It's Tuesday night so if venue 1 is Smiths then venue 2 is Molly. Of course Molly is the unmarked timber door in the lane just behind Smiths and up the stairs on Tuesday night is a string of some of the best local jazz you will hear in this town. And tonight was a doozie: Tom Fell leading a trio with Chris Pound and Nick McBride. I came in at the end of the second set but there was a third, and it was a hard biting outing. Tom was all movement and involvement and a pretty free concept of soloing over the chords with occasional hints at the melody and sometimes relaxedly standing as a head is passed back to him and always fascinating and adventurous. He was playing a storm as leader and this trio supports it. Chris was superbly fluent, quick and solid, rather than flighty, wonderfully clear throughout the range and well into thumb positions, and just inventive with his conceptualisations. I think of Alone together as my song, but he floored me with his take on it. Nick would solo in fours or more open formats and always sharp and correct and interesting. These were just standards, but fascinating as modern takes on standards can be, if not always are. I came in to a sax solo that I recognised from a few melody snippets as Have you met Miss Jones. Then a break and a return for a final set with Take the A train, a blues, Alone together and another standard. I've played them all even if I can't recall all the titles. But this was exciting, busy, outgoing yet inviting, noisy and adventurous. Just a great band playing standards with joy and chops. Fabulous.
Tom Fell (tenor) led a trio playing standards with Chris Pound (bass) and Nick McBride (drums) at Molly.
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