Atila: King for a Day.
Atila (vocals); Colin Oxley (guitar); Gabriel Latchin (keys);
Tom Farmer (double bass/vocals/MD); Steve Brown( drums).
(Reviews by Sheila).
This set
was an hour and a half of superb singing and playing in tribute to Nat
King Cole celebrating the centenary year of his birth. (1919-1965).
Not a
pastiche, but a warm and suave delivery of Nat King Cole's well-known, romantic
ballads and an interesting insight into the career and development of this
well-loved singer.
Atila
sang with obvious enjoyment, his beautiful phrasing and care towards these
classic songs was much appreciated by an audience who knew the originals by
heart. Always a difficult situation requiring the vocalist to own the material
and interpret it afresh, in this set, he did it successfully.
The
inclusion of brief recordings of Nat himself and some of the orchestrations of
his Capitol Records' releases were, l thought, less successful in the
story-telling.
The
instrumentalists on stage were a joy to hear, the solos were excellent as were
the arrangements.
Mo Pleasure (bass guitar); Jamie Michael Harris, (sax/ewi - electronic
wind instrument); Mike Brown (guitar); Luke 'The Duke' Smith (keys); Ivy
Chanel (vocals); Josh MckNasty (drums) + Cheri Maree (vocals).
I am
sorry to say that heavy rain started to pour down as they came on stage at 9:00pm
and, along with other less equipped members of the audience, l headed for the
beer tent where the sound was rather poor and my attention to their music was
less than l would have wished or intended.
Mo
Pleasure has had a very impressive career to date and he and his current band were
playing a free, funky style of soul/blues/jazz. Playing bass guitar, Mo led the band from the front, the solos were impressive, sax, keys and drums especially were
audible through the weather conditions. Those hardy souls who stood stage
front assured me that the set was lively and a sunshine antidote to the rain.
Maybe check any tour dates to hear them again this year.
Sheila H
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