REVIEWS FROM THE BUCKS FREE PRESS / MARLOW FREE PRESS THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT! Ian Berrido enjoys the jazz entertainment provided by top saxophonists Alan Barnes and Simon Spillett at the Marlow Jazz Club ‘Wit’ and ‘style’ would be the two best words to sum up the performance by top saxophonists Alan Barnes (alto) and Simon Spillett (tenor) at Marlow Jazz Club on Tuesday evening when they treated the audience to an evening of pure jazz entertainment. Both players build a rapport with their audience via their playing and their introductions. They began by breathing new life into ‘Secret Love’, and that really set down the benchmark, as they augmented each other’s riffs while supporting each other in the ‘head’ sections. Ably backed by the Frank Toms Trio (Frank on piano, Elliot Toms on drums and Rob Rickenberg on bass), Alan and Simon showed their skills on such numbers as Sonny Rollins’ ‘Doxy’, with its slithering melody line, the up tempo ‘Billie’s Bounce’ and Ray Noble’s ‘Cherokee’. Simon is one of the up-and-coming generation of sax players, while Alan has been very well established for many years both nationally and internationally. Between them, they made a perfect fit and there was a magical moment on one of Simon’s tunes ‘Wendy the Dragoness’ where the two saxes played acapella for a number of bars. On ‘What’s New’, Simon exhibited some fine vibrato work, coming down the scale in thirds, and on Body and Soul, he used some fine vibrato work to complement Alan’s solo. So much for the style and skill. And the wit? Well that could be found in the way both players interweaved well known tunes into their solos. If you were on the ball you’d have spotted riffs from ‘Skylark’ and ‘The Campbell’s are Coming’! CROWNING GLORY! Ian Berrido sees top saxophonists Peter King and Art Themen at the Marlow Jazz Club Marlow Jazz Club last Tuesday had to be the best gig in town (and probably every town for miles around) – with two of Britain’s top jazz saxophonists – Peter King and Art Themen – on the stand together. What we got at TJ O’Reilly’s were two thoroughbreds out for a gallop over the staves and clefs. Both players were in superb form, entertaining us with solos that raced and cascaded over the quality melodies found in such tunes as ‘Have You Met Miss Jones’, ‘Baubles, Bangles and Beads’ and Sonny Rollins’ ‘Tenor Madness’. Both players showed their pedigree with improvisations that often stretched over two or three minutes or more, using more notes than you could find in the Bank of England and the US Treasury combined. Nor where they phased by the fact that for most of the first half they were without a bass player (Johnny Gee’s car broke down en route), and they didn’t miss a single beat when his substitute (hero of the hour Ken Rankine) proceeded to unpack his bass, set up – and come in on time - in the middle of Jerome Kern’s ‘The Song Is You’! If there were any artistic egos around, they certainly didn’t show – with both men supporting each other brilliantly, picking up on each other’s riffs and coming off the stand completely not just for the other’s solos, but also for those of pianist Frank Toms and drummer Dennis Smith. This was a showcase for jazz in every sense of the word. IAN BERRIDO IS A FREELANCE REVIEWER FOR THE BUCKS FREE PRESS .