Brown and Blue - presented by the Paul Higgs Quartet

CJC Brown & Blue concert 16^th September 2022

 Paul Higgs - trumpet, Gabriel Keen - piano, Jerome Davies - bass, Neil Bullock - drums.

A really well constructed and informative concert from the brilliant trumpeter Paul Higgs and his Quartet. On this occasion, it was nice to see the band in their dark suits, but the band was anything but sombre in their interpretations of the music of Clifford Brown in the first set and Blue Mitchell in the second with information from Paul before each tune. Beginning with ‘Sandu’ followed by the well-known ‘Joy Spring’ both written by Clifford Brown, followed by ‘Stockholm Sweetnin’ by Quincy Jones from the period when they were both with Lionel Hampton and we later had ‘Parisian Thoroughfare’ from their time in Paris. The wonderful integrated balance between all the musicians was a joy to experience, with great solos from Gabriel on piano, Jerome on bass and Neil on drums.  What a fine crisp sounding drummer he is, on his first visit to CJC.

The second set featuring the music associated with Blue Mitchell began with 'Blues March' followed by Horace Silver’s 'Sister Sadie'. Paul then interestingly gave us a history of Blue’s musical journey from jazz through blues and soul with the likes of Earl Bostic, back to jazz with 'Hi-Heel Sneakers', 'I’ll Close My Eyes' and 'Mamacita', with some audience participation, then on to the cool jazz of 'Killing Me Softly'. The session finished with 'Fungi Mama' and a humorously contrived encore with ‘Blue Soul’ from the Blue Mitchell 1959 album of that name.

A great start to the new season of great bands both new and some returning CJC friends with exciting musical projects.

Photos from the event

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