Bruce Adams Quartet, Glasgow Art Club
Rob Adams
FOUR STARS
Bruce Adams' mischievous suggestion that he learned the bebop flag-waver Scrapple from the Apple from a Max Bygraves singalonga collection brought back memories of another Scottish trumpeter who doubled as a formidable jazz player and an ever-present Bygraves session man, Johnny McLevy. Many of those present here would remember McLevy who was a popular draw and liked to share a joke as well as get down to serious jazz playing.
It's a business plan that serves Adams well also. He's not afraid to entertain and the sharpness of his wit is more than matched by both the precision and concision of his creativity. It may be partly because the audience is party to Adams' spontaneous arranging of intros but there's a finger-snapping immediacy to his trumpet and fluegelhorn playing that gives even items that he has obviously familiarised a new pin-like brightness.
His facility with the wah-wah mute brings a thrilling exactness to his phrasing and his interaction with his trio for the night, only one of whom, drummer Tom Gordon, shares much history with the trumpeter, produced smart exchanges and traded choruses that maintained the music's brisk momentum.
Gordon's considerable big band experience enhanced this small group session with shape and discipline as well as percussive drive on a variety of rhythms, including the exuberant Brazilian beat that fuelled Tom Jobim's Favela, and while the soloing was often deeply impressive - pianist Paul Harrison's masterly development of Horace Silver's Strollin' bordered on the poetic - the overall sense of a well-matched unit, with bassist Andy Sharkey consistently at the music's heart, completely belied the gig's 'visiting soloist with local rhythm section' nature.
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