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December 2007
gig reviews

Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra
Damon Brown/Yutaka Shiina Quartet
Max Grunhard Sextet
The TransAtlantic Collective
Christine Tobin
Eclectica

Gig reviews archive

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 2007 gig reviews
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December gig reviews by Chris Parker

Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra

Ronnie Scott's – Monday 3 December

Composer/trumpeter Guy Barker, in his characteristically witty spoken introduction to this one-night appearance at Ronnie Scott's, recalled that he had been a little apprehensive concerning the willingness of the club's patrons to keep silent during a performance of a piece involving bouts of narration and a number of quiet musical passages.

In the event, his fears proved groundless; the sheer power of his big-band compositions and the beguiling skill of narrator Michael Brandon ensured that the whole of 'dZf', a ten-part suite inspired by Mozart's last opera, The Magic Flute, was heard in rapt silence, punctuated only by applause.

Playing the fourteen-piece band in with a rousing visit to 'Wolfie', the opening number from the 'Amadeus Suite', with which 'dZf' shares his latest CD, The Amadeus Project, Barker immediately showcased the musical strengths that hushed his audience: muscular, punchy, but relaxed swing; precise ensemble work, compelling and contrasting soloists.

In both this piece and the succeeding narrated suite, Barker performed a tricky dual role: conductor and soloist. In the former guise, he pulled all the strings, constantly urging his various sections to emphasise the frequent climaxes with which his rumbustious, turbulent music is punctuated, and ensuring that Brandon's appropriately sardonic drawl came in on cue; in the latter, he showed off both his burnished, glowing tone and his sassy, vocalised interjections.

Rich, multi-hued and satisfying subtle, and à most importantly à unequivocally enjoyable and immediately accessible, Barker's music, and his excellent band's powerhouse performance of it, emphasised his status as one of the UK's most commanding jazz figures.

For a review of The Amadeus Project see the CD reviews section.

 

 

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