Emma Fisk (violin), James Birkett and David Harris (guitars), Bruce Rollo (bass).
(Review by Steve T)
A short review, even for me; it's the third time I've seen them since their launch and others have reviewed them too. Also London's Calling - did I just quote a Clash record?
Emma had a cold when she played here last month, passed it on to her kids and now has it back, so I didn't catch all the titles, but her playing was as classy as ever.
On the last night here Lord Paul erected a stage in the middle and this has been retained and adopted at Durham Gala too, giving more people a better view in both.
Collette, an invitation to Charleston, and I'm Confessin’, which I thought she'd transferred her piece de resistance coda to.
You always get a bit of the back story with Emma introducing, so we learnt that Daphne was the first piece Reinhardt and Grappelli did together. This was followed by an eleven bar blues by Django called Vipers Dream, and I always welcome Jazz people who aren't afraid to upset the apple cart.
Nuages signalled her stock piece de resistance was intact so we now get two, poignancy added in spades when she informed us this was the first thing they recorded together when they reunited after the war.
I Found a New Baby, I Can't Give You Anything But Love and Sweet Georgia Brown ended part one.
The inevitable raffle earned master Eales a bottle of red which wouldn't survive the night, my wife picked a box of dolly mixtures even though - or maybe because - I don't like them, so I just carried on imbibing and from the response to the second set I'm guessing others did too.
We love Emma Fisk in Crook and we love James Birkett as well, and any friend of theirs is a friend of ours so we love David and Bruce too. More Hot Club Gypsy Jazz Swing built up to a triumphant finale with Dark Eyes, and an encore was a given.
We're so spoilt for Gypsy Jazz in the North East it's worth reminding ourselves how difficult this music is. In a recent online poll, one of these awful top hundred things, guitarists voted Django the second greatest ever, behind the immovable Mr H. And before number two son had violin lessons from Emma, he had a scary teacher complete with classical snobbery, but who had to concede that playing like Grappelli is hard.
James always likes to say this music puts a smile on your face, and there was plenty of evidence of that tonight.
Steve T.
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