“superb guitarist who works as a band leader and soloist" - Jazz Yorkshire”
Derrick Harris Quartet @ the Railway, Stockport - Sept. 3
Derrick Harris (guitar), Andrzej Baranek (keys), Jose Canha (bass), Guy Rickaby (drums).
For September the weather had suddenly got a lot better, and, as well as being hot outside, it was hot inside when Derrick Harris got things cooking with his version of Horace Silver’s Ecorah which of course all you bebop fans no doubt know is Horace spelt backwords. Last time Derrick played this venue he brought along Rod Mason on reeds but on this occasion Andrzej Baranek was cast as his frontline partner and who better to share the spotlight than Andrzej. A new face to me and probably everyone else in the audience was drummer Guy Rickaby who after I had a brief word or two after the gig turned out to be from the Leeds area. He drove things along nicely and could play with great force when called to do so but could play quietly also. I was highly impressed. We heard a dozen tunes tonight consisting of five Harris originals and others by Monk; Duke Pearson; Horace Silver; Tadd Dameron; Frank Foster; Sonny Rollins and Hoagy Carmichael. The arrangements were played to perfection and I noticed a few guitarists in the audience checking out Mr Harris and I got to thinking this is certainly the place to come to pick up some helpful hints if you are a guitar player.
Mike Farmer (Be-bop Spoken Here)