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March 2007
gig reviews

Martin Speake's Change of Heart
Forty Thieves Orkestar
Adam Waldmann Group
Michael Garrick Quintet
Gee, Gallo, Minetto
Sylvie Courvoisier and Mark Feldmann
Cameron Pierre
Jamie Woon
Cameron Pierre
Phil Robson à Six Strings and a Beat
Tim Berne à Big Satan
Robert Mitchell

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March 2007 gig reviews by Chris Parker

Cameron Pierre

Thursday 15 March

If there's one thing musicians hate it's being typecast, and so it's gratifying to report that the trio gig led by Cameron Pierre finally laid to rest the notion, still prevalent in some quarters, that he's merely 'Courtney Pine's guitarist'.

True, his old saxophonist friend was present, but in his role as the boss of Destin-E Records at the launch of Pierre's latest album, Pad Up.

In the company of the CD's rhythm section, organist Anders Olinder and drummer Rod Youngs, Pierre breezed through a lively mix of originals and the odd jazz classic (Dave Brubeck's 'In Your Own Sweet Way'), his sound undeniably heavily indebted to that of his two great heroes, Wes Montgomery and George Benson, but infused with a bounce and vitality perhaps attributable to an apprenticeship in reggae bands.

Pierre is also an engaging stage presence, self-deprecating and charming, with a wholly commendable respect for that subtlest, noblest and most absorbing of arts (it's so much more than a sport – doubters should read C. L. R. James or Mike Marqusee), cricket, manifest not only in his tune titles but also in his announcements, one of which contained an admittedly slightly tongue-in-cheek prediction that may well come back to haunt him: that the West Indies would win the World Cup.

Admittedly, Lara's men had just comprehensively beaten Pakistan in the tournament's opening match, but swallows and summers came to mind...

 

 

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