Nat Steele MJQ Quartet with Grant Stewart, Royal Festival Hall, London (GB) - Feb 7, 2020

This MJQ tribute band were: Nat Steele vibes, Gabriel Latchin piano, Dario di Lecce double bass and Steve Brown drums. They played a set largely inspired by the 1950s album Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet – hence Grant Stewart on tenor sax playing the Rollins role. Numbers included Woody ‘n’ You (Dizzy Gillespie), Django and Bags Groove (both Milt Jackson) and In a Sentimental Mood (Duke Ellington). This was a really good gig – the playing standard was excellent in terms of individual performances and group cohesion. This band actually swung, a rare thing these days.