It’s now several moons since I’ve been able to beguile a Sunday lunchtime basking in the sounds of jazz at its best. This of course is not the same as saying I have not spent several Sunday lunchtimes of late in establishments which alleged that jazz was being performed within their four walls, only to discover too late that it was not jazz as I understand the term.
Sam Braysher, on the other hand, is the real McCoy, his instrument of choice the alto saxophone which he played to a fare-thee-well at Ronnie Scott’s on Sunday, 25 January. He was aided and abetted by the piano of Matyas Gayer, the double bass of Dario Di Lecce, and the drums of Steve Brown. The quartet were supplemented by the voice of Sara Dowling in a programme comprising chiefly music composed by Kurt Weill, one of two major composers – the other was Vernon Duke – who established themselves as classical composers in the countries of their birth, respectively Germany and Russia, before setting in the USA and establishing themselves a second time on Broadway and in Hollywood.
For someone who looks as though he has only been shaving since Tuesday, Sam Braysher knows an awful lot about a man old enough to be his biological great-great-grandfather – Weill was born in 1900, and died in 1950 – and was happy to share his largesse with a packed venue. It is seriously refreshing to encounter a member of the younger generation prepared to acknowledge that people were actually writing popular songs before Elton John.
Ms. Dowling joined the proceedings after two numbers by the quartet, lending her exceptional pipes to such Weill material as My Ship, Speak Low, Lost In The Stars and Here I’ll Stay, which found Weill collaborating with such varied lyricists as Ira Gershwin, Ogden Nash and Alan Jay Lerner. Mr. Braysher is one of those performers who, although the leader, is happy to give all three fellow instrumentalist their heads, resulting in tasty breaks from all the rhythm section. Although there are still 11 months remaining, I doubt if I’ll witness a finer gig in 1926, unless, of course, I’m privy to another featuring Sam Braysher.
Sam Braysher Quartet with Sara Dowling at Ronnie Scott’s, 47 Frith Street, W1D 4HT. Sunday, 25 January 2026
