitar.
The music was just wonderful as the quintet, who had never performed together before, filled the 606 with a selection of standards that would have made Brian Kellock smile. Everything from The Way You Look Tonight and Shiny Stockings to What is This Thing Called Love? and Cotton Tail but with some personal features that really showed what this extraordinary group of musicians is capable of.
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| @HilarySWriter |
The music was just wonderful as the quintet, who had never performed together before, filled the 606 with a selection of standards that would have made Brian Kellock smile. Everything from The Way You Look Tonight and Shiny Stockings to What is This Thing Called Love? and Cotton Tail but with some personal features that really showed what this extraordinary group of musicians is capable of.
Fraser Urquhart’s piano is always understated and he is often heard alongside some of the UK’s finest instrumentalists and vocalists, particularly the marvellous and award-winning fellow Scot Georgia Cecile. He reduced the 606 to total and absorbed silence with his breathtaking version of Ellington’s Come Sunday.
Bassist Calum Gourlay followed that with a humorous and inventive rendition of Honeysuckle Rose, before the truly brilliant Jim Mullen with a version of Stairway to the Stars that he had often performed with Brian Kellock.
Throughout the night, trumpeter Bruce Adams played the top line, entertained the audience with witty repartee and some inventive improvisation. He admitted to have never met drummer Corrie Dick before the night, and yet they both brought the quintet together with their brilliant playing.
I’ve long been a fan of Corrie’s drumming (and saw him just a few days earlier with Elina Duni at Jazz Cafe Posk) as well as the remarkable guitar of Jim Mullen (who I probably last saw about forty years ago!), but it was the first time I had seen any of the others perform live. It was an absolute delight, not only as an ad hoc tribute to a fellow musician but also as an engaging example of what great jazz you can catch when you’re lucky.
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