DESPITE producing some excellent music, alto saxophonist Charles McPherson's return visit on Tuesday, courtesy of the Dublin Jazz Society, was not without its shortcomings. On the plus side were McPherson himself along with guitarist Louis Stewart in sublime form; less persuasive, however, was the overall group feel. This was unsurprising, given that bassist Arnie Samogyi and drummer Dave Mason, who might have contributed crucially to this, were clearly unfamiliar with each other's playing, if perhaps - somewhat less so with that of the two principals.
Samogyi coped better (even if he seemed uncertain of the changes for the ballad Ola Folks) than Mason; the bassist is a solid timekeeper and a melodic soloist. The young drummer's time, aside from a couple of mistakes on the night, is equally solid and marks him out as very promising. But a player like McPherson, who tends to play so far behind the beat and treats it with astonishing fluidity, needs a more varied and flexible response from a drummer than he got. Mason was far more comfortable with, Stewart, with whose playing he is much more familiar and whose time is, in any event, different from McPherson's.
The result was to diminish the impact of the faster pieces like Billie's Bounce and What Is This Thing Called Love; Night In Tunisia, despite a hitch on the reprise, fared better, but that was in the second set, by which time some mutual relaxation had been achieved.
Nevertheless, McPherson - stylistically a very personal amalgam of Parker and possibly Coltrane - impressed, notably on the slower pieces - a couple of blues, one in each set, All The Things You Are (with perhaps the most logical and inventive alto solo of the night) and Old Folks. But the concert really belonged to Stewart, who repeatedly soloed superbly; exquisite on such as Body And Soul, Just Friends and Night In Tunisia (where his last chorus was a joy), he fashioned an absolute gem of a solo on Old Folks that was the high point of the night.
