Alexander Bone (reeds); Tom Cawley (keys); Seth
Tackaberry (bass)
(Review
by Hugh C).
The
final event of the festival took place in the sumptuous surroundings of the
Garden Rooms venue associated with Tennants Auctioneers in Leyburn – apparently
the largest auction saleroom in Europe.
The Cloister Suite (so named because it forms two sides of an enclosed,
glass-roofed courtyard) provided a curious L-shaped space for this concert,
with a small stage (just big enough for three) in the outer corner of the L. The gig followed hard on the heels of Kathryn
Tickell’s The Darkening, in a much larger hall, filled to capacity. Local lad, Alexander Bone, was fresh up from
the Big Smoke that day, having just completed his final examination at the
Royal Academy of Music. He was pleased to be home, and his parents were in the
well-sized audience.
Bone
returned to alto for the next three items.
Hold Out for the Sun, a beautifully crafted (by Gwilym Simcock
and Mike Walker) piece with subtle melodic and harmonic interplay, exquisitely
executed by the trio. A return to
reality next – Tom Cawley composed Come Back Home You Little Bastard! after
his cat (which he had for only two months) disappeared – it has apparently not
returned to this day! The first set ended with a ballad I’ll Be Seeing You (Billie
Holiday).
After a
20-minute interval the second set commenced with another Bone composition, I’m
Still Here. Alexander Bone,
delivered enchanting alto solos, his eyes closed in intense concentration – or
was he in danger of going cross-eyed trying to engage two distinct sections of the
audience in each arm of the room, who could both see the stage, but not each
other? Another quiz question: “What’s this?” asked Bone, holding up a
black, cylindrical rod-like object with shiny metal keys. Silence – then a disembodied voice in the
other part of the audience piped-up. The
object concerned was an EWI (pronounced eewee) – an acronym for
“electronic wind instrument”. The tone
produced in this demonstration seemed (to this reviewer at least) a cross
between a keyboard and a guitar with a bit of sax thrown in. In any event, Alexander Bone used the
instrument to good effect in a storming rendition of Keith Jarrett’s Seven
Smiles. Seth Tackaberry’s Space Cadet found Alexander Bone returning
to alto and also featured another inspiring exploratory bass solo by the man
himself. A quick check of the time by
Alexander on his phone (as you do – wristwatches are so last century)
indicated the gig was over – or was it?
We were forewarned that there would be no time for an encore (one wag in
the other wing shouted “Encore!), the trio then launched into Dizzy Gillespie’s
Groovin’ High sending the audience out buzzing.
This
was a fitting end to a splendid fortnight of musical and artistic events (not
to mention the walks). The Festival’s
Musical Director, esteemed jazz bassist and musical polymath, Malcolm Creese
had informed us before the gig that this year’s festival was the biggest so far
in terms of tickets sold and artists engaged.
The Festival is highly recommended with venues in the idyllic
surroundings of both Swaledale and Wensleydale.
Next year’s festival is scheduled to take place from 23 May to 6 June
2020 and information will be available on their website (swalefest.org).
Hugh C.
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