Gratuitous sax was the order of the day when two critically acclaimed jazz ensembles played at Lichfield Guildhall.
Steve Ajao, a well known figure on the local live music scene is probably better known as a singer and talented guitarist player, but with his quartet he takes the Saxophonist’s chair.
With a talented double bassist, and drummer, and the pianist and composer Tim Amann on keyboards, the quartet played a number of more complicated jazz pieces that allowed for lengthy and virtuoso soloing from all four musicians.
The set ranged from a sturdy reading of Dizzy Gillespie’s bebop number A Night in Tunisia, to the ballad The Things We Did Last Summer or the bluesy inflections of Charlie Parker’s Chi-Chi.
Ajao swapped to tenor saxophone for the feel good swing of Dexter Gordon’s Cheesecake, while Embraceable You was a study in delicacy.
The second half of the concert was taken by The Walsall Jazz Orchestra, which also featured Tim Amann as pianist and composer, and the cream of local jazz talent.
They started with the complicated time signatures and chords of Wayne Shorter’s Children of the Night before the tuneful refrain of Horace Silver’s Song for my Father allowed for a lot of tight ensemble playing, and some muscular soloing from tenor saxophonist Sam Rogers.
Pat Metheny’s Better Days Ahead was another exercise in ensemble playing and featured new sounds from Tim Amann’s piano and a guitar solo that a lot to the overall sculpture of the piece.
The 70s pop of Where is the Love? was a duet for saxophones.
Two of Tim Amann’s compositions featured in the set. The warm brass band like overture of Now You’re Getting It gave way to musical moods of a completely different form and texture.
Timeless was another highly original composition that started as a duet for Nick Durham’s trumpet and drums, before the warm woodwind and brass sections created a soundscape of stunning aural beauty and invention.
The last number of the night was Steely Dan’s Peg which with its warm brass interjections, and funk beat was a perfect ending for this concert of high quality musicianship.
Both bands are worth catching live, and often perform in the local area.
