A cold wet evening on 9 November saw twelve intrepid BRA fans of jazz descend for the third time from different areas of Switzerland on the Hotel Innere Enge in Berne for an evening concert in the celebrated Marian’s Jazz Cellar. A tasty early supper in the restaurant prepared us for the early evening concert, featuring on this occasion the Joey De Francesco Trio from the USA with Joey on Hammond Organ accompanied by a very talented guitarist and an accomplished drummer.
Compared to our previous visit, the music on this occasion was much more accessible, consisting as it did of a strong rhythm section and a real sense of swing. This was a group which enjoyed playing together and their pleasure was evident from the start. Joey De Francesco is a big man with a big heart who not only has tremendous talent at the keyboard but who also surprised us with a very pleasant vocal rendering of The Touch of Your Lips and even threw in a splendidly cool trumpet solo reminiscent of Miles Davis.
Evenings in the Jazz Room always consist of two separate sessions with the first concert ending just before nine o’clock, making it relatively easy for those of us with some distance to travel to catch the train home at a reasonable time. Grateful thanks go to Sam Eldin for having organized a most enjoyable occasion which will, hopefully, be repeated on an annual basis.
Jo Smith, MBE