Guitarist Tom Ollendorff’s rise has been meteoric: two years ago he brought out his first CD, now he visits Leeds to celebrate his second as part of a world tour of monumental proportions. Only four of 30-plus dates are in the UK; the rest take him to Finland, France, Italy and Germany, plus such distant countries as China, South Korea and Australia. Not only that, but on this leg of the tour he has the services, alongside his excellent regular bassist Conor Chaplin, of jazz legend Jeff Ballard who, having played with the likes of Ray Charles and Chick Corea, now has a regular spot in the Brad Mehldau Trio.
The reasons for Ollendorff’s rise are not hard to discern. Alongside a capacity for high-speed bebop is a talent for melody and sophisticated harmony. He might roar into a Bud Powell tune to the manner born and end up striking sparks off Jeff Ballard in an exciting duet, but that came between Atlantic Angels and Darn that Dream. Atlantic Angels is an original, a delicate melody that called up the memory of the theme to Local Hero. It came as no surprise to find that Ollendorff was inspired by travels to the West Coast of Ireland; Local Hero was set on the West Coast of Scotland, but the kinship is clear.
Darn that Dream was the first of two standards played by the trio, Ollendorff beginning with an elaborate solo introduction before bringing in the theme at suitably gentle tempo, Ballard backing with delightful brush work. The second, equally well chosen, was My Foolish Heart, Ollendorff introducing subtle variations without straying far from the melody.
Despite an obvious affinity to the more delicate side of jazz, Ollendorff knows how to build a programme and the final number, after a fine solo from Chaplin, ended up with a beautifully patterned, vibrantly explosive solo from Ballard whose inventive and creative drumming was a feature of the whole evening. As for Chaplin, he provided rock-solid support and made the most of his opportunities for quirkily melodic solos.
Tom Ollendorff is clearly a most articulate guitarist and a composer with a great gift for melody and harmony – yet another coup for Opera North’s management team at the Howard Assembly Room.
Reviewed on 19th October 2025.
