(Review by Steve H/Photo courtesy of Ken Drew).
The city of Newcastle
The upstairs room was bathed in sunshine as the first set
kicked off with Chameau(Camel) which had definite hints of the
Miles Davis 70’s electronic era about it. Next up was Icelandic inspired
Skatefulk this
piece was anything but cold starting with a rousing drum solo from Piazza and
progressing with whistles and then simultaneous alto and soprano blowing from
Quenehen not forgetting some funky electronic keyboard wizardry – fantastique.
Fairly fittingly as we were after all above The Tyne the next song was Aupres des douces eaux (Close to the Water ) this featured a dreamy trumpet solo
from composer Ghomari and the entire piece really did evoke the feeling of the
title. Baleze featured a machine gun like drum
solo from Piazza and the set concluded with a Mingus composition Peggy’s Blue Skylight this had everything including
Spanish vocals from Quenehen and much hooting, tooting and
hand clapping from all and sundry with a New Orleans feel thrown in. At
the interval Quenehen presumably as breathless as everyone else mimed the
introductions to his fellow band members.
Set two began with Strawberry
of K a film noir style alto
solo which gave way to a cacophony of sound which at times made it feel
like there was a big band in the room. A marvellous organ
solo from Palis performed on the electronic keyboard sounded like Jimmy Smith
with knobs on so that the absence of his Hammond Organ was hardly missed (which
sadly couldn’t make it up the stairs and the round the corner to the top
room ). I couldn’t quite catch the name of the next song but it had
almost a Procol Harum type keyboard feel to it until Palis decided to conduct
the band using his entire body. As he swayed and gesticulated the band played
to his every movement. What followed was even more remarkable as the
metaphorical baton was passed to audience member Chris Calver who
concluded the piece with considerable aplomb (see photo.)
A terrific bass solo from Cellier introduced Mingus’s Reincarnation
of a Lovebird and this also
featured a triumphant tenor solo from Quenehen. A tribute to the late great
Bass player Charlie Haden La
Pasionaria seemed
heartfelt and was indeed quite emotional. The grand finale Gibril Circus evoked feelings of silent movies and
the band looked as though they were enjoying themselves as much as the audience
who broke into rapturous applause at the conclusion of Le Gig – C’est
Magnifique.
The evening really had all in terms of musical styles
(bebop , hard bop, funk, big band etc etc) but what made it so exciting was
that they were performed in no particular order. You never knew what was going
to be around the corner (apart from sadly the aforementioned trapped Hammond
Organ) everything was played with an enthusiasm and ebullience that
could not help but carry you away if only The Toon’s Frenchmen could emulate
their Papanosh compatriots then maybe the 47 year trophy drought could be
ended.
Steve H.
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