Peter King is a genuine saxophone colossus. He was already a classy player back in 1959, when as a teenager he played the opening night of Ronnie Scott's. Since then he has played with everybody from Elvin Jones to Ray Charles, as well as becoming a prolific composer in his own right. Tonight King, playing with the Neil Yates Quintet, is introduced by Yates as "a living legend of jazz" - a compliment that does little to soften his rather impassive demeanour.
Despite King's elevated status, Yates claims leadership. He introduces the band and is responsible for the set list, which comprises pieces from his favourite decade of jazz, the 1960s. There are tunes by Freddie Hubbard, Lou Donaldson and Joe Henderson, with occasional forays into the weirder world of Thelonious Monk. It all makes for an evening of funky, straight-ahead grooving, although what is missing is a taste for adventure.
Every number follows the bop format at its most rigid: introductory theme followed by solos from each musician, a segment of traded fours between horn and drums, and then back into the closing theme. It's a shame that a more imaginative approach had not been considered, as there was plenty of scope in the contrasting styles of Yates and King for some genuine musical sparring.
King's solos are massive, finely wrought creations that gleam with impeccable technique. He is an expert in the art of extending a line much further than you are expecting, firing off miraculously long phrases and then reining them in. Yates's trumpet, meanwhile, is appealingly sardonic, less concerned with orthodox technique and altogether more abrasive. It would have been interesting to have heard more of the two horns in conversation - better still, in dispute.
Given the predictable format, the other musicians made all the right noises. Bassist Phil France and drummer Eryl Roberts did a creditable impression of a hard-driving Art Blakey-style rhythm section, while pianist Mike Gorman was a Bud Powell-like improviser: his right hand a blur of motion, his left anchored to the chords. These performances made for a classy exercise in re-creating the past: an evening of orthodox jazz at its most tastefully accomplished.
