Rico Tomasso (trumpet, vocals); Tom 'Spats' Langham (banjo, guitar, vocals)
A one hour special this week as Rico Tomasso invited Spats Langham to join him in a celebration of the music of Thomas 'Fats' Waller. Our genial host said Spats had come up with so many good tunes to play they decided to make it a full hour's worth of Fats Waller. This being Rico's show, Louis Armstrong was an ever-present guiding light (see photo of Waller and Armstrong).
Ain't Misbehavin' to Alligator Crawl and more, Rico and Spats were like two kids in a sweet shop. Spats provided Rico's rhythm (banjo and guitar) just as Fats' band supplied the rhythm to the prolific Jazz Age composer. Spats picked up his guitar on a leisurely Keepin' Out of Mischief Now and on Alligator Crawl effortlessly switched mid-tune from banjo to guitar just as Johnny St Cyr did all those years ago. Rico was impressed!
Earlier in the week Langham emailed a file to trumpet ace Tomasso with the suggestion that they should play The Panic is On 'with the usual Waller mayhem'! Mr T liked the idea and more than rose to the challenge! Oh, our host almost forgot to mention this week's beer...Hobgoblin.
Rico's presentational style is to balance levity with reverence. No one reveres Louis Armstrong more than Rico Tomasso and our man from Chiswick took the time to talk about Louis (as a boy Rico met his idol) and respectfully suggested he would like to sing Black and Blue. If there is one non-African American who could/should attempt the emotive number then Rico Tomasso could be the one to do it justice. Cradling his 1933 Selmer balanced action Louis Armstrong horn, Rico Tomasso sang with feeling. There couldn't have been a dry eye in the (virtual) house.
Russell
No comments :
Post a Comment