(Review by Russell)
Dalton in Furness and distance being no
object, should Graham Hardy need to call up a dep for Brendan or Nik in the
Northern Monkey Brass Band then any one of these guys would fit the bill
perfectly.
A celebratory gig to welcome the
Class of 2015 to the BA (Hons) Community Music and BMus (Hons) Jazz, Popular
and Commercial Music degrees delivered at The Sage Gateshead in partnership
with University of
Sunderland
The new intake of music students gathered
to hear just what their tutors could do. A cast of thousands over two sets, the
jazz element led the way.
Vocalist Katherine
Zeserson and guitarist James Birkett
reprised their GAS Book set with two Gershwin tunes – The Man I Love and It Ain't Necessarily So. The heavyweights followed. Gerry Richardson (keyboards), Rod
Sinclair (guitar), Neil Harland
(electric bass) and Paul Smith
(drums). The Meters, Freddie King and Jimmy Smith made for a smokin’ set. The Stumble featured Sinclair (Hey Mr Guitar
Student – put down that copy of the Beano
and get wood shedding!). Richardson and Sinclair had some fun on Back at the Chicken Shack, Harland slung around some funk lines and Smith surely
has the patent on the metronome. The first set drew to a close with an
energetic, exhausting performance from Boom
Dang. Eight drummers marching, dancing, doing the hokey cokey, they were
good fun, supremely talented. They hail from
The second half opened with Dave
Camlin (guitar & vocals), Paul
Susans (double bass) and Brendan
Murphy (Sauvignon Blanc-o-phone
& sundry percussion). Singer-songwriter Camlin sang with clarity and
conviction (Bells of St Nemo), Susans
expressed relief that the desire of the student audience to sing along spared
him backing vocal duties and Murphy coaxed sounds from an array of instruments.
The Sauvignon Blanc-o-phone, as Camlin called it, could well have been mistaken
for Murphy’s unsuccessful entry to this year’s Turner Prize. Twenty or more
wine glasses - half full/half empty, the choice is yours – crowded on to a makeshift platform resembling the empties on a table at last orders after a good
night out in the club. Sauvignon Blanc or water? Who knows? Murphy rang notes
from one, then, sleight of hand, another and another.
The vocalists followed in
ever-changing combinations (Camlin, Zeserson, Bex Mather and Helen
Chadwick sang Cumberland Moon). One
by one the evening’s participants returned to the stage (vocalist Sharon Durant and steel pan player Wendy Doyle appeared belatedly). At the
last count thirteen of them were up there jamming on a Zimbabwean Hi-Life vibe Home 3. A talented lot these tutors. So,
over to you, the Class of 2015.
Russell
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