Tam de
Villiers (guitar), David Prez (tenor saxophone), Frédéric Chiffoleau (double bass)
& Karl Jannuska (drums)
(Review
by Russell/Photo courtesy of Ken Drew).
Tam de Villiers has been touring his Whirlwind
Recordings album Panacea. A string of
European dates, including British dates the length and breadth of the country,
concluded with a Splinter gig at the Bridge Hotel, Newcastle
Left-handed, cream-coloured Fender Strat.
Pedals. All compositions, bar one, were those of De Villiers. Playing with a plectrum,
and frequently without, the amiable guitarist had the fret board covered from
the off. Powerful, shredded woodshed riffs, de Villiers had a well-developed
creative partnership with tenor saxophonist David Prez. Unison lines had clearly
been worked on during the tour and the Bridge audience heard them at their
best.
The first set of five tunes was topped and
tailed by As Above, So Below and a
suite of two compositions – Toner Totem and
Totem Toner. It wasn’t quite the
finale to the first set. A local hero provided the closer. Mr G Sumner’s Walking on the Moon happens to be a tune
de Villiers likes.
Down in the bar El Clasico was on the telly. Barca ahead. A few more in the Nou
Camp (90,000, approximately 89,980 more than in the upstairs room at the Bridge
Hotel). The second set went up a gear. Wolf
in Sheep’s Clothing, Soup and Morse Code Fantasy gave bassist Frédéric
Chiffoleau the opportunity to show off his great sound and technique. So too
drummer Karl Jannuska – another technically accomplished performer. Album sales
were brisk well before the end of the gig and the final number – Duplex – heard some of de Villiers best
work of the night, thus ensuring a rousing reception and more CD sales!
Russell.
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