Tenor saxophonist Alan Skidmore's visit to Renards last Thursday was undermined, though not fatally, by one of the hazards of the jazz life - the necessity of striking an understanding with a rhythm section in circumstances where a rehearsal amounts to little more than a handshake and the distribution of a few lead sheets. Unfortunately, there were problems from the start for the backing trio, in which pianist Paul O'Donnell, to these ears, was not persuasive either in support or in solo for the demands of the - often difficult - material.
To a degree, these were gradually compensated for by brilliantly understanding support from drummer John Wadham and bassist Michael Coady supplying a steady fulcrum around which both Skidmore and Wadham could engage in some dazzling interplay. They made light of a demanding programme, all of which was either composed and recorded by the late John Coltrane or consisted of standards - Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, Nancy With The Laughing Face, The Night Has A Thousand Eyes, Weaver Of Dreams - which Coltrane had included in his albums. The standards, in fact, offered fewer pitfalls than Coltrane pieces like Giant Steps, Impressions, or Naima, and they were spiced by a couple of Coltrane takes on the blues: Mr P.C. and Bessie's Blues.
Throughout, Skidmore was in breath-taking form. At times the music virtually amounted to an apparently telepathic duet between tenor and drums in which Skidmore repeatedly affirmed his stylistic debt to Coltrane, and Wadham his to Miles Davis's great drummer, Philly Joe Jones. In the process they made light of such distractions as a disgracefully out-of-tune piano and, early on, a noisy air-conditioning unit.
