Postmodern Jukebox @ Sage Gateshead - March 3

Breathless! That's how I felt after Scott Bradlee's all-action, pot-boiling extravaganza, Postmodern Jukebox, reached its climactic conclusion. "Phew!" I said to no one in particular. There was no other word to describe the heat generated from the stage to the audience and back.

It wasn't as jazzy as I'd expected although every single performer had jazz chops to spare the name of the game was entertainment in the form of a hypnotic blend of jazz, soul and rock 'n' roll. It was no surprise that tickets had sold well - they'd been here before!

I didn't know many of the songs although, Shout, Africa, I Will Survive and Is There Life on Mars? struck a chord with me. Nor did I catch the names of all the participants - this was one show where that relic of the past - a programme - wouldn't have gone amiss.

LaVance Colley who emceed the show has a vocal range Charlotte Church could only dream about his falsetto high notes would have cracked glasses had there been any in the hall.

Dancer Kenny (Alex MacDonald?) clogged it like Bojangles might have done had he hung out in Haarlem instead of Harlem.

The girls were 'bootiful' the hemlines rising with every costume change - what's not to like about that? And they can sing! Hannah Gill's scat exchanges with tenor and trombone on Katy Perry's Last Friday Night possibly the jazz highlight of the evening.

Newcomer Tia Simone out-souled the whole of Philly and Detroit combined whilst Olivia Kuper Harris, described as a mix of Ella Fitz, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee excelled on Sunday Morning and many other numbers.

Audience/band interaction was immediate and, by the third number, we had standing ovations and dancing in the aisles. Not by everyone but most certainly by the lady seated (occasionally) in front of me - Gerri, I gather, was her name.

I didn't catch the names of all of the musicians. The tenor/clarinet/flute player may have been Ben, the trombone player may have been King and the guitarist's name sounded like Lou Pino but I could be wrong. The drummer was definitely Dave Tedeschi, piano Todd Schroeder and bassist/bandleader Adam Kubota. 

My apologies if this review seems somewhat sketchy but, with so much going on at both sides of 'the footlights' taking notes was impossible - I needed my hands for applauding!

Over in Sage Two Laura Jurd was playing leaving me with a feeling of guilt at having to miss her but you can't be in two places at once! But, isn't it wonderful that we can have two choices in the one building other than at a jazz festival? Full marks to Sage Gateshead.

Full marks also to Scott Bradlee (wherever he was last night) for turning his dream into a worldwide phenomenon. 

Lance.

Photos.