Written by Sundays lunchtime gigs at Ronnie Scott’s can take different mutations. The most recent one courtesy of Blakey’s Boys was a fantastic rendition of hard bop, a great line-up and surprise vocals by narrator and Ronnie’s music bookings co-ordinator Paul Pace.
A tremendous attendance by a crowd that stayed supportive throughout, heads nodding along, there were people of all ages: I even noticed a well-behaved baby in the audience!
There were pieces by the iconic Clifford Brown, Benny Golson and Wayne Shorter as well as one of my heroes, Horace Silver, and it was impressive to witness the tight, sharp line the band followed and kept up during the whole gig.
Pace’s narrative in between the tracks was spot on, he is, after all, like a super jazz encyclopedia. His was a great way of enticing the audience into the marvellous and unpredictable world of Art Blakey’s jazz, giving anecdotes on those geniuses that were Blakey himself, Silver and Brown, to name a few.
With compositions like “Are you real?”, “Blues March”, “Nica’s Dream” as well as “Lester Left Town” and the beautiful“A Night in Tunisia”, Blakey’s Boys took no prisoners: they were sharp, up-tempo monsters of the hard bop: Andy Davies, ace trumpeter and Matt Telfer on tenor sax (as well as bandleader) made the whole gig incredibly enjoyable to watch, whilst Chris Jerome on piano, Miles Danso on double bass and the great Gabor Dorynei on drums were perfect in their crafty performances.
Line up: Andy Davies – trumpet; Matt Telfer – tenor sax/ bandleader; Chris Jerome – piano; Miles Danso – double bass; Gabor Dorynei – drums; Paul Pace – narration/ vocals
Artist website: Blakey’s Boys
Senior Writer: Erminia Yardley
Photo credits: Carl Hyde Photography
Last modified: February 13, 2019
