Reviews archive
Sarah Ellen Hughes Quartet, The
19th May 2010by Dick Armstrong
The Sarah Ellen Hughes Quartet gave one of the best sessions of jazz the Cask has enjoyed. Confident and assured, vocalist Sarah commanded full attention throughout, as she treated the audience to a cleverly mixed programme of intelligently chosen material.
Coaxing splendid playing from her accomplished musicians, Rick Simpson - piano, Tom Farmer - bass and Darren Altman - drums, she demonstrated a maturity and experience that belied her tender years.
We were given a total of nineteen songs, from familiar favourites to the new, during the course of which every possible change of sound was used.
Many clever arrangements were deployed and it emerged that Sarah had written them all - revealing a high standard of musicianship. Further proof of this was shown by her own song Working Hard, and the punningly titled Darning the Dream where she had put words to a Dexter Gordon solo on Darn That Dream.
From the opener, Gershwin's Soon, to the storming encore, Route 66, Sarah beguiled, bewitched, bounced and rocked us with a memorable night of high-end jazz, delivered with joy by four excellent musicians.