The Ruth Hammond Trio - Wednesday 7 March

ruth-hammond-trio
On Wednesday evening The Black Mountain Jazz Club played host to the multi-talented Ruth Hammond Trio. A capacity crowd settled in for two sets of varied and dynamic live jazz at its very best. Hammond on keyboards seemed instantly at home, no doubt warmed by the audience's positive reaction, and opened the first set with a Peggy Lee classic 'I Love Being Here With You'. Her voice was instantly appealing, sultry, slightly husky and definitely blues drenched; her well-constructed keyboard solos showed great style and flair with lush, flowing lines. Percussionist Scott Hammond (Ruth's husband) is no stranger to the Black Mountain Jazz Club (he appeared here in January with Kevin Figes) and once again he showed us what a fine all-rounder he is, ever attentive to the needs of the trio. Valere Speranza on double bass is also a great asset to this trio, his warm tone and textured chords providing the icing on the cake.
Click here for more pics.


page29-1002-full
The second set opened with Ruth on tenor (yes, she plays saxophone as well!) and what an opener, the beautiful ballad 'My Romance' played with bags of passion, her tone light and romantic oozing with feeling. The second tune, again played on tenor, was the Charlie Parker classic 'Billies Bounce'. This was a rip-roaring 12 bar blues featuring some great 4 bar exchanges. In the remainder of the second set the trio treated us to some great arrangements of Stevie Wonder, Manhattan Transfer and The Eurhythmics songs and, at the end, the audience's enthusiasm was rewarded with a much deserved encore. All I can add is that I had a wonderful evening; and Ruth, to quote Peggy Lee, "I loved being there with you".

© Peter Scaddan 2007