(Review by Steve T)
With time to kill before an early evening gig I opted for this, even though
it was part of the kids program. I've seen him a couple of times and he's
great, I'll always listen to a tabla player, the tickets were a bargain and men
are just big kids anyway.
I arrived during one of his biggies that I recognised from one of his
albums and the previous gigs, the snake charmer playing his clarinet
one-handed, waving his other arm in the air. No tabla, but upright bass and kit
worked remarkably well through Bird’s Now's the Time.
Some kids sat with parents while others laid on beanbags at the front
and there appeared to be lots of adults without kids. He had them (the kids)
doing river motions to The River, rainfall to Rain, jumping
up and down to Caliban’s Revenge and sleeping to La
Lan Chu (forgive any spelling errors), which is Mandarin for Lullaby.
I’d met him after his last Sage Gateshead gig and he's the real deal,
one of the coolest British Jazz artists on the circuit. As a British Asian
growing up in Manchester, I've no doubt he's led a 'colourful' life, which came
through in his relaxed, entertaining banter with the kids, though occasionally
needing to retract things, so lots of explanations required from parents
afterwards, but it was all good humoured and well received.
In fact everybody seemed to love it: kids, ladies, big kids and festival
staff, his first appearance at the festival and I hope he'll be doing one of
the main venues in the next few years.
Steve
T
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