Dana Masters and the Masters of Jazz: l-r Scott Flanigan, Markus Strothmann, Dana Masters, Ken Murphy, and Linley Hamilton in the Playhouse

Dana Masters and the Masters of Jazz headlined the Derry jazz and big band festival at the Playhouse theatre last night, one of the main attractions of the evening. There was a huge amount of jazz going on, with more than 60 gigs listed for this, the second day of the festival, at pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, and other venues dotted all over the city.

Masters, who is from South Carolina by way of Los Angeles and Minneapolis and who is now living in Lisburn, as she explained to the audience later, made a strong impression with her version of ‘At Last’. There is a discernible smile in Masters’ voice to borrow from the lyrics of the song and a joy she manages to draw on from deep inside expressed via her rich contralto tones. She reminds me a little of Dee Dee Bridgewater or even Nnenna Freelon with an overt gospel-tinged bluesiness to her sound, comfortable with both standards and more popular songs, Masters’ take on ‘Killing Me Softly with His Song’ more Roberta Flack than Lauryn Hill in sentiment and interpretation perhaps. Before Masters came on stage the Masters of Jazz, with new drummer Markus Strothmann making his Derry debut fluent on the more up-tempo numbers, his Wolfgang Haffner-level chops bedding in well with up-and-coming Dundalk double bassist Ken Murphy (recently in action with Nigel Mooney at Belfast spot Berts) running through a multi-faceted take on ‘Yardbird Suite’ at the beginning, which set the gig up well. As the audience came in to the theatre, tunes from Linley Hamilton’s new album In Transition played over the theatre’s PA, a nice touch, and, live, Hamilton's little blue notes, smudges and smears made the ensemble sound just as warm and appealing. 

_{A busy jazz festival scene at the Bentley bar on Market Street}

The Derry festival thrives on the buzz the music brings to the streets and public spaces of the city over the bank holiday weekend and the festival picked up plenty of media coverage to reflect its overall presence. BBC Radio Ulster/Radio Foyle broadcasted the Pure Culture show, presented by The Undertones’ Michael Bradley, live from the Millennium Forum with singer Ursula McHugh, who plays tonight at the White Horse hotel, and rockabilly outfit Wild performing. You can also hear a Marlbank preview of tomorrow’s Curtis Stigers concert on the programme, and there’s a look ahead to Kyle Eastwood’s Spiegeltent appearance tonight.

_{Might as well be Grand Central station: Left-to-right, above, Anthony Toner, Alan Hunter, Ronnie Greer, and Colm Fitzpatrick pack them in} 

Over at the Grand Central on the Strand Road Ronnie Greer had hotfooted it there to play with his blues band from his earlier organ trio show at Bennigan’s. Greer told the packed late night audience that he was sorry for the delay and had to start the gig with ‘half the band’. There was simply no room for keyboards as it turned out but later Linley Hamilton made it over from the Playhouse holding his trumpet in its case high above his head to make it through the crowded floor to take his place on the stand where he joined guitarist/vocalist Anthony Toner, bass guitarist Alan Hunter, Greer himself and drummer Colm Fitzpatrick to romp enjoyably all over Steely Dan’s ‘Do It Again’. It was as if the evening had only just begun.
_{Story & pics: Stephen Graham}