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"1997 marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Jazz Giant John Coltrane. Alan Skidmore has dedicated his life to exploring the Coltrane legacy and his band - Steve Melling (piano), Arnie Somogy(bass) and Stephen Keogh (drums) - have been described by the Welsh Jazz Society as "possibly the closest thing to the classic John
Coltrane Quartet you will ever hear". Born in 1942, 'Skid' has played with all the greats. In the 60s he played alongside Alexis Korner, John Mayall, Ronnie Scott, Kenny Wheeler. In the
70's with Georgie Fame, Mike Gibbs, Mike Westbrook, Ian Carr, John Surman, Chris McGregor and Tony Oxley. In the 80's withGeorge Gruntz, Elvin Janes, Charlie Watts and Stan Tracy. In the
90's with Van Morrison, Mose Allison, Danny Thompson, and Colin Towns."
The legendary John Coltrane's sound lives in the Alan Skidmore Quartet, playing in a packed auditorium at the Dee Street Jazz Club, on Wednesday 30 July, the second evening of the Kingston upon Hull's International Jazz Festival. Classical pieces such as Giant Steps, Spiritual, Like Sonny, Body & Soul, Impressions, and others, were played to a very appreciative audience in this popular Hull's jazz venue. The interminable pints of beer being poured all over the tables added to the relaxed and very enjoyable atmosphere of the evening, Alan's sax singing and crying and talking all the time as wave after wave of notes surrounded the audience, bouncing on the walls and cascading down from above. Alan's admiration for the John Coltrane's sound, the way he was profoundly affected by it many years ago, is evident in his passion and virtuosity at the sax, starting slowly but soon building up to a very intense sound quality with the skillful support of the band.
He would then pull out from the stage, letting the virtuosity of Steve Melling at the piano to take over, mesmerizing the audience. Arnie Somogyi would then take the centre stage, the visually sensual curves of the instrument matching the sensual undertones of the bass sound, captivating the spectators, warmly applauding after he would then let the dark colours of Stephen Keogh's drums come to the foreground, occassionally punctuated by bright blues and purples, in a profussion of rhythms, blurred movements, and sweat! I listen to jazz, i have done it for many years, it is music which has been around me since I was born, many years ago, my mother listened to it, back in Viña del Mar, Chile, during the 50's, she had indeed a good collection of jazz records, however I am not going to pretend that I have any erudition in the contemporary jazz scene. I was asked by "superboss" Bob Mander a few days before the Festival if I could cover some of the evenings, as he was short of people to do it. If you have ever met Bob you would know that it is very difficult to refuse any request he makes, specially for somebody as skinny as myself. So here I am, writing about the fantastic performance of Arnie, a young man, on bass, the wave-length ofhis low notes measuring in miles rather than in feet, to the 'Wow!', the 'Fantastic!' and the enthusiastic applauses from the audience.
I am a visual artist, so I will talk about the rhythm of those dark browns and purples, the blacks, punctuated by the deep greens which would be brightened by splashes of sky blues, coming from the blurred shape of Stephen Keogh's drums, soon draped by the high pitch of the yellows, oranges and deep reds of Alan's sax as he stepped back in the centre stage, after a relaxed smoke and a beer on the side, all the time keeping an eye on the band. Then the calm of Wise One, a homage to Ronnie Scott, would float over the audience, those lingering blues and greens coming out of the quartet, punctuated by bright splashes of reds and sepias flowing out of Alan's sax. The Welsh Jazz Society described Skid's band as "possibly the closest thing to the classic John Coltrane Quartet you will ever hear", a statement I can understand after having been listening to this performance this evening, the audience completely surrounded by a cover of sound and bright colours, an intense cascade of notes coming all the time out of Alan's sax and Steve's piano, always there, Arnie's bass and Stephen's drums.
Colours and shapes were constantly roaming through my head through this performance, passing in front of my eyes as I closed them, one after the other, dissolving and then reappearing elsewhere. This rainbow of warm colours is already taking the shape of a painting, or perhaps of an 'object' which could also be called a painting. I hope that this work, if it does come into reality from the inspiration of this evening, will make justice to the intensity of the sound of the Alan Skidmore Quartet. This painting would be the best way I can convey the feelings this performance produced in me. It is obvious from this evening performance that Alan and the band enjoy intensely playing to small packed audiences such as Hull's Dee Street Jazz Club, where a close rapport between them and the audience can be formed, and where they can have a chat and a beer with people during the interval and afterwards. However, the repertoire they play in a gig is not usually determined by the audience, they are not certainly into the market-research rubbish, they play what they enjoy performing. The band has been rewarded by having a faithful following over the years. Their friendliness, cordiality and warmth was evident during this occassion, and much appreciated by the audience, this is clearly a band formed by musicians, not a gimnick concocted by the PR people of a record company. Alan's own humility in dedicating a substantial part of his life to explore the legacy of John Coltrane, a musician he deeply admires, was evident, and, perhaps, quite rare in these days of superstars in the music scene. It certainly deserves to be mentioned.
The quartet in the current line-up has been playing for about four years, Stephen Keogh travelling continuously from Barcelona, where he has lived, and performed, for the past eight years, to meet his commitments with the quartet. I had a quiet conversation with Stephen during the interval in Spanish, my mother tongue, over a pint of beer, his love for Barcelona's life was evident. However, Alan's commitement and quest on the John Coltrane's sound spans a much longer period, since he first heard his music as a young man, many years ago. This life long exploration is still there as strong as ever. After this performance at the Dee Street Jazz Club on this Wednesday evening, they left Hull to travel to London, where they were performing, before going to Brecon Jazz Festival '97, at the beginning of August. I am sure they were received with the same warm appreciation they had in Hull. Certainly, any of their performances is something not to be missed! And last, but not least, our congratulations to Steve Melling, who has married Sam, as in Susan ("She is called Susan, but everybody calls her Sam"), on Friday 1st of August 1997!
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