Wednesday 19 June 2019

Classical guitarist Richard Bowen made a welcome return to St Nicolas for a concert of Latin-American guitar music. In his fascinating links he noted that the guitar had continued in popularity in Latin-America even when keyboards of various types had overtaken the instrument elsewhere. Moreover, their approach to composition and performance remained intimate and sensitive where the rest of the world became very more brash and loud.

His choice of pieces eminently reflected this, opening with Josa Cardosa’s Milonga with its gently flowing rhythms and then moving into three linked pieces – Solidao by Antonio Carlos Jobin, with its warm melodic lines; a more extrovert Samablamento by Luis Bonfa and the lovely lilting Vals No3 by Antonio Lauro.

Though none of the music was difficult on the ear, the three preludes by Villa Lobos were certainly more challenging with the classically framed No3, the playfully indulgent No2 and the reflective No4. This latter Richard Bowen regards as spooky but its charm seemed to deny this.

For those of us of a certain age Tico Tico was verey familiar and brought some lovely rubato in the phrasing. The final two Latin American works were the delicately pretty Velos Retrato by Jonas Batista and the Barcarole by Augustine Barrios Mangore.

He concluded with a gently sentimental arrangement of a Catalan folksong Spirit of the Seas, bringing a splendid lunchtime event to a close and leaving very much hoping he will return again soon.

White Rock Theatre, Wednesday 19 June 2019

Ronnie Scott’s is celebrating its 60^th anniversary this year and the All Stars are on tour to tell the story. They came to the White Rock last week for an evening of nostalgia and story-telling, linked with music which spanned the whole of the history of the club.

Saxophonist Alex Garnett not only led the quartet but acted as raconteur, filling in the history between the numbers and introducing us to some of characters who had been instrumental to the success of the club. It was somewhat disconcerting to suddenly see the face of Ginger Baker and hear him in an early recorded interview.

Alex Garnett was joined by Sam Burgess, bass, Chris Higginbottom, drums, and James Pearson, piano for the instrumental numbers, allowing each solo breaks and a chance for Chris to demonstrate his homage to Buddy Rich.

Vocalist, Natalie Williams, was also with them, bringing tributes to Ella Fitzgerald among other items.

Though the music was of high quality throughout we could possibly have done with a little more of it and rather less talk between. I suspect most of the audience were there as jazz fans rather than stand-up. However it reflects on the quality that it left us wanting more.