with
ALEX RAUPACH trumpet
TOM FELL saxophone
HARRY SUTHERLAND piano
CHRIS POUND bass
MARK SUTTON drums

The call and response that opens Moanin’ taps into something elemental. It’s a one-two punch, a set-up and punchline, a work song, a workhorse, and a blues education. The one thing it isn’t is forgettable. Wherever those eight notes are heard the world over, the return call of the amen cadence is obliged to follow.

Alex Raupach continues his deep dive into the great mid-century masterpieces of jazz with a celebration of the quintessential Blue Note record, performing Moanin’ live and in full.

This is a celebration of the jazz quintet ideal – the crackling unison of tenor and trumpet, and the embracing pulse of ride cymbal, bass and piano – that marked the music as the sound of sophistication at the zenith of its mid-century flowering. Blakey presided over The Jazz Messengers as the exemplar of the sound for 35 years until his death in 1990, making it the greatest touring university in jazz, the finishing school and launching pad for giants. From behind the drums, he mentored masters: from Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter, to Keith Jarrett, Wynton Marsalis and Kenny Garrett. Among its scores of alumni we count a couple of our antipodean own, Mike Nock and Dale Barlow, as well as the jazz statesman Benny Golson, whose compositions led the way on Moanin’ in 1958.

The longstanding collaboration of Alex Raupach and Tom Fell supply the tenor-trumpet unison for this performance, while the rhythm section beat of Chris Pound and Mark Sutton meets a modern Sydney piano master in Harry Sutherland. Pull up your best mid-century modern chair for a joyful celebration of an indelible jazz masterpiece.