Here we have the cream of the young London scene. Not the fashionable figures with major label contracts but really outstanding players who, thankfully for clubgoers, are frequently to be found out and about in the capital.
All of the compositions, save Chased Out, were written by the leader and they demand respect from the soloists. This they get, with O’Higgins blusteringly convincing on Sphere My Dear, They’re Lovely and Arnie’s Barnie and Hitchcock running his fleet-fingered idea generator to especially good effect on Sam Tacet, Sherman and Chased Out. Nightingale is forthright, melodically imaginative and he is not about to be deflected from his creative course on Nightingale Sang and Sherman. Donaldson brings a little baptist rock to Sphere My Dear and his well-tailored bebop to Arnie’s Barnie. That title also brings out the best in Somogyi and, together with Donaldson and Tracey, he completes an outstanding rhythm section.
Special mention should also be made of the leader’s instrumental contribution. His timing is excellent, his delivery crisp, his patterns supportive but never is he boringly unobtrusive. The group has a drummer and you should know it.
Discography
The Revenge Of Sam Tacet; They’re Lovely; Sherman At The Copthorne; Sphere My Dear; Mark Nightingale Sang; Arnie’s Barnie; Chased Out (62.56)
Tracey (d); Mark Nightingale (tb); Nigel Hitchcock (as); Dave O’Higgins (ts); John Donaldson |p); Arnie Somogyi (b). London, February 8, 1994.
(33 Jazz 018)
