The friendship between Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond produced some of the most popular music in the jazz canon and it's clearly still dear to Brubeck's oldest son, Darius, who sat in the audience as fellow American, guitarist Tom Davis, paid tribute to another of Desmond's endeavours, the quartet he co-led with Jim Hall.
With the Scottish scene's own Martin Kershaw taking Desmond's role faithfully on alto saxophone and Davis following Hall's example, this was a model of cool, clear, carefully understated creativity that swung gently and emphasised the lyricism of the two main players, although there was also a more noir-ish side to Hall's All Across the City and some grit in the bluesy Rude Old Man.
Darius Brubeck's own set paid homage to his father and Desmond's collaboration, with a spirited Blue Rondo a la Turk and the almost inevitable and popularly received Take Five nestling alongside an amiable reading of one of Brubeck Snr's most covered compositions In Your Own Sweet Way.
But it also reflected his time spent in South Africa and his personal taste in jazz standards. He has a thoughtful, melodically considered touch at the piano and his saxophonist, Brandon Allen, wisely avoided comparisons with Desmond by concentrating on tenor and soprano.
If the overall impression of the quartet erred a little towards politeness, there was also some fine robust, bluesy playing from Allen on Blue Rondo and a piano introduction and saxophone solo that captured the innate soulfulness of Mamazala, a composition by saxophonist Zim Ngqawana, yet another of South Africa's musical brotherhood who died too soon in 2011.
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