Clive Peacock reviews Dean Stockdale Quartet at Kenilworth Jazz Club at Kenilworth Rugby Club.

What a dream treat to start the autumn season at Kenilworth Jazz Club!

Dean Stockdale's reputation for recreating the music of Oscar Peterson is legendary.

With Tim Williams (guitar), Gaz Hughes (drums) and the extraordinarily talented James Owston (bass) supporting Dean's virtuosic keyboard-playing, this opening night was a huge success in front of a full house.

With the theme of honouring the talents of Oscar Peterson, marking the centenary of his birth in August 1925, Dean selected some of the master's original compositions from his most popular albums.

Many in the audience will remember 'Night Train' (1962) and 'Nigerian Marketplace' (1984); indeed some will still enjoy listening to vinyl copies.

Joining the familiar faces of Tim Williams and Gaz Hughes was a simply stunning debut by James Owston on bass. This graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in jazz studies leads his own trio, was playing for the very first time with the Stockdale team. What a debut!

His ability to integrate with an established threesome exhibits a remarkable capacity to listen and build rapport in very quick time.

His finger work was at times mesmerizing; quite rightly Dean gave him bags of opportunity for solo contributions aided by some very sympathetic brush work from Gaz Hughes. James gained the attention of a wide audience with his entry for BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year in 2018. He is a remarkable talent; can we please host his trio in Kenilworth soon?

The sense of anticipation in the room was boosted with one of Peterson's own compositions "Cool Walk", immediately followed by the Peterson interpretation of "Falling in Love with Love" from the 1938 musical The 'Boys from Syracuse', offering delightful classical opening keyboard bars before the clever transition to guitar and bass rhythms.

From the popular album, 'We Get Requests', Dean chose "Have You Met Miss Jones" giving guitar and bass a super duet opportunity with exquisite brush work at the drums.

"Night Train" and "Hymn to Freedom" bookended the second half; "Nigerian Marketplace" with more than a hint of African tempos was a highlight amongst many in this remarkable season opener at Kenilworth Jazz Club.