Recently in Edinburgh, thanks to the Platform Organisation and the Scottish Arts Council, we have been graced by visits from various leading London jazz musicians. We have heard exciting sets from Harry Beckett, Pete King and Tony Coe, as well as a superbly musical evening from Barney Kessel. But of the sessions so far, none matches up to the evening of jazz which we had lately from Tommy Whittle. There is still a tendency to underrate British jazzmen, particularly those of the older generation. One expects them to be good, but not great. We were all proved wrong by Tommy Whittle.
Backed by a trio of local musicians – Jack Finlay, Ray Fierstone and Ronnie Rae – Whittle gave us two hours of the best jazz that this writer has heard for years. He plays, as he always has played, in a fluent style out of Al Cohn and Zoot Sims: always melodious, sometimes boisterous, but never boring. It was wonderful to hear him work out with long solos on ballads such as But Beautiful, rockers like Stanley Turrentine’s Sugar, and uptempo standards like The Way You Look Tonight. He sounded inspired; we at the West End Club felt inspired.
