A coffee house and tea room. A venue that opens its doors for a gig at 11 on a Sunday morning. So far so unusual. Unusual too is the sheer quality of the music on offer although this will come as no surprise to anyone who has heard both guitarist Ronnie Greer on record or live and Ken Haddock even from across a crowded room. Greer and Haddock are appearing at Bell’s with bassist Gerry McWhinney, and with pianist Scott Flanigan, the musical director for last year's My One and Only Love concert at the nearby Strand when Haddock sang songs from classic Impulse! album John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. Flanigan has also just started a new Wednesday trio residency at Bert's jazz bar. Emerging from the raucous clamour of Belfast bars and clubs where the punters expect and demand the best, honing his craft via folk-rock to bring to jazz a compelling authenticity severely in short supply, Haddock is the real deal as exciting a prospect as Gregory Porter was circa Water. If there were still any jazz A&Rs worthy of that name not distracted by gadfly crooners or plastic piano trios they would have turned up in a busload to knock at Haddock's door long ago. But such is life, and in the absence of a record that shows his jazz pedigree, wake up and smell the coffee at Bell’s come Sunday.
Ken Haddock, above