REVIEW:

John Burgess

John Burgess is a big man with the big sound on the tenor sax reminiscent of the likes of Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis. But that fat breathy style of playing was developed in the heyday of the big band when a soloist had to cut through the orchestra to be heard. In an intimate club like the Spin such musical aggression can seem a little over the top. On the other hand, Burgess is a player with a formidable technique and a wide range of expression who cannot be dismissed just for being loud. The tenor is after all a loud instrument and there are plenty of others who can fire it up to the same level.

The evening started with a ripping rendition of an uncharacteristically boppy number by Pat Metheny, Soul Cowboy, in which Burgess laid out the full power of his playing from the first note. His playing of the tune was sharp and incisive and his soloing blasted straight into fast swooping phrases that took in the full range of the instrument as he worked through the harmonies leaving most of us slack jawed at the speed and accuracy of his playing. A couple of numbers later and the band slowed into a ballad in which Burgess showed he could rein himself in and come up with some rich phrases. Then before the break, with Calderazzo’s El Niño, cracks in the machine began to appear. In this number, famously recorded by the great Michael Brecker, there seemed a weakness in the expression and a drift towards repetition.

Although the second half produced the same energy and vigour with which the evening had begun that sense of a player coming up with his own clichés shadowed the originality of the soloing however fast and controlled the phrasing. Burgess has a solid reputation so I suspect this was an evening when the music did not come together for him. On the other hand, it was a real pleasure to hear Raf Mizraki on bass. The original bassist with the Spin house band came up with a couple of faultlessly spare, imaginative solos that reminded me how much he is missed.

© Paul Medley