Scott
Hamilton (ten)/ Alan Barnes (sax/ cl)/ David Newton
(pno)/ Andy Cleyndert (bass)/ Steve Brown (dms)
"This
kind of loping, lyrical mainstream swing has been
Hamilton's stock in trade since the 1960s, but his
savouring of tonal subtleties, and effortless hipness
about when to push the beat and when to dawdle behind it
reinvigorates a style that had begun to fall behind the
jazz times 60 years ago. Barnes is a musician of
comparable subtlety and wit, and the pair are
accompanied here by Dave Newton on piano, Sebastiaan de
Krom on drums and newcomer Chris Hill on bass, who all
share their light touch.
Barnes
strikes a diverting contrast with Hamilton by
restricting himself to alto and baritone saxes,
fast-moving and boppish where the American saunters
along blowing smoke-rings, and sounding airily like Paul
Desmond against his partner's sumptuously deeper sound.
Hodges's famous The Jeep Is Jumpin' is delivered with
almost derisory hoots on the accents, Broadway Babe
slinks along as a tenor/baritone conversation, and
Barnes digs into the fast 9.20 Special with blustery
glee. It's a style that hasn't changed in a very
long time, but it's the tweaks that make it
twinkle."
