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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