Jazz in a church – yes please!
Derek Nash Organ Trio played at St Peter’s by the Waterfront church to a thrilled crowd, it was an evening of delightful music.
Comprising of Derek Nash, who is part of the Jools Holland Rhythm & Blues orchestra, Jim Watson on the organ and George Double on drums and between them, they created a range of jazzy sounds that filled the high ceiling of St Peter’s and the stained-glass windows looked down on us while we listened.
The trio kicked off the evening with a grooved-up version of ‘Misty’ then a change of saxophone for ‘Little Sunflower’. Mixing up styles for a mash up of Neal Hefti’s ballad ‘Lil’ Darlin’’ and Big Band Sound ‘Cute’ which had everyone nodding approval.
Derek changed saxophones to suit the tracks and it was great to see and hear the differences from the soprano sax to the baritone sax. His soprano sax was made in 1926 and still sounds amazing. The baritone sax was used for one of Derek’s own track called ‘Shady Side’ and the smooth deep tones gave you goose bumps – it was like honey gliding through your senses. When it sounded breathy is was like a voice.
Derek not only entertained us with his amazing talents, he also chatted between tracks, telling us the history about the songs, his instruments and a few anecdotes of his amazing career. He came across warm and humble and he was very engaging.
The best story when he went to New York and went to a jazz club, the performing saxophonist couldn’t do the gig so a student stepped in at the last minute, that student was Branford Marsalis! Nash’s track ‘You’ve Got to Dig It to Dig It, You Dig?’ based on a phrase that came from Thelonious Monk.
Other tracks of the night included ‘Polka Dots & Moonbeams’, another original ‘Sticky Finger Boogie’ and plenty of others. All foots were tapping and a few of the audience got up for a dance.
The crowd knew their jazz as they nodded, hummed and whispered when Derek announced what track was coming up, and we clapped at each point through a track when each of the trio had their time for going off to do their ‘thang’. Fortunately for us there was plenty of it so we got to hear George’s fluidity on the drums and Jim’s great playing on the organ, and of course the amazing talent of Derek Nash and the smooth sounds he can get out of the saxophones.
It was a wonderful evening of jazz.
This review first appeared on GrapevineLIVE