Steve Grossman / Damon Brown Quintet
Bring together some top-flight, European-based, musicians, select some good numbers for exploratory playing, and then give each player plenty of solo space; that’s pretty much a recipe for a thoroughly enjoyable club set for dedicated jazz listeners. And that’s what you got here. What’s great about the Scarborough Jazz Festival is that the audience is relatively large, but the atmosphere is still intimate. In these circumstances a band like this plays in such a supportive atmosphere that they almost have to succeed.
Steve Grossman and Damon Brown make a great pairing. There’s a good contrast of emotional energy, but a great degree of equality in the intelligence of the playing. Each can take extended solos and keep a musicality about the journey. Most enjoyable, though, is the frequent interplay. They listen to each other just as much as they challenge. The numbers were particularly well chosen, and even the recent compositions by Brown and others fitted well into a programme of post-bop.
Leon Greening plays beautifully supportive piano, prominent enough to bolster the soloist without getting in the way. His own solos extend this role, rather than dramatically switch to a new mode. They are impressively technical, the sound forcing me to focus with intent concentration on his playing, but not in any way flashy. The strong applause at the end of most of his solos, and when he was named-checked in the band member introductions, suggest to me that most people in the room agreed.
Tim Wall
