January was hot and wet and the CJC was on holiday. If like me, you are a regular attendee at the CJC (Creative Jazz Club) December to February is a long time between drinks. The El Nino humidity with its sullen skies and petulant storm threats rolled into February and suddenly we were back in business. The first gig of the year featured Craig Walters and Mike Booth. Walters, a well-known Sydney based tenor player, last performed at the club in 2012. Booth is a local and he features often; a gifted composer, arranger and trumpet/flugel player. Booth and Walters have a long history together.

The gig featured original material by Walters and Booth and as you would expect, nicely arranged heads augmented attractive melodies. There was also material by pianist Phil Broadhurst whose tunes are familiar, memorable and compelling. With Broadhurst on piano, Cameron McArthur on bass and Stephen Thomas on drums the evening was complete. The club was icy cool and as they started playing the sticky tropical night air faded to a distant memory. Improvised music is a medicine like no other; headaches and discomfort vanish in a trice as endorphins flood the consciousness.The first number was a Walters tune titled ‘Easy’. Booth played flugel and the relaxed fluid interplay between horns set us up nicely for the evening. Walters plays with real fluidity and his tone has a certain quality – a hint of mid to upper register sweetness not dissimilar to that of Ernie Watts – but with an earthier colour overlay. While the first tune eased us the into the gig the second tune grabbed our attention in a different way. ‘A Kings Ransom’ is a seldom played Booth tune and its complex rhythms gave the band a solid work out. Broadhurst delivered a wonderfully solo on this – Monkishly jagged and totally within the spirit of the composition.

As we progressed through the first set we heard the first Broadhurst composition ‘Stretched’. It is impossible not to like Broadhurst compositions. It is a hallmark of his writing skill that his tunes are always warmly familiar. We treat them as fond friends when we hear them again. Two more Walters tunes rounded off the set (his ballad ‘Where have you gone to?’ was quite lovely). The second set saw the band stretching out and never more so than on Broadhurst’s fabulous Horace Silver tribute ‘Precious Metal’. The tune following was written for (and not by) Mike Booth. Written by a Dutch musician during Booths long years of working in the Netherlands. The tune has the eponymous title, ‘Mikes Theme’ and for me it conjured the vibe of the Clifford Brown ballads. As usual McArthur and Thomas never put a foot wrong. Towards the end of the second set they played Walters ‘As close as you’ll get’. If the title didn’t trigger any memories the first bar surely did. This was a tune that I’d heard way back in April 2012. Its intricate hooks and counterpoint nailed it within seconds. This was not a tune easily forgotten – in fact I happily replayed it in my head for weeks after the 2012 gig. I was not putting up video way back then but have chosen this cut to put up now. Last years attendance at the club was good and if Wednesday was anything to go by this years will be even better. There were many first time attendees and based upon the applause most will return. The artists create the music but they need engaged audiences to complete the circle. As the famous American bass player David Friesen said to us last year – ‘this is a virtuous circle and the magic only emerges when audience and musicians interlink. The sum of what comes from this interaction is often greater than the sum of its parts. Improvised live music at its best is profound and the thought that we might miss a wonderful and unique moment causes us to return time and again. That is how it works me anyhow.

Craig Walters/Mike Booth band – Craig Walters (tenor saxophone), Mike Booth (trumpet, flugel), Phil Broadhurst (piano), Cameron McArthur (bass), Stephen Thomas (drums). The gig was at the CJC (Creative Jazz Club), Britomart 1885, downtown Auckland 3rd February 2016.