It was fairly quiet in town when we went to Molly, it being Good Friday, I thought. But we are none too religious a society these days and Molly was alive. Even buzzing more when Tom Fell's quartet opened with a take on Green Dolphin Street, with Chris Pound playing emphatic chords from the first beats of the A section. Tom on tenor spelling out the melody then a lovely, inventive solo with a goodly share of dissonance over more driving grooves from Nick McBride and Damien Slingsby. Tom took a solo that I could only love for its firmness but also fleet inserts and Damien solid and chordal, perhaps less than bop flightiness, and occasional solos from Nick through the night, but always driving, powerful grooves and insistent fills. Do I need say I was very taken by this. Then on through In a mellow tone, something sounding Shorterish that Tom later identified as One for BM, a track from his new album, Mantra, and Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum which is by Wayne Shorter and the bouncy Cold Duck time to finish the first set. In the meantime, we had a few beers, watched the locals, admired the band to the hilt, me remembering Tom from years back and marvelling at his expressive fluency and dissonance of today. We only stayed for the first set but it was a doozy. Now to have another listen to Mantra, Tom's first album, bought and signed for my shelf by Tom. Chase it up. It's this same band other than Steve Barry on piano.
Tom Fell (soprano, tenor saxes) led a quartet with Damien Slingsby (piano), Chris Pound (bass) and Nick McBride (drums) at Molly on Good Friday night.
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