Tom strikes the right note with gig tribute
Jazz man gets ready
20 years ago a young Rutherglen jazz musician got the chance to record with a music legend.
Now Bankhead trumpet player Tom MacNiven will pay tribute to his collaboration with Scottish saxophone great Bobby Wellins with a special gig on Saturday.
Tom worked with Bobby on Guess What? in 1998, a record that will be revisited this weekend.
He said: “The Glasgow Jazz Festival were thinking about putting together a tribute for Bobby, and because I’d done the album 20 years ago they asked if I wanted to do something.
“He was a lovely man, and a great mentor – there were no airs or graces about him. I was just a young, unknown jazz musician and he was this legend – it made this big impact on me.”
Wellins, a giant figure in Scottish jazz, passed away in October 2016 after a long illness.
Tom added: “The individual tone Bobby had, and the way he was able to slide between notes, was so graceful, like a ballet dancer. It’s beautifully smooth, you can always tell it’s him.”
A regular with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, Tom has played with all sorts of acts in his career, from Sharleen Spiteri to Hue & Cry. He recently finished working with Eddi Reader on the singer’s newest album, a long way from his early days performing with the 118th Boys Brigade in King’s Park.
Saturday’s gig takes place at the Drygate venue in Glasgow, and Tom will be joined by guitarist Nigel Clark for the performance, which includes a screening of the documentary Dream Are Free, which celebrated the life of Bobby Wellins.
Tickets are £15, with the film starting at 5.45pm and the gig following at 7.30pm.
Guess What? can be downloaded from www. skyerecords.com.