Saxessions (Too much on, 3)

John Mackey was the common element in his Saxessions evening at Street Theatre. What a mammoth event. An evening of John playing with three different groups was enough to make for a special event. But a live broadcast to ArtSound and a possible triple live CD just adds to the uniqueness of the night. I dread missing it, but I did manage to hear some snippets on ArtSound FM during the night. There were three sets, with the Austin Benjamin Trio, with Eric Ajaye and Mark Sutton, and with the Greg Stott Band (GSB). These all displayed obviously different characteristics. There were originals peppered through the night. The middle set had a freely improvised medley of four standards (Blue bossa, Footprints, Solar and Invitation). They had no idea how this was to happen, but as John said, with guys like Eric and Mark you can feel confident. The GSB set was a fusion style, with fast guitar and bluesier sax. Hearing it on radio made for a more dispassionate listen and I enjoyed everything I caught. It must have been an entrancing event for those in the theatre. There were listeners who were interviewed at the end, who talked of coming in, unplanned, on the strength of the broadcast. It was a marathon for John, but also for ArtSound who put together the recording and broadcast. Both John and Chris Deacon sounded wrung out at the end, but also buoyed by the achievement. I’m looking forward to hearing the totality when released.

John Mackey (tenor sax) played the full session. He played set 1 with Austin Benjamin (piano), Chris Pound (bass) and Evan Dorrian (drums). Set 2 featured John with Eric Ajaye (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums). John played set 3 as the fourth member of the GSB comprising Greg Stott (guitar), Jason Varlet (bass) and Mark Sutton (drums).

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