Review: Mark Lockheart - Dreamers, at Cathedral Hotel, Lichfield
A concert by jazz saxophonist Mark Lockheart is always teaming with musical ideas - but on his current tour with his new project Dreamers his imagination has gone into overdrive, the performance packed with musical colour and delivered with awesome energy.
Lockheart has been a significant figure on the UK jazz scene for many years.
West Midlands fans may first have seen him perform in the 1980s with the wildly adventurous big band Loose Tubes, including an unforgettably volcanic performance at Wolverhampton University Students' Union. Since then he has appeared with the group Polar Bear and a host of other bands, as well as leading his own groups.
With Mark at the Cathedral Hotel were Stafford-born keyboard player Dan Nicholls, bassist Tom Herbert and drummer Dave Smith, performing tracks from the new album Dreamers with tremendous drive.
On a wildly windy night, they opened the show with the appropriately-named Weird Weather, with gentle abstract sounds coalescing into a solid, driving rhythmic groove. An Indian-influenced piece, Jagdish, brought a new palette of harmonies to explore, while Marmalade Skies was inspired by The Beatles, yet had a distinctly calypso feel, with rippling keyboard sounds from Nicholls.
However, the highlight of the show was the furiously-powerful Gangster Rat, the title being inspired by the artist Banksy, but with Lockheart’s storm-of-sound soloing distinctly inspired by the intense playing of saxophone legend John Coltrane, with bassist Herbert and drummer Smith powering the music forward.
Mark’s extensive tour earlier included a date at the NAC in Wolverhampton, and he takes the band to the 1000 Trades venue in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter on Friday.
Review and photo by John Watson
