Vortex
Leon Foster-Thomas Quartet
 

THE London Jazz Festival has at last recognised that by offering Leon Foster-Thomas, virtuoso and pan man extraordinaire from San Fernando, Trinidad – the home of the Oil Workers Trade Union – an inaugural concert at Dalston’s Vortex. Home from home it was.

In a London quartet with pianist Sam Leak, drummer Ebow Mensah and Mirko Scarcia on bass, this Caribbean pan sunrise was full of serene, lucid melody and innovative, rampant improvisation.

Mensah’s thumping percussion, Leak’s chirping, swinging keys and Scarcia’s plunking, dancing strings jelled beautifully with the grace and power of Leon’s pan, shining like silver. The packed house, full of Caribbean souls, loved his rhapsodic, solo bursts as if they were straight from the human interaction of Gillett Square and Ridley Road Market close by.

Through the opener, Midnight Refrain and his mentor Melton Mustapha’s Bridging the Gap, listeners were spellbound by the sheer speed and dexterity of Leon’s mallets. His empathy with the artistry of Leak is compelling, how each’s solo is an extension of the other’s. You could read the joy on Leon’s face as he listened to his confreres’ solos.

Seemingly limitless skyward ascents and sparkling cadences from Caribbean skies to East London streets, all through the ecstasy of Leon’s own Unknown Memory.

It brings to mind all those brilliant Trinidadian steel troubadours who transformed a symbol of industrial oppression and utilitarianism ito an instrument of rich sonic beauty, now finding a champion of rare artistry and musicianship who has made it into a potent and unforgettable jazz force.