Gala Theatre, Durham

PRESENTED by Brass: Durham International Festival, this rare appearance was part of a short British tour by the renowned US jazz trumpeter.

He was backed by a quintet assembled for the occasion by bass player Andy Champion and featuring some of the finest local players with Graeme Wilson tenor saxophone, Chris Hibbard trombone, Paul Edis piano and Adrian Tilbrook drums.

Though something of a whistle-stop tour for Faddis, with time for only a two-hour rehearsal with the quintet, it seemed to me a most successful meeting.

Much of this was down to the high quality of Champion’s group, both individually and collectively, and to Faddis’s encouragement throughout the concert, particularly knowing his reputation as a hard taskmaster.

The opening number, Sonny Rollins’ Oleo, set the standard straightaway with opening solos by Hibbard and Wilson before Faddis, muted and with Champion’s walking bass initially before piano and drums joined in, played a beautifully controlled and deliberate solo before finally letting rip on open trumpet with several rounds of breaks with the other horns.

Edis had arranged Black Orpheus for the group with fine supporting lines for trombone and saxophone in the opening theme statement before his own typically coherent piano solo, muted trumpet and a smoky sounding tenor, all over an insinuating Latin beat.

After such a good start Faddis and 36 FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2014 WEEKEND dst.co.uk DARLINGTON & STOCKTON TIMES the band could relax a little and we heard a superb ballad medley, a rousing caravan and an explosive trumpet solo on What is this thing called love.

Among many highlights was All Blues which seemed to bring out the best in everyone with a sequence of imaginative solos.

With some perhaps unexpected teasing from Faddis, the band acquitted themselves particularly well providing an ideal platform for this outstanding trumpeter.

Peter Bevan