It was freezing cold outside but the temperature inside the Jazz Centre UK’s Southend premises soared on Saturday 11 January as Alan Skidmore joined Anthony Kerr, Dominic Howles and Trevor Taylor for a special concert of music by Coltrane, Monk and Miles. The Centre holds an amazing collection of jazz memorabilia to which Alan contributed back in 2017 when he was honoured by the Centre. He repaid the compliment with a great afternoon of high quality jazz.
To kick things off Anthony Kerr on vibraphone played a set with Dominic on bass and Trevor at the drum kit. Anthony’s improvisations on standards like Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s Isfahan are always enchanting and were greeted with enthusaistic applause, as were all the tunes in this opening set.
After a short break the trio were joined by Alan for an hour long set of superb variety. We all know that Alan can play more notes per second than most but he is also a sensitive interpreter of ballads as we learned from the 1999 album with the Hannover Philharmonie symphony orchestra After the Rain which you can get from Miles Music, now run by Peter Watts, or on Amazon if you must. The set started with the lively Thelonius Monk tune Nutty followed by the lovely John Coltrane ballad Lonnie’s Lament (see below). Mikes Davis’s catchy So What followed – it’s the first track on the iconic Kind of Blue album – and this segued into another Coltrane favourite of Alan’s Impressions. They finished with Duke Ellington’s Take the Coltrane and Blue Monk another characteristically jagged and captivating Thelonius composition.
And for those of you who missed out on this fantastic gig here’s a short three minute taster from the ballad Lonnie’s Lament. It starts at the end of Anthony Kerr’s fine solo and features Alan’s lyrical solo and conclusion.
Words, photographs and video courtesy of Mike Raggett
He then played a set to the delight of the crowds attending this significant event. Alan was especially pleased to be in the company of the next generation of jazz musicians as members of the 
Alan Skidmore 