Barry Guy didn't wear a hat although it may have been advantageous for the audience to have worn hard hats. Sticks and beaters shooting off at oblique angles are not an unusual occurrence when this 'guy' is in full flight!
I have to admit that the idea of an hour of solo double bass didn't exactly fill my heart with rejoicing but it was free, in every possible sense of the term, and Barry Guy is undoubtedly a master of his craft so I thought 'why not?'
To understand that craft, all pre-conceived ideas on bass playing must be cast aside before entering this musical demi-monde otherwise instant insanity could occur.
True, there were moments of absolute beauty that touched my very soul; there were also moments when I thought either he or I were out on license from Bedlam.
These were the frenetic bursts that reminded me of Syd Millward and his Nitwits - or was it Dr. Crock and his Crackpots? Whatever, I remember the bassplayer in one of those bands ended up sawing his bass in half with the bow!
All this notwithstanding, it was a mindblowing performance that drew a mega positive response from the crowd and did give me a feelgood factor that I wasn't expecting.
As a footnote, John Pope was spotted so presumably he hasn't been on a Polar expedition.
1 comment :
Hi Lance
In addition to bassist John Pope music department staffers were in attendance-bassist Neil Harland,guitarist Mick Wright and saxophonist Tim Garland.Good to see that they were setting an example to their students!
Russell
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