Fred Thelonious Baker, Wednesday 15th October, ‘Jazz at the Junction’ session at High Peak Bookstore & Cafe
We’ve had Mainstream Jazz with Alan Barnes and David Newton, Contemporary Gypsy Jazz from Ben Holder and Stuart Carter-Smith, Boogie and Blues from Bob Hall and Hilary Blythe, Classic 50s/60s Modern Jazz courtesy of Rat & the Jazz Cats, and the Nicola Farnon Trio’s sophisticated take on the Classic American Songbook.
So what was a solo guitar and electric bass performance from Fred Thelonious Baker going to contribute to the ‘palette’ of our regular monthly ‘Jazz at the Junction’ sessions ?
Ostensibly perhaps a somewhat more limited evening of entertainment than that of our previous five months ! But no, the range of performative explorations facilitated by his technique on both instruments allowed for a journey through a number of eras and genres, from the pioneering 1930s acoustic stylings of Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson, through the 1950s chord-based inversions of Barney Kessel on the guitar, to the heavier electric bass performances redolent of his association with Soft Machine.
Fred’s son Elliot also accompanied him on guitar on some numbers, and opened the evening with a few solo tunes.