For the final gig of this year's festival, bassman Caribe brought together three of Scotland's leading jazz talents with Doug Hough on drums, Kevin MacKenzie on guitar and Martin Kershaw playing sax and clarinet. Playing very much in a modern jazz idiom, there was a mix of Caribe's own compositions with a few covers thrown in. The Brazilian introduced each piece, with his political concerns featuring prominently. Hence his most recent piece, written in response to UK politics of the past month, and simply called "Shafted". That got a big round of applause....
All, clearly, are excellent musicians, and there were several high points featuring solos from all four, but the gig had a curiously stilted feel to it. Playing from the page places some limits of freedom of expression, and there was a sense of being under rehearsed. Kershaw looked unhappy throughout, although whether it was because he was worried about making a mistake (and several times he looked to Caribe to provide his cue), or fancied being somewhere else, wasn't always clear!
That was a shame because there some great melodies being played. A beautiful Cuban ballad stood out with it's gentle, soothing nature, and the Duke Ellington piece at the end seemed to finally galvanism the band into a unit.
Enjoyable, but with the sense that it could have been so much more.
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