I was talking today to Nucleus veteran, drummer Trevor Tomkins (bottom right on the album cover above) about his free Monday night April gigs at the Coach and Horses in Isleworth, every one of which catches my eye for sheer quality.Tomkins is one of the dominant figures on the Guildhall’s jazz faculty. So he’s taught some of the best of our younger players, and he normally juxtaposes the old and the young.
The 8th is Tomkins regular working band of unjaded youthfully-inclined close working colleagues, all from the top drawer: Henry Lowther, Art Themen, John Horler and Dave Green. But all three of the others mix and match young and old in an inventive way. John Etheridge no less is there on the 6th. Stan Sulzmann and Jim Hart on the 20th, and Steve Waterman and Dave O’Higgins on the 27th.
It’s the mixing up of young players and older ones which is the driving principle here. Everyone gets to this gig by merit. There isn’t anyone below the best on the stand. An unforgiving commitment to quality.
“To promote solidarity between generations.” Actually, every one of us is signed up to do this, by our governments speaking and signing on our behalf – and a whole load of other stuff besides – by our government acting in our name. It’s there in the second paragraph of Article 2.3 of the European Treaty of Lisbon. Check it out.
I realise that jazz in general , and Trevor in particular, does exactly that. Big time.
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