Reviewed today: Louis Stewart at the John Field Room, Dublin.
It was fitting, on Monday night, that Dublin Jazz Society should mark Louis Stewart's 60th birthday with a special concert in the John Field Room, at the National Concert Hall. For this event the country's greatest jazz musician was reunited with players of his choice; the US pianist John Bunch, with the bassist Dave Green and the drummer Steve Brown from Britain, comprised a working trio to provide a mainstream context for a sophisticated excursion into the Great American Song Book.
And although the quartet, with the octogenarian Bunch at one end of the Anno Domini scale and young Brown at the other, covered three generations, this was familiar territory to all involved. A couple of opening tunes, including Will You Still Be Mine?, showed what a polished trio was awaiting the guitarist, who joined them for a succession of standards: I Should Care, Polka Dots And Moonbeams, an uptempo How Deep Is The Ocean? and The Song Is You, and a brisk Airmail Special, recalling Benny Goodman, for whom both Bunch and Stewart worked.
Apart from an electrifying guitar solo launched with a dazzling break, which lifted the performance of The Song Is You, it was pleasant, tasteful and somewhat lacking in fire. As with reunions, there were some awkward moments. Moreover, these days Bunch seems happiest when the tempo doesn't go above medium, while the heat of the venue on a balmy September night caused occasional slight tuning problems for the guitar.
Opening with two beautifully relaxed trio pieces, a delightful Green original, Licks, and a slow Why Shouldn't I?, the second set offered more sustenance. With the quartet beginning to settle more, Stewart's brilliant guitar solo on Like Someone In Love clearly inspired Bunch to one of his best improvisations - and the guitarist's quick-wittedness adeptly profited from a slight mistake later in the same performance, transforming it into an asset.
Singer Sean Hession was an unexpected guest, invited on stage to contribute vocals on Night And Day and Corcovado, before yielding to the quartet to romp through a wickedly fast Speak Low. That was a prelude to the undoubted high point of the evening, a rapturous, slow I Can't Get Started that offered beautiful guitar and piano, supported by lovely bass and, from Brown, exquisite brush work. A coruscating blues, Au Privave, brought a fine set to an enjoyably wild conclusion.
