Mike
Ridley (guitar, mandolin, violin, clarinet, vocals); Josie McDonough (vocals,
percussion); Karl Barlow
(bass guitar, vocals); Lucy Falkenau (banjo, harmonica, recorders, vocals); George
Snaith (drums, Percussion); Ann Ridley (ukelele, accordion, percussion, vocals).
(Review by Hugh C).
Shock news: Horace Silverman (bandleader) does not
exist! Mike Ridley came up with the name
in a moment of inspiration – any resemblance to Horace Silver is purely
coincidental. The White Gardenias are a
reference to Billie's trademark accessory, the ladies wearing suitable hair
decoration. The six-piece band are
dedicated to preserving the music of the 20s and 30s. The band members come from diverse musical
backgrounds and this influences their choice and style of repertoire.
A relatively small, but enthusiastic
audience assembled in a somewhat chilly function room in Heaton's Corner House. A small bar was situated at the back of the
room with the usual range of keg beers on display. Your correspondent sought out the more
sophisticated draught, Wolf, from the acclaimed Allendale Brewery, which
was available in the main bar.
Comfortably seated, coat on, pen, pint
and notebook ready, the stage was set: the band assembled from various corners
of the room, where they had been greeting audience members. It Don't Mean a Thing started the
evening with a swing, lead vocals by Josie McDonough with melodic interludes
from Mike Ridley's Telecaster.
This pattern broadly followed throughout the evening, with no jazz-style
“solos” as such. Taking a Chance on
Love followed, then a bass-led introduction to I Got Rhythm, lead
vocals by Karl Barlow.

Lead vocals now passed to Mike for
Is
You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby. Mike
extolled the benefits of streaming services such as Spotify for both
discovering unfamiliar music and re-discovering the delights of listening to an
entire album, rather than single tracks in the digital download era. In his exploration he had come across a piece
of anonymous Italian baroque music – very effectively presented by the band as
Italian
Rant and featuring recorder, tambourine, mandolin, ukelele and violin with
the rhythm section in support.
At this stage an audience member asked
for the bass amplification to be turned down, as it was masking the rest of the
band. This request was a first for the band, but no offence was meant, or taken
by, bassist Karl. Donning suitable
headgear (additional to the gardenia) Ann gave a rousing rendition of I Wish
I Was a Single Girl Again, complete with that Country twang.
The bandleader announced some Paganini. He
corrected himself - he was looking at page nine! We were however treated to a short a
cappella (+ recorder) rendition of a canzonetta by Monteverdi; this segued
into My Funny Valentine, with beautiful vocal rendition from Josie
McDonough, (demonstrating skills acquired in former years as the Decca-signed
singer Truly Smith) and subtle brushwork from George Snaith.
Cooking Breakfast For The One I Love (Lucy
– vocals) was followed by Hoagy Carmichael's One Night in Havana, apparently
composed when he had some well-known jazz mates round to his pad. Band members have an interest in film music
with several examples during the evening, including Man of Constant Sorrow, vocals
by Karl, with unsolicited accompaniment by an audience member's whistling
hearing aid!
Two renditions of local folksongs: Bonny
at Morn and, Keel
Row, were separated
by GASbook favourite, Paper Moon. The
band nervously donned Tommy Cooper-style fez’s
for Istanbul, but relaxed when there were no allegations of
cultural appropriation. More atmospheric
guitar work from Mike and classy vocals from Josie finished off the first set
with Shenandoah.

After an interval, during which the room
had warmed up a bit, the second set commenced with a Bluegrass feel in
Jerusalem
Ridge. Audience participation in
Fever helped to make it finger
clickin' good! Jazz standard,
Caravan
and
Love is the Sweetest Thing preceded the hardest (to play) number
on the set list and the nearest to jazz (according to bandleader Horace, sorry,
Mike) – George Shearing's
Lullaby of Birdland. More audience participation ensued in
(brrrp, brrrp, brrrp)
Busy Line.
When “we do it because we can” guitarists are in guitar shops they
apparently like to test out a possible purchase (or not) with Paul Simon's
Scarborough
Fair, featuring (in this case) Lucy Falkenau on recorder. A newly acquired, full wooden alto recorder
was capably demonstrated on the Rolling Stones'
Ruby Tuesday – first
heard by Master Ridley at the age of 15 on the B side of
Let's Spend the Night Together, a 45 rpm record broken (literally)
in disgust by Mike's headteacher father!
You are My Sunshine and Ray Charles'
Hallelujah I Love Her So were
followed by
I'm Coming Home Baby and The Beatles'
The Word.
Some fine clarinet by Mike Ridley on Sway
brought us to the penultimate number for the evening, Anyone Who Had a Heart. The Klezmer tune Dem Trisker Rebns Khosid then
transformed seamlessly into the final Those Were the Days. Enthusiastic applause and calls for “more!”
were rewarded with Summertime and Walkin' My Baby Back Home.
So what is this review doing on a jazz
blog? The gig was listed on BSH and
there was certainly enough jazz content to keep the Jazz Police at bay. The items chosen all admirably demonstrated
the versatility and expertise of this diverse group of musicians. All in all we were treated to more than two
hours of music, enjoyed by the musicians themselves as much as the
audience. At the very reasonable price
of £7.50 this amounts to 23 and one half pence for each musical item – cheaper
than a download and a bargain, given the live environment!
Hugh
C
1 comment :
we've seen Mike & the band numerous times now ....difficult to "pidgeonhole" their music, but always thoroughly entertaining & well worth a few quid for a great night out. Don't hesitate to go if you see them listed ...
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