Music Articles | Marlbank Jazz Blog

It’s a solid concept paying tribute to John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman on Impulse. And the five musicians on the stand in the Culford Room were more than up to the task.

Various people have done the same down the years notably Kurt Elling in 2009. Dedicated To You is still the Chicagoan’s greatest achievement.

Singing in front of ornate stained glass windows amid plushly carpeted surroundings, the main roles were fulfilled on this occasion earlier today by the rich bass baritone of Marvin Muoneké in the Hartman role and Mark Lockheart so strong on Vital Spark this year in the Coltrane tenor saxophone casting.

Tomorrow’s Warriors eminence Gary Crosby was on double bass and kept stately time buoyed by Alex Webb on piano. A frequently martial technically very precise Winston Clifford on drums whose style at times reminded me of Eric Gravatt of Weather Report often stole the show.

Marcin Muoneke — Marvin Muoneké, Gary Crosby, Mark Lockheart at Cadogan Hall’s Out to Lunch jazz series. Of the core material Billy Strayhorn’s ‘Lush Life’ was central and the musicians deftly interpreted Irving Berlin’s ‘They Say It’s Wonderful,’ Sammy Cahn’s ‘Dedicated to You’, a fine take on Wood and Mellin’s ‘My One and Only Love’ and silky rendition of Rodgers and Hart’s ‘You Are Too Beautiful.’

I liked the calypso feel of ‘Angelica’ which opened the second half and the bolero feel of ‘Autumn Serenade’ found Clifford using his bare hands to effect. ‘Dedicated To You’ was done as a samba and again that choice was rewarding.

Cadogan Hall hosted the Out to Lunch jazz series earlier today. About 80-100 people turned up for this well put together tribute. The series continues next week with on Tuesday the Gab Trio featuring Luna Cohen and on Thursday Kate Williams and her trio.

You get strong Gregory Porter vibes from Muoneké. And for added value he played the flugelhorn towards the end corresponding with Lockheart as the band passed the tune around taking the Coltrane. I had hoped Marvin (he is named after Marvin Gaye he told us) would sing ‘Angel,’ an original of his and Webb’s out recently. But pangs aside surely nobody wished they were at home watching Bargain Hunt instead – Muoneké’s tease gained appreciative chuckles. The set also included another stirring original in ‘Forbidden Fruit’ which is like a boogaloo and was snuck in amongst the heritage material seamlessly enough. Webb also provided sympathetic words for the sung version of ‘After the Rain’. What a feast of material it all proved.