James Birkett (guitar) & Bradley Johnston
(guitar)
(Review by Russell/Photo courtesy of Mike Tilley)
From the brilliance of the Buck Clayton Legacy Band at
Sage Gateshead to the brilliant guitar duo of Birkett and Johnston at the Jazz
Café to catch the last half an hour or so of their set. Party goers were
getting in to the swing of things, ten thirty a little early for the stop-outs.
Herbie was in his horse box, patched up, he’ll survive. At skateboard central –
the Head of Steam –an indie thing was going on, wannabe dudes on the street
practicing dude-ism at the door. Pink Lane and wouldn’t you just know it, Oh when the Saints…go marchin’ in. The
party goers needed little persuasion, singing (and swaying) along to the resident
Pink Lane Balkan street band.
From the surreal to the sublime…James Birkett and
Bradley Johnston were playing jazz guitar; All
the Things You Are. A one time master-pupil arrangement, theirs is now a
duo, pure and simple: Birkett and Johnston, jazz guitar duo. Student Bradley
Johnston – he is still a student,
soon to graduate – has grown from an Adrian Mole 13 and ¾ years old (or
thereabouts) in to the real deal, able to stand alongside, or as he does, sit
alongside James Birkett as an equal. Dr Birkett is a master musician, he cannot
be other than proud of BJ’s development.
Imagine Johnston as Lonnie Johnson and Birkett as
Eddie Lang, playing Blue Room in a
20s roadhouse. A bit of a stretch, granted, but for a wee while the Jazz Café
transported its Saturday night crowd to somewhere along the turnpike in
Hicksville. James’ Waltz, a Johnston
composition written for a certain JB, then a certain Nuages, then the duo’s now familiar showstopper, Chick Corea’s Spain. Birkett remarked that this was
just about the first tune he and Bradley played together. BJ nodded. If they
could play Spain they could play
anything. And of course, they did. Tyneside (and beyond) is lucky to have so
many ‘hang-your-hat-on’ musicians on the doorstep. Birkett and Johnston are two
of them.
Russell.
Footnote: Herbie (local knowledge required) is doing
just fine.
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