Peter King Quartet, Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, Shrewsbury, 06/10/2011.

The veteran British alto saxophonist Peter King has been a fairly regular fixture on The Jazzmann web pages over the last couple of years due mainly to his regular appearances at the Brecon and Titley jazz festivals. Widely acknowledged to be a world class soloist King’s creative powers remain undimmed and he remains a dazzlingly fluent saxophone soloist. Now in his early seventies King recently published his autobiography “Flying High”, a fascinating read which reveals him to be so much more than just a great jazz improviser, he has also written for string quartet plus a full blown opera, “Zyklon”, which tackles the thorny issue of the Holocaust. Away from music King’s interests are broad, embracing motor racing, aviation and aero-modelling, indeed he is something of a leading authority on the latter, a parallel world where his standing is at least equal to that of his jazz celebrity. But “Flying High” doesn’t shy away from the more difficult issues of the “jazz life” that King has faced and overcome-drug addiction, racism, economic hardship and artistic compromise among them. He’s a highly intelligent man and a great survivor and it was an honour to get my copy of the book signed by the author after this gig. It’s such a fascinating life story that I think it’s fair to say that you don’t even need to be a jazz fan to gain access although obviously it helps, King doesn’t pull any punches when he talks about the foibles of his fellow musicians.

And so to this evening’s performance in the intimate confines of Shrewsbury’s latest jazz venue the Shrewsbury Coffeehouse. It was good to see King in what was effectively a club setting and very different to the large marquees at Titley. As a senior figure on the UK jazz scene King has a loyal following and recently played a sold out show at Shrewsbury’s more established jazz venue The Hive Arts Centre. This was very well received and I’m sure many of tonight’s audience were seeing King for at least the second time. As at The Hive he was teamed with a “local trio” consisting of Paul Sawtell on electric piano, Tom Hill on double bass and Dave Hassell on drums, the latter replacing the recently departed Tony Levin. King had travelled up from London and astonishingly drove straight back afterwards but even the “locals” came from Mid Wales, Birmingham and Manchester respectively, a sign perhaps that this was a receptive trio with whom King was more than happy to play. They certainly gave him excellent support with the soloing skills of the expatriate American Tom Hill being particularly well deployed.

Having seen King fairly regularly over the last couple of years I was apprehensive that the set, which was obviously going to rely heavily on jazz standards, would be a little too predictable but I was pleasantly surprised by both the selection of the material and the overall quality of the playing.
The performance was introduced by Shrewsbury based saxophonist/flautist and composer Casey Greene (of the Latin group Quiver) who had helped to organise the concert and the quartet kicked off with a lively and attractive version of Kurt Weill’s “Speak Low”. King demonstrated his fluency early on, the ideas just seemed to flow out of him, and the tune also introduced the other members of the band with solos coming from Sawtell and Hill plus a flurry of drum breaks from Hassell.

The jazz standard “Stella Starlight” was taken at a medium fast tempo with solos from King, Sawtell at the Roland and Hill on double bass. The latter’s huge tone and impressive dexterity were to feature extensively throughout the evening and rightly so.

“Soul Eyes”, probably the pianist and composer Mal Waldron’s most famous composition,was the first genuine ballad of the evening and was ushered in by King’s solo alto sax intro. As the tune developed King soloed in more orthodox fashion and was followed by Sawtell and the remarkably expressive Hill.

In recent years King has harboured a growing fascination for the music of John Coltrane and it was JC’s “Impressions” that took the first set storming out with a passionate alto solo from King, feverish piano from Sawtell and flamboyant flamenco bass strumming from Hill. King joined forces with Hassell for a fiery alto sax/drums dialogue with the percussionist doing his best Elvin Jones impression before embarking upon a solo of his own. This was gripping, high energy stuff that closed the first set with a bang and evoked a great reaction from the Shrewsbury crowd.

The second set began with an urgent and distinctive version of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Wave”, here given more of an Afro-Cuban flavour and featuring solos from King, Sawtell and Hill.

King’s Coltrane obsession is almost matched by his fascination with the music of another tenor saxophonist, in this instance Wayne Shorter. “Footprints”, arguably Shorter’s best known tune, was given a determinedly modal treatment with extensive solos coming from King and Hill and with Hassell’s distinctive cymbal work also adding substantially to the flavour of the piece.

Billy Strayhorn’s ballad “Lush Life” has long been a key item in the King repertoire. Indeed King has frequently opened the second half of his concerts with a solo rendition of this tune before inviting the group back to the bandstand. This time it was different, King played the verse from “Lush Life” solo before the band came in to create a segue with perhaps the most famous jazz ballad of them all, “Body And Soul”. Here Hassell’s sensitive brushwork provided the backdrop to well measured solos from King, Sawtell and Hill before King brought things full circle with a highly effective solo saxophone coda.

The evening ended with the quartet’s second excursion onto the Wayne Shorter back catalogue, in the shape of “Yes Or No”, which King originally recorded on his 1994 album “Tamburello”. Tonight the tune was essentially a feature for Dave Hassell who introduced the piece from the drum kit and closed it with a series of cowbell accented breaks following solos from King and Sawtell.

Sadly, and despite the clamouring of the audience, this was all we had time for before the musicians (and your reviewer) commenced their lengthy journeys home. Overall I had been very impressed by what we had heard.  Often the performances when a visiting star soloist is yoked to a local rhythm section, who very often he hasn’t even met before, can be very stale and predictable with every tune being in the same head/solos/head format. Largely this didn’t apply here, King’s sheer inventiveness plus a degree of existing familiarity helped greatly but Sawtell, Hill and King are classy players in their own right and all acquitted themselves well. I did wonder if Casey Greene might unpack his horn and sit in for a couple of numbers and asked him if he was tempted,  but as he said “oh no, I know when I’m beaten”, a measure of the very real respect with which he regards Peter King’s playing.

King had brought a number of albums with him for sale (plus the book, which I’d already bought at Titley) and after some deliberation I treated myself to a copy of “Speed Trap”, a fiery live session recorded at Ronnie Scott’s way back in 1994. The record teams King’s fluent alto with the crackling trumpeting of Gerard Presencer and an all star rhythm section features Steve Melling, King’s long term pianist of choice, bassist Alec Dankworth and drummer Steven Keogh. The six extended selections feature a wealth of fine and often fiery playing.

Tonight was another memorable night at the Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, coming very soon after the hugely enjoyable evening with guitarist John Etheridge and violinist Chris Garrick (also reviewed elsewhere on this site). With its exciting programme of jazz and folk events this friendly venue is a welcome addition to the live music scene in this part of the world. 

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