You should go and see Daisy Palmer live. Now.

Last night, the Rising Sun Arts Centre played host to jazz saxophonist Lol Coxhill and a few friends, namely:

Daisy Palmer - Drums
Alexander Hawkins - Piano
Dominic Lash - Bass

I'd gone along because I'd heard great things about Lol Coxhill and wanted to check him out for myself but ended up almost phasing him out and listening to the trio of youngsters providing the backing for most of the set.

Alexander Hawkins led the trio with a mixture of laid back jazz rhythms and sweeping, trilling melodies and solos. The image in my head after listening to him for a while was of a cross somewhere between Duke Ellington and Claude Debussy. A bit too 'show-offy' at times for what I was listening for, but hey - if you can play that well...

Dominic Lash had some great, subtle and well placed improvisations around his driving basslines and really lent to the mood of the piecs - great to listen to. Except now I really want a double bass again...

The highlight of the night for me though was drummer Daisy Palmer. She had such flair and passion through the whole night and played an absolutely wonderful gig. Her technical skill was also great fun to watch - there were times I could hear noises coming from the kit but had no idea how they related to what she was doing with her various limbs.


_{Daisy Palmer, playing with Bizali}

Daisy also plays in a band by the name of Bizali and having listened to some of their stuff on the linked site, I'll certainly find an excuse to go and see one of their gigs sometime soon.

Great gig all around, even if somewhere around 1/4 of the quartet knew what song was playing at any one time :) There's another jazz night at the Rising Sun on the 13th of July - the week before the Real Ale and Jazz Festival. I recommend you check out both.