I returned last night from my trip to London-- quite a shock to be back, several miles from the middle of Nowhere, Ohio, after two weeks overseas in the big ol' city. I was extremely busy while there but was, I'm glad to report, able to squeeze some jazz content into the trip.

 On just the second night we were there (the 3rd of December) I learned that Betty Carter and her trio were going to be at Ronnie Scott's, and I was determined to get there, despite the fact that I was almost completely new to the city, which is, if you've never been there, quite a huge and impossible maze. Eventually, after much wandering and clumsy country-bumpkinish map-checking (you should've just stamped "clueless tourist" on my forehead and had it over with, or called me a cab, which I wouldn't have taken since it costs money, y'know-- I'll just walk) I managed to find the club, which is on Frith Street, just a bit past Soho Square.

 The place opens at 8:30, and when I got there at 8:15 there was already a pretty long queue. When I got to the front of said queue, the guy at the door told me that all the tables were reserved, but they'd be glad to take my 15 pounds off my hands if I was willing to stand. So they jammed me in (right next to the bar) and I stood there, patiently people-watching, until 9:40, when the concert was supposed to begin. (I quite enjoyed this waiting period. There was the suave New Yorker-- I couldn't help but hear his conversation-- who tripped coming out of the loo and did a full Chevy Chase-ish pratfall into a table. And there were also two lovely blonde girls-- twins, I think, or at least sisters-- who stood in front of me for a little while.)    Yes.

Anyhow, the opening act was a British saxophionist named Mark Lockheart. I thought he was an impressive player (I enjoyed what I could hear of his set, at least-- there was a lot of chattering from the peanut gallery, which Lockheart mentioned in one of his tune introductions: "We're going to play a very quiet piece  now," he said, and everyone knew what he meant). If I had to reduce him to  his influences, I'd say Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins, and Wayne Shorter (whose "Tom Thumb" he played), in that order. He's essentially a melodist, like Rollins (although not on his level, of course) and his tone and some of his mannerisms reminded me a lot of Henderson. His band, I thought, was competent but pretty unexceptional, although the guitarist caught my attention-- he was a portly, balding guy in jeans who looked like he was going to go mow the lawn or trim the hedges after the set-- not exactly the stereotypical hepcat jazzman.

Finally, after a couple hours of standing and waiting, it was time for Ms. Carter. Her trio consisted of pianist Bruce Flowers (a swinging mainstreamer who reminded me of Benny Green) and a bassist and drummer whose names I unfortunately can't remember (I would've written them down, but was in tight quarters and couldn't get to my notebook without discomfort). The drummer in particular was outstanding-- a very forceful, swinging, dynamic player, but with a real lightness of touch. Does anyone know who this guy is? If I heard the name, I'd probably remember.

Carter started off in the most extraordinary way-- over a vamp by the trio she did slow, elaborate scat variations on a standard which I recognized but couldn't quite place (until she sang a couple of lines at the end--it was "What's New"). It was a difficult, unusual, abstract, subtle, thrilling thing, and something that only a very accomplished and confident musician would do right at the beginning of a set. She followed that up with an uptempo, mostly scatted treatment of "I Should Care" which gave the trio a chance to swing, which they did, hard. The other highlight of the set was a performance of her own composition "Love Notes." It's an unremarkable piece by itself, but Carter's variations were terrific-- at the very end she got hung up on the words "you'll need love notes," which she kept repeating, more and more softly, getting responses from the group, responding in turn, until they were all playing pianissimo but with the same intensity and interaction as before--really abstract, complicated stuff-- the audience was completely gripped and silent now, and there was an audible (almost palpable) release of tension when the piece was over.

She did some other stuff too, but those were the real highlights. I wasn't entirely pleased with the skills of a Brazilian composer (name escapes me), two of whose pieces she performed. The lyrics were awkward and downright banal on one piece, which was about the rainforests. Yawn. She also did a very slow "You Go to My Head," which I though lagged a bit, and a jumping version of another of her own compositions, "Thirty Years."     

I would have liked to stay for her second set, but it was after midnight, my feet were tired, and although numerous people assured me that London is a fairly safe city, I was a little concerned about wandering through Soho after midnight by myself, so I left. I've rambled on at great length here, so I'll quit now, but it really was a great show.

If you have the chance to see Ms. Carter live, please do so-- even if you have to stand for five hours or so. :-)