DARLINGTON Jazz Club seems to have settled in the smaller but more intimate surroundings of the Quakerhouse.

Pianist Paul Edis made a welcome return visit as soloist, though we were also offered some guest appearances. He opened with two of his own compositions, Montage, played over a rippling rhythm, and a Bill Evansish Murmuration.

His arrangement of Greensleeves swung rather more than the original version with the pianist improvising with one hand while playing the melody with the other, and a version of But Not For Me was taken more slowly than usual with a respect for the song’s sentiments.

His first guest, trumpeter Jonny Dunn, joined him for Secret Love and a version of You Don’t Know What Love Is on which they created a bluesy, wistful mood.

Back to solo piano with a lively version of One Note Samba and a distinctive take on Bring Me Sunshine.

It was then the turn of his second guest, guitarist Francis Tulip, a recent award winner at the Big Band Jazz Festival in Sunderland who impressed straightaway with All The Things You Are and his own composition Ballad for Mr. G.W.

After a couple of other pieces, all three musicians joined together in a freewheeling blues topped and tailed by Blue Monk to end a particularly enjoyable early evening session.

The club’s next date by Darlington Big Band on Sunday is at St Augustine’s Parish Hall.

Peter Bevan