Vortex gig reviews by Chris Parker
Blow the Fuse
Bryan Corbett

Thursday 13 March 2008

As the programme suggested, this gig provided a rare chance to hear one of the UK's most accomplished trumpet players, Bryan Corbett, in an informal setting doing what he does best: blowing over accommodating changes.
Discreetly but punchily supported by guitarist Deidre Cartwright, bassist Alison Rayner and drummer Mike Pickering, Corbett grasped the opportunity with both hands, subjecting the likes of 'Angel Eyes', 'Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise' and the Horace Silver classic 'Song for My Father' to thorough workouts in which he demonstrated all his strengths addressing such material: a spearing, pure tone tellingly interspersed with the odd growl or smear; a surefooted improvisational gift that enables him to exploit every last melodic and rhythmic possibility offered by a chord sequence; a musical personality that sees him inject everything he plays with just the right amount of wit and panache.
On quieter material, too ­ 'Autumn in New York', 'In a Sentimental Mood' ­ he is equally at home, musing quietly one minute, then flaring tastefully the next, and on more vigorous fare ­ his idol Freddie Hubbard's flagwaver 'Red Clay', or an intriguing samba version of 'You Don't Know What Love is' ­ he is simply unbeatable, rattling and ripping through the changes with an apparently unassuageable appetite for soloing. A real treat.