Despite releasing seven albums with his jazz/funk/fusion bands Sax Appeal and Protect The Beat, and a previous solo album, Setting New Standards (Jazzizit, 2000), British saxophonist Derek Nash remains something of an unsung hero. He has, perhaps, been engaged in such a diversity of projects—playing with pianist
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data-original-title="" title="">Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, running his Clowns Pocket Studio, and helping manage the Jazzizit label with singer
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data-original-title="" title="">Branford Marsalis. On top of all this, he's a busy recording engineer (awarded a gold disc for his work on Cullum's 2003 Candid album, Pointless Nostalgic).
Snapshot is, indirectly, a product of Nash's engineering work. Finding himself in early 2007 with an unexpected free afternoon at Clowns Pocket, where he was engineering a Trudy Kerr album, with a band that was already warmed up he pulled out some charts that he uses on his "guest with the house band" gigs, and recorded these nine tunes. Three hours later Snapshot was completed.
It's a warm and amiable album, featuring a string of fine solos from Nash—who plays tenor, alto, soprano and baritone—and pianist
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data-original-title="" title="">Steve Brown. And while it may not travel to many unexpected places, it's a lively and engaging ride. There are covers of
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data-original-title="" title="">Grover Washington, Jr.'s "Winelight" and the standards "Falling In Love With Love" (Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart), "Polka Dots And Moonbeams" (Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke) and "I'm Glad There Is You" (Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Madeira). Neil Hefti's "Li'l Darlin'" is given a hard swinging workout,
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data-original-title="" title="">Louis Jordan than its composer, and "My Love," given tender handling on soprano. An album to kick back with and enjoy on its own, unpretentious terms.
Soul Station; Winelight; Farmer's Trust; Falling In Love With Love; Polka Dots And Moonbeams; Li'l Darlin'; My Love; Five Brothers; I'm Glad There Is You.
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Chris May is a senior editor of All About Jazz. He was previously the editor of the pioneering magazine Black Music & Jazz Review, and more recently editor of the style / culture / history magazine Jocks & Nerds.
All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.
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