The Jazzadelic Experience, led by bassist and vocalist Tom Hill and keyboard player and singer Phil Bond, played an exciting set of classic jazz, blues and some original music when they appeared at the Cathedral Hotel.
With saxophonist Chris Bowden and drummer Carl Hemmingsley, they started with the tone poem of Softly as the Morning, a slow ballad with plenty of space for some fluent improvisation.
Phil Bond’s Five in the Morning After was a detailed piece, with plenty of delicate piano that led to a fiery coda.
Sentimental Journey, sung by Tom Hill, was played at a relaxed and sedate pace, while Oscar Pettiford’s Tricotism was a complex be-bop swing piece and a solid out workout for Chris Bowden, who’s self titled CB also featured some tricky time-keeping for all of the players under a bold melodic statement.
Switching from his usual double bass to a five string electric bass, Tom Hill set the pace during the frenetic funk workout of Bayou Bottoms. Meaning of the Blues, which started as a soft duet between keyboard and saxophone before becoming a slow blues number, closed the first half.
The modal folk jazz song, That’s What You Are, opened the second half of the concert. It was redolent of Pentangle and other sixties groups with its half time shuffle and inventive solos.
Tom Hill’s original number, New Cross, was a tuneful piece with a simple, but affecting bass motif. New York State of Mind showed Phil Bond’s fine voice to good effect, and the encore, another Chris Bowden original, Do it For Yourself, was another upbeat jazz piece which blended a melodic statement with some fine rhythmic interplay between all four member of the quartet.
