Trumpet genius Digby Fairweather delights fans
Every now and then it appears the planets align and something remarkable happens - like an international music giant turning up to play an intimate session with the house band in a Cradley Heath jazz club.
Digby Fairweather concert review,
The Regis - Cradley Heath
Every now and then it appears the planets align and something remarkable happens - like an international music giant turning up to play an intimate session with the house band in a Cradley Heath jazz club.
Digby Fairweather, the trumpet and cornet virtuoso, who was endorsed by none other than Humphrey Lyttelton as "much spoken of and justifiably", was last night guesting at The Regis at the end of a five-day Birmingham Jazz and Blues Festival tour.
"I've been five days at the jazz festival playing three sets a day and have lost three stone," he joked. But the prolific award-winner was fresh, vibrant and owned the stage. Currently, he's probably the most sought-after brass man in the UK and here he was at the very roots of jazz, indulging local musicians in a recently-formed Monday night club.
It's easy to see how he has become perhaps the most articulate British jazz spokesman on the circuit. Musical genius commands its own presence - impossible to define, but you certainly know when its arrived.
And, coupled with some extraordinary playing, there were interesting nuggets from his encyclopaedic knowledge of jazz.
Playing two generous sets of standards with Tony Billingham's Europa, Fairweather was happy to take second trumpet at times and let the five other musicians have their moments of glory. How he juggles humility with obvious genius is a mystery, but it worked brilliantly for the audience and the silver-haired faithful loved him.
In Royal Garden Blues, the Clarence and Spencer Williams work which has become a much-loved standard, Fairweather insisted taking the second trumpet part, but the stature of his playing catapulted him into the spotlight. His top Cs on the cornet are guaranteed to blow your hat off.
To hear such a tight rhythm section was a joy and some sympathetic trombone playing gave a platform to Fairweather's exciting trumpet work.
No-one will forget the rendering of Lazy River, the Hoagy Carmichael piece. It's a notoriously hard tune to navigate, but the man who has been collecting jazz 'gongs' for more than a decade made it appear child's play.
Review by John Nash.
