Bobby Watson on saxes, mainly alto, is a former Art Blakey Jazz Messenger. Now a leader and composer in his own right, over the weekend of the Guinness Jazz Festival he was dynamically true to that questing Blakey drive for imaginative, modern, soulful, swinging jazz with the bite of a tiger's teeth.
He and his cohorts were in terrific form, whether cooling it down on the absorbing ballad, Mirrors, or firing straight ahead on the truly inspirational, Blues of Hope, both Watson compositions. Watson engaged in vigorous interplay with the young trumpeter, Terell Stafford, whose greater restraint and subtlety perfectly countered the saxophonist's incision.
The rhythm section - very New Yorkish - was as good as Cork can get: Orrin Evans on piano, inventive, expressive, precise; Curtis Lundy, pumping fine bass; and a last-minute stand-in drummer, Ralph Peterson, a joyful ostentatious fellow, offering fast frenetic heartbeat. A highlight of the weekend.
Fiercer still was the Dave Liebman quartet with Ronan Guilfoyle on bass guitar, Mike Nielsen on guitar and Conor Guilfoyle on drums. For want of a label, saxist Liebman delivered an anarchic set that settles somewhere between hard bop and the avant garde.
They were all in great form. Formula 1 ensemble approach all the way. Everything I heard was taken at a frenetic lick. On Monk's All Blues and Lenny Tristano's Wow! they acted as if their purpose in Cork was to make sense of chaos theory. Which they did. Wow! indeed.
Having hailed the work of the Irish Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Canadian trombonist, Hugh Fraser, at last year's festival, a cynical friend offered that their success was more by accident than design. But this year, with trombonist Slide Hampton as guest, it was beyond doubt that it was pure, joyful, disciplined design.
A live album is planned, and if they can recapture the searing, swinging oomph they produced in Cork it will be a must for any collection. A stirring tribute to two of their Belfastbased members, Dave Early and Dermot Harland, who tragically died in the past year.
