Tara Minton [S Jakubowska]

IT has been a while since I saw jazz at the Soho pub The Spice of Life. Apart from a flurry during the London Jazz Festival, it seemed to have somewhat neglected its place as one of the Soho jazz triumvirate (along with Ronnie Scott’s and Pizza Express).

Recently, however, I saw a welcome return of jazz-focused nights, especially on Thursdays, a slot run by Tara Minton. She is one of Melbourne’s finest exports to the UK, a talented harpist, singer and songwriter, who has been gigging here for a few years now in many different settings, including a duo with bassist Ed Babar, which produced the critically acclaimed album Two for the Road.

I went down to the Spice to see an unfamiliar (to me) band from Leeds called Glebe. I know London gets most of the attention for the current jazz boom, but it is a nationwide phenomenon, with strong local grassroots movements in Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds. The latter has the classic Impulse-era inspired Work Money Death, Matthew Halsall acolyte saxophonist Jasmine Myra (who will be at the Brick Lane Jazz Festival on April – see www.bricklanejazzfestival.com), the rumbustious and highly recommended Fergus Quill’s Imaginary Big Band. And now Glebe.

The Spice of Life’s basement is a very decent place to see jazz, especially if you get down there sharpish and grab a table at the rail that separates the stage area from the raised bar section. Glebe turned out to be a quintet of young players which takes its inspiration from, among other sources, Lyle Mays/Pat Metheny and Maria Schneider (the latter is always a good sign). It produces a clean, uncluttered sound that uses complex harmonies and time signatures to pack a punch, without slipping into aimless noodling.

Highlights for me included the breakneck gallop of Gaudi’s Blues that closed the first set, the emotional heft of the two tunes where Tara Minton guested on vocals and the closing instrumental love letter to Leeds. Frontmen guitarist Kieran Gunter and pianist Chris Bland certainly make a captivating sound and kudos, too, for the winning soprano sax of Dom Pusey (also no slouch on tenor and bass clarinet). It was a rewarding, good-value evening and I’ll be back to the Spice soon – I have my eye on trumpeter Jackson Mathod on March 2nd . But check out the pub’s whole listings on www.spiceoflifesoho.com/events/ Tara Minton also co-hosts The Jazz Podcast: thejazzpodcast.buzzsprout.com/

A few days later I controversially abandoned a family dinner and slipped off to the Red Hedgehog in Archway Road, diagonally opposite Highgate tube. I have driven past it many a time, but never ventured in.

What tempted me away from roast beef on a Sunday evening was pianist Joe Webb. A lynchpin of Kansas Smitty’s and also involved in Damian Lewis’s nascent musical career, I last saw Webb at the 100 Club in Oxford Street, where he launched his feel-good pool-party-inspired disc Summer Chill (still worth listening to in the dark, chill-in-the-other-sense days of February… in fact, probably a much-needed tonic) with a full band.

At Red Hedgehog, which turned out to be an endearingly shabby, Bohemian kind of place, he was with a trio, joined by the ever-reliable Will Sach on bass and Sam Jesson on drums.

The gig was, disappointingly, rather sparsely attended – come on you people, you don’t get piano jazz of this standard in N6 very often – but those who stayed away missed out on a winning run through “some of our favourite tunes”, as the leader put it.

Although Bill Evans is the touchstone for many current pianists, Webb is a big fan of an earlier generation, particularly Art Tatum, Duke Ellington and Erroll Garner. That night he did a thorough harmonic and rhythmic interrogation of selections from the Great American Songbook which was exhilarating in its execution, demonstrating that apparently telepathic link to the bass and drums that make good piano trios so endlessly fascinating.

It was with much regret that I had to sneak out for pudding back home before the finale. But I’ll catch him again down the line. The Red Hedgehog hosts a mix of classical, folk, theatre and jazz and it deserves your support. Check its offerings at www.theredhedgehog.co.uk/

Another piano trio, albeit one cast in a very different mould, is led by Andrew McCormack. I think I first came across him some time back at a lunchtime showcase for a relatively unknown singer called Gregory Porter and later with the Kyle Eastwood Band (which is back at Ronnie Scott’s in April) and in a duo setting with Jason Yarde, who is now recovering from his sudden and debilitating stroke. I have never seen him in a trio setting, but McCormack’s new album, Terra Firma (with Joe Downard, bass and Rod Youngs, drums), demonstrates his speed, fluency and precision, as well as his emotive touch when investigating a melody – with Fragile he reminds us that Gordon Sumner, aka Sting, can certainly write a lovely, delicate tune, although McCormack’s solo takes it into less brittle territory.

Among the handful of covers, McCormack’s own compositions stand up well, too – I especially like the driving opener Brooklyn Memoir and the elegiac Prayer for Atonement that closes the record. But there’s plenty to admire and get your teeth into between that pair – he really is an excellent pianist with top-notch support. McCormack’s trio play the 606 Club over in Chelsea on Feb 21 (www.606club.co.uk/events/view/andrew-mccormack-trio-1/).

I am amazed that (at the time of writing) there are still tickets left for Lakecia Benjamin at the Jazz Café in Camden on March 27. Striking and elegant, she’s graced the covers of The Guardian, Jazzwise and the New York Times but more importantly, she is an amazing, dynamic saxophonist who can channel the Coltranes while holding an audience spellbound. Tickets: thejazzcafelondon.com/event/lakecia-benjamin/

If it sells out console yourself with her new album Phoenix on Whirlwind Recordings.
Finally, I am looking forward to catching the crystalline, ECM-like guitar work of Londoner Harry Christelis. I’ll have no excuse: he plays Camden’s Green Note on Feb 24 (www.greennote.co.uk/ ), the Finch Café in London Fields on March 21 (finchcafe.co.uk/), the Vortex on April 4 (www.vortexjazz.co.uk) and The Harrison in King’s Cross on May 26 (harrisonvenuelondon.com/). The album to watch out for is called Nurture the Child/Challenge the Adult.