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Snapshot is Derek Nash's second solo album (see also Sax Appeal), featuring nine diverse tunes.
Derek is a full-time member of the Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, as well as running Sax Appeal and Protect the Beat. Here he records a straight ahead, swinging album in Blue Note style, mixing standards with acoustic interpretations of modern tunes.
Derek is featured on all four saxes and is joined by Jan Lundgren (piano), Geoff Gascoyne (bass) and Steve Brown (drums).
Last year, he was voted one of the top three alto players at the British Jazz Awards, the latest in a long line of accolades he’s received throughout his career. Snapshot includes Grover Washington Jnr and Pat Metheny compositions, each given the acoustic treatment; an obscure Ellington number, some straight-ahead swing, classic ballads and a Gerry Mulligan with counterpoint, courtesy of a Dave Grusin arrangement that Derek has loved for years.
The session, however, was totally unplanned, as Derek explains: "I was recording Trudy Kerr’s album, Déjà Vu, as engineer but she and the band were so well rehearsed that they were finished by lunchtime on the second day. Given that Jan [Lundgren, piano] was over from Sweden, and his flight back wasn’t until the next morning, I took advantage of an empty studio, an all-star band that was warmed up, and microphones that were all in place. I pulled out charts that I’d been playing on my ‘guest with the house band’ circuit, and off we went. It really was like an old Blue Note session. We didn’t rehearse, yet amazing jazz appeared from a band that was already running like a hot, well-oiled machine. Three hours later, we had an album. I’ve never done an album of standards before, yet it was surprisingly easy, due to the amazing rhythm section and my 30 years of house band guest spots. It was the best gig I’ve done in years!"
