Three Italian
musicians (sorry don’t know your names) on keys, clarinet and trumpet, Hildy Harland
(vocals)
(Review by Ann Alex.)
It must be the sort of
unusual entertainments that I attend, but I find that jazz keeps popping up in
the most unlikely places. This time it
was at an event at Bedes World last night, involving readings and plainsong
about Bede’s life and writings. These
were performed by a group which meets there regularly, Benedict Biscop
Gregorian Choir. Very interesting stuff
as you can imagine. Plainsong must surely be one of the most spiritually serene
forms of music ever, and Bede was the foremost intellect of his day (673-735). The Jarrow monastery was the place to be in
those times.
This music was followed
by The Bede Concerto, a piece for
keyboards and synthesizer by musician Ron Smith, which was a contemporary
classical piece in 3 movements, illustrated by photos from the museum.
Just as it was time for
home (or so I thought) up stepped the Italian jazz musicans, who are actually
part of a visiting 35-strong wind concert band from Tuscany , who normally play a wide range of
all sorts of music. Autumn Leaves was followed by a tricky
tune that I should have recognised but didn’t, so it was probably from the
bebop era. It Had To Be You had the
trumpet musically flirting with the clarinet, the male and female players
chasing each other round the stage, heads together then apart. Up stepped Hildy, who gave us a lovely
rendering of Summertime (sorry
Lance!), sweet-voiced but with delicious rich low notes. This was an eye-opemer as I saw this singer
at my local pub a few months back, doing her first ever gig, and she’d improved
so much that it was an absolute joy. The
short concert ended with a spirited Girl
From Ipanema.
You can catch the whole
band in a concert at South
Shields Town Hall
this evening, (Friday).
Ann
Alex
No comments :
Post a comment