Jazz review: Scottish Jazz Awards

Published on Tuesday 23 June 2009 19:48

TRON, GLASGOW

AMID much banter and some exuberant music, the inaugural Scottish Jazz Awards were presented on Monday night as part of the Glasgow Jazz Festival. As MC Stephen Duffy of Radio Scotland's The Jazz House observed, if a bomb had gone off, it would have been "the end of Scottish jazz as we know it" – and the event reflected something of just how vibrant a scene that is.

"It's all coming together," was how Tommy Smith put it, receiving the Woodwind award, and reminding us that the country's first jazz academy was due to open at the RSAMD in Glasgow this autumn.

Another tenor sax player and an early inspiration for Smith, Bobby Wellins, now in his seventies, was handed a Lifetime Recognition award by another seasoned player, Bobby Wishart. Wellins had just finished a smoky rendition of When the Sun Comes Out, prompting Wishart to remark: "I could not say anything more eloquent about this man than he said when he played for us a few minutes ago."

There was also some rumbustious playing from pianist Brian Kellock, bassist Euan Burton and drummer Alyn Cosker, the trio also accompanying Best CD winner Carol Kidd, who celebrated with a suitably effervescent rendition of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.

&#149 You can find the list of winners at www.jazz-in-scotland.co.uk.