Ian Henry

ORGANISED by the Dublin Jazz Society, pianists Ian Henry's concert at the Lansdowne Hotel last Thursday was no disappointment to his loyal contemporaries in the audience. Accompanied by Dave Fleming (bass) and John Wadham (drums), he played himself in with some tasteful standards - Say It Isn't So, Long Before I Knew You and In Love In Vain - before warming up the proceedings with Benny Golson's Along Came Betty, and While We Were Young, which featured Fleming and Wadham in tasty solos. Henry followed this with a mischievously Garneresque What'll I Do?, and the first set ended with a straight cooking version of Cherokee.

The second half featured Rock Fox on baritone (one played by the late Gerry Multigan, who had also sent him the reeds he was using). Apart from a lovingly rendered, slow Sweet Georgia Brown, everything was from the Ellington songbook; numbers such as Lotus Bloosom, Warm Valley and Prelude To A Kiss gave the quartet every opportunity to weave warm musical patterns and to Rock Fox in particular to play some fine, sinuous and - dare we say it? - sexy solos.

They had some fun on an up tempo blues, while It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing got an airing, and the evening ended with yet another fast blues.

It was not a particularly adventurous night's jazz, but it - was what the fans wanted - an evening of many delights played by four very fine musicians who love their music, respect it, their instruments and, above all, their audience.