Jazz Surprise at Folkworks Durham Gathering, Saturday August 11

Tim Kliphuis (violin); James Birkett (guitar)

There was I, enjoying folk fiddle music in Elvet Methodist church in Durham City, when the two above-mentioned took the stage and wowed an audience of about a hundred folkies.  You see, it happens that Tim Kliphuis had been working as a tutor with the young people who’d been attending the folk workshops during the previous week, so he’d been asked to play in the final concert, and James Birkett came along to do his bit on guitar.  

Tim, a wonderfully skilled exponent of the Stephane Grapelli style of jazz, pleased us mightily with his swirls, whirls, pizzicato tunes, and flute-like effects. This Can’t be Love came first to get us into the mood, followed by a tender version of A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square.  My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose was played in the Latin style and renamed Red Rose Calypso, with Jim (and us) enjoying his solos, and the set ended with After You’ve Gone, and a Duke Ellington piece.  Well done lads.

Ann Alex