Louise Lacey brings you a review of the critically-acclaimed musician Harry Allen's concert at Christ Church URC last week.  

Christ Church URC in Oxford Road, Marlow, was packed to its limits on Tuesday March 10th, for the visit of New York saxophonist Harry Allen and his Quartet, a gig jointly organised by the church and the Marlow Jazz Club. 

In the States Harry is right at the top of the jazz polls on tenor sax, although he is less well known on this side of the water, this being only his second tour. 

His huge and melodic sound harks back to the era of giants such as Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins rather than the more modern and strident styling of John Coltrane. 

Now aged 48, Harry has been a major part of the jazz scene since his early 20s and has a large catalogue of highly acclaimed recordings.

Touring with Harry was top Italian pianist Andrea Pozza, who coaxed some beautiful sounds from the fine Bechstein grand in the church, especially with his solo feature, Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life”.  

Two fine British musicians completed the line-up: award winning drummer Steve Brown and bass player Simon Woolf, Simon being the tour organiser.

Harry’s tenor had no need of amplification and the church reverberated with up tempo numbers such as “In A Mellow Tone”, and “Sunnyside Of The Street”, whilst Duke Ellington’s “Ishfahan” was the pick of several ballad performances.

This date was towards the end of an extensive and well received British tour for the Quartet, and after two more dates, one at Leicester and one at Basingstoke, Harry and Andrea returned to their homelands, but both said they looked forward to another Marlow appearance sometime in the future.