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Mike Walker , Andrew Bain, Frank Harrison, Mark Hodgson
(Frank & Mark’s at Iffley Church Corridor, East Oxford. 18 October 2023. Reside assessment by Mark Rowan-Hull)
Many moons in the past as a scholar in Stoke on Trent, my brother (now a Thinker) advised me about this unimaginable guitarist he’d simply seen standing in for John Scofield, taking part in for the legendary Mike Gibbs Orchestra. In fact, I took be aware!
His title was Mike Walker. Since then my brother and I between us have saved a observe on his profession, seeing him with quite a lot of bands, in numerous contexts comparatively lately with the Inconceivable Gents however not often on his personal. .
This gig at my native Frank and Mark’s was with musician pals Mark Hodgson (bass) and Frank Harrison (piano) this time joined with the delicate famend drummer Andrew Bain. This efficiency coincided with the lack of the fantastic Carla Bley and so it was significantly touching to listen to Mike Walker converse with light heat of his good friend and collaborator Steve Swallow, and the evening ended with a sleek efficiency of Swallow’s superb “Women In Mercedes”.
The taking part in (as ever) was stunning, harmonious and delicate. There was usually a beautiful silence on the finish of every piece. Each my brother and I independently thought Mark Hodgson appeared to channel the good Scott LaFaro on this wet night. There was a very correct and beautiful model of an outdated forgotten Scofield Tune “Preserve Me In Thoughts” the place I may nearly hear Joe Lovano (on the unique) stepping in from the edges. And an awesome model of “Unusual Assembly” by Invoice Frisell too. One other spotlight for me was Walker’s personal intricate tune “Clockmaker”.
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Walker, on the finish of the night, remarked gently of the ‘stunning vibe’ of the night. His phrases rang true and had been transferring within the context of such a tragic day for music, and such a traumatic week on this planet.
Mark Rowan-Hull is a visible artist primarily based close to Oxford – web site
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