This show was the opening night of The Near Jazz Experiences latest residence, that will hopefully be the first Tuesday of the month for the foreseeable future in the environs of the recently re-opened Haggerston Pub, that's situated at the Northern end of The Kingsland Waste, these days the pub is a near hipster joint rather than the spit and sawdust pub of old.
As ever The NJE are Simon Charterton, Mark Bedford and Terry Edwards who were set up in a corner at the front of the pub, opening with Terry's twin sax attack for a 2 Funky Tear Up that got everyone grooving with them nicely.
Terry switched to melodica for a very dubby Middleton Road Carve up that almost sounded like they were fighting in slow motion. They kept the pace slow and thoughtful as Simon's Tablas really wove between what Terry was playing on the melodica as the tune slowly emerged, so lots of us could sing along to 5 years with looks of realisation coming across the less familiar faces that they knew the tune.
Things then seemed to go undercover as Terry's tenor sax led them through Clouseau on Holly Street that seemed to come from the wrong side of the tracks, that someone stole years ago, in time to that wavering beat Mark's bass was working around.
Things got a bit messier as they were properly Wasted On The Waste that seemed to pay tribute to the junkies, trying to nick stuff from the market stalls, that was always a regular part of working the waste back in the 80's, when I worked it a few times.
The appearance of Terry's pocket trumpet was the signal for him to play Richmond's last post that has a sad downbeat edge as Simon's drums seemed to be barely keeping the ship afloat.
Up Across The Regent's Canal had a super fly funky bass line for Terry to weave some magic with his bass sax, before the first set closed with the Albion Square Turnaround as they tried as hard as they might to complete that three point turn in time to get to Funky Town and some well-earned refreshments.
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The second set opened with Engels Marks Out His Field that cut through the air with a wonderfully sustained Soprano sax solo from Terry as he also played with his egg shaker. That led us into 0-20 Camera Flash as they didn’t want any trouble from the mayor, for daring to go old school tearing up the Kingsland Road at 60 MPH that would have been far too fast for Terry on his bass sax.
Clipboard V Moped has some super sinuous basslines bending that cotton as the tenor cut through it all. Terry introduced the next tune as Your Thinking Seven that had loads of effects on Simons drums and Marks Bass while Terry led them a merry dance on his twin saxes.
They then seemed to have an attack of the Balls Pond Blues a total sax attack with driving bass testing the limits. As usual the egg shakers were distributed during the long bass and drum solo.
Everyone was shaking along on Mission Possible that Has a great Pocket Trumpet solo playing against everyone shaking along, before as usual they closed with a monster rave up through Voodoo Chile Yolk Return as Terry mimicked Jimi's guitar lines on his tenor sax a great way to end yet another great Near Jazz Experience gig.
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