Zoë Gilby (vocals); Alan Law (piano)
(Review by Russell)
Down the years BSH correspondents have written reams about Zoë Gilby without, it seems, ever documenting her occasional duo project gigs with Alan Law.* This Jazz Cafe Mezzanine appearance was an opportunity to finally catch up with their Beatles, Bossa and Beyond set.
As the big hand approached two o'clock Zoë and Alan took a seat - vocalist Zoë sitting atop a high stool, pianist Alan on a piano stool. And what a scene lay before them - all seats taken with dozens standing and yet more settling down on the stairs!
The bossas tended to be ACJ (One Note Samba, No More Blues, Dindi) and the GASbook selections were choice, if familiar (Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me, Nature Boy) and the Beatles' numbers, invariably credited to Lennon and McCartney, included Across the Universe, Sexy Sadie and Blackbird. Zoë introduced the latter number - more Macca than Lennon and McCartney - which prompted Alan to exclaim: Too many chords! As the big hand approached four o'clock many, too many, Beatles’ numbers hadn't made the set list. The Lennon and McCartney songbook is a weighty tome - Zoë Gilby and Alan Law could be dipping into it for years to come.
Russell
* BSH Editor-in-Chief will, no doubt, inform readers if this is an inaccurate observation!
Editor: See review from 2015.
2 comments :
This was an excellent gig. I was entranced and delighted by the interpretations. If you get a chance to catch them again, make it a priority!
When you consider that George Harrisons are credited to George Harrison, all Beatles songs, with the exception of Day in the Life, were actually Lemon or McCartney. Across the Universe was Lemon.
Tomorrow Never Knows always requires a special mention when discussing this most supremely over-rated pop group (it's doubtful anything in the history of mankind, besides possibly other religious deities, has ever been more over-rated).
While Lemon came up with the melody of the chant, the lyrics were lifted directly from Timothy Leary's translation of Tibetan Book of the Dead and, according to George Martin - who should know, all the bits that separate it from every other Beatles record, were down to McCartney, inspired by Stockhausen and probably Mingus.
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