Question: What do the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Young Bucks, Prelude, Lindisfarne and Emma Fisk's Hot Club du Nord have in common?
Answer: They all have members, past and present, represented in tonight's band.*
This was a new departure for the Globe's Sunday night sessions. Buddy Rich may have been turning in his grave after the recurrence of his much publicised allergy but none of the living were complaining - certainly not those who'd been sardined into the room - it would have required a shoehorn to get any more in!
Western Swing - the name goes close to defining it - can be described as jazz meets country meets blues. It crosses the border to Mexico bringing in polkas played to a Latin beat and tonight we had all of that - in other words, Americana.
The fiddles were on fire particularly on the Mexican polka where presto was but the starting point. On Take me Back to Tulsa they hit double prestissimo which is even faster than a government u-turn. Kyra really went to town on Maiden's Prayer.
The Humes sang most of the vocals which were, in general and speaking in the vernacular, hurtin' songs. Irene impressed in her solos and in her choice of harmony to hubby Brian's vocals.
Rafferty played accordion, lap steel and sang, as well as providing vital info about the repertoire much of which was based around such legends of the genre as Bob Wills and Spade Cooley.
Archie Brown was unobtrusive on snare drum and brushes although he did grab a piece of the action with a vocal on The Honky Tonk Side of Town.
Dave Harris's solos were the jazziest but they slotted in perfectly proving that the two genres aren't that far apart.
A most enjoyable, albeit different, Sunday Night @ the Globe - Lance
Rose of San Antone; Break Up, Break Down; Corrina, Corrina; A Mexican Polka (?); Tennessee Border; Careless Love; The Honky Tonk Side of Town; Horsehair Boogie; Miss Molly; Carmen's Boogie; A Faded Love; Blues Stay Away From Me; Steel Guitar Boogie; Eat at Joe's; Callin' it a Day Tonight; Maiden's Prayer; Three Way Boogie; Take me Back to Tulsa; Route 66; Black Mountain Rag.
*Creswick and Humphreys are, respectively, past and present leaders of the RNS. Rafferty and Brown, original members of the Young Bucks, are currently with the New Young Bucks.
Husband and Wife, Brian and Irene Hume, had chart success both here and in the US as part of harmony group Prelude.
Dave Harris is highly regarded on the gypsy jazz scene.
Ian Thompson was depping but his credentials as part of Lindisfarne are beyond question!
2 comments :
What a great gig I came to the party later after tickets had sold out so had to console myself with a livestream pass but it didn't really detract from the sheer enjoyment . I have no idea how many people were in the audience nor can I understand why their enjoyment seemed rather muted. The band deserved more vocal support from the audience rather than what seemed polite applause .
I was disappointed. The sound balance on the live stream was poor - fiddles way too loud, lap steel too quiet, as was the electric guitar. They were all better on the Spade Cooley tunes as his numbers always had a slightly more polished sound compared with Bob Wills. It's was always clear that fiddlers were classical players though - too much technique (not to suggest that Wills or Cooley lacked technique). The vocals really needed someone who was much more of a crooner - have a listen to Tommy Duncan singing on San Antonio Rose or Take Me Back To Tulsa and you'll hear it. Rout 66 was their best number I thought - they certainly were better in the second half.
The most interesting thing about Spade Colley didn't get told - for some reason we was let out of prison to play a gig and at the end of it he drop dead back stage.
Post a Comment