Mid-Northumberland Chorus, Robin Forbes
(Musical Director); Emily Masser (vocals); Edgar Ho and Emma Straughan (piano);
Oscar Ho (double bass); David McKeague drums); Kirsty MacDowell (cello)
There are about 60 people
in the Mid-Northumberland Chorus so I won’t list them all but will say “Hi” to
Sally, Kathleen and Viv, to keep in their good books. (Don’t ask). So here we
are on a balmy Sunday evening in a church in Morpeth whilst all the serious
groovers are getting their Bibs Ledded down at the Globe. (More elsewhere on
BSH, I’m sure).
We are promised ‘An Evening of Jazz’. I’ve seen and heard the Chorus before a few times and they tend to go for songs from the shows (My Fair Lady a firm favourite, Les Miserables so dreadful, not even the Chorus’ enthusiasm can save it), and Christmas favourites so this is a departure for them.
Anyhoo, onto the concert
and first up is A Little Jazz Mass
(Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei) by composer Bob Chilcott
which is more recent than its 1970s' Californian grooves will suggest. We open
with rolling tumbling chords with Oscar punching in on the bass to add to the
solid foundation whilst the higher voices soar. The second part is more
dramatic swing with the deeper voices underpinning; brief but impressive. Sanctus is more gentle and
contemplative, soulful and quite lovely before Benedictus’ hippy soul, suggestive of My Sweet Lord. Agnus Dei is,
again, gentler, in the Carole King/Folk area to start but it grows with the
voices adding extra power that builds and falls away in waves over a walking
bass line and muted drums.
A change of focus brings
Emily Masser on and Edgar takes over the piano. Emily explains that she has
driven up from Cornwall today and her head’s still on the motorway. As ever,
with such road warriors, there’s no evidence of that in her performance. Unfortunately,
her amplified voice suffers in the big space, with some snatches of feedback,
and sounds a little lost in the space which was created for massed voices
rising in praise. It becomes less notable as her first short set progresses. She,
the Hos and McKeague open with Del Sasser
(If You Ever Fall In Love With Me) and there’s lots of space for her voice
before Edgar’s busy solo. Oscar’s solo bops and dances and the piano adds steps
around him. Emily brings out the irony in the lyrics to a bright and bouncy Everything Happens To Me. Edgar’s solo
rolls along beautifully, adding solid chording to more extravagant frills.
Delicate piano and voice take us into Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust, a song for a smaller, smokier place. Oscar skips around
the melody, the piano spare and spacious; McKeague brushes on the drums and
Emily is gentle and wistful. Edgar’s melancholy piano solo is followed by
Oscar’s relaxed solo, all well timed pauses and runs. Show tune The Boy Next Door starts slowly and
develops into a bouncing, swinging waltz with an easy stepping, joyous solo
from Edgar before Oscar takes over for a series of exchanges with the drummer.
Ollie Hall and Will
Straughan come to the front for the first of two comic pieces, commendably handling
the timing, snap and vocal interplay of Well,
Did You Evah and Sit Down, You’re
Rockin’ The Boat. In between Oh Love for
piano, Chorus and cello evoked wide
open spaces with the cello as a voice in between the tenors and bass voices and
the higher voices that escaped in flight as the piece progressed, providing
more real drama and human emotion than almost all the songs from the musicals
I’ve heard the Chorus sing in the past.
George Shearing’s Songs and Sonnets, a setting of pieces
from Shakespeare, opened the second half. Live
With Me…… was sprightly, lush and romantic in contrast to the more stately When Daffodils… The highlight was Who is Sylvia?, the least ‘jazzy’ piece
in the set but the voices worked well with just the piano before the Chorus
sweeps in dramatically and remind us that this is what the space was built for.
Fie on sinful Fantasy was forceful
and full voice (and surprisingly brief) before a return to the more stately for
Hey ho, the wind and the rain with
the basses and higher voices exchanging lines, each singing in turn.
Then the jazz trio
returns with Emily Masser and after a terrible joke we’re into How High The Moon with her lovely voice
full of bounce and swing and, after a brief bass solo, the brothers dig in
together and let go for the first time this evening, Oscar’s bass providing
added depth whilst Edgar lifts off and roams wildly. On Foggy Day Emily takes off on a scat covering her full range, full
of sudden stops and vocal spins, breaking off for a skipping, bopping piano
solo and further bass and drum exchanges. The familiar angularity of Monk opens
the tragic melancholy that is Ruby, My
Dear. Emily’s voice floats elegantly, riding the rise and fall of the
melody line over the barest of accompaniment. Edgar fills in the spaces in his
solo but still leaves lots of air. Emily shows her range and her timing through
the changes on a full paced, rampaging Cherokee
with a rapid fire piano and punchy bass from the brothers and Dave McTeague
provides the rolling thunder on the drums, his playing full of cracks and
rolls; he’s not having a conversation but a shouting match all of his own.
And then… relax for the
swirling elegance of the lullaby Hushabye
Mountain from Ian Fleming's most famous non-Bond work with the voices
building and fading, strong and wistful, ghostly.
The audience
participation element of closer Ain’t
Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around took considerably longer to organise than the
song took to sing and is probably best left at that.
Not the ‘jazziest’ of
evenings, then but there were several highlights, notably the performances of
Emily and the jazz trio, but the two lads’ comic turn worked well, as did A Little Jazz Mass and the cello piece, Oh Love. Dave Sayer
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