Venue:
Colston Hall, Bristol
Date: 08/03/2015
This is the last night of the Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival, a New Orleans themed day. And if you’re doing Nawlins, you need the Doctor. Filing into the auditorium we are treated with the sight of Mr Rebannack’s skull roadie sorting out props on the piano before his band, led by ace trombonist Sarah Morrow take the stage and kick up an introductory groove. Dr John hobbles to the piano in feathered top hat, walking with two canes (both covered in trinkets and fetishes, obv), and kicks off Iko Iko. It’s not quite jazz, not quite blues, not quite funk, and sets the tone for the rest of the night, all swampy voodoo with enough room for a Professor Longhair break. The rhythm section are very good, especially the drum workout on Walk On Gilded Splinters, and there’s some lovely Hammond as well. Pee Wee Ellis sat in for a couple of tunes near the end (he’d played an earlier set at the festival (my excitement at seeing one of James Brown’s sidemen was only slightly lessened after the gig when I discovered he lives just down the road in Frome these days). I inherited my love of this music from an old vinyl copy of the Such A Night – Live In London album pinched off my dad, and so it was a special pleasure to have him sat next to me for this tremendous show.
The audience:
Do you remember the Alan Plater Beiderbecke Affair television series, where James Bolam spent an awful lot of time in the backrooms of pubs with other middle aged men listening to trad jazz? They were all there.
It made me think..
He may be in his mid seventies and barely mobile now, but Dr John was still absolutely the coolest cat in the room that night. Also the Bristol Jazz Festival looks like a lot of fun – two venue spaces (one big, one small) with a programme that covers the underground and experimental through to the mainstream, plus free live music and dancing though the foyer of the Coslton Hall. I will investigate more next year…
‘There are three types of jazz, Mr. Chaplin. Hot, cool and what time does the tune start?’ Beiderbecke trilogy is still brilliant viewing.
Cols’onall is a great venue. Last time we went was to see Susan Calman, in the Lantern. Alan Davies was on at same time in the main hall, but Susan conveniently finished 15 mins before, giving time to run for the car in Trenchard.
Frome once fielded a cricket team where the majority of the players were all called Dredge. Lovely place, great record shop.
Not wishing to hijack your blog for the benefit of a Beiderbecke love in but I can’t resist adding ‘Mrs Swinburn, may I sit here and kindle my desires’!
oh, hijack away!
Well you did ask for it …. “You think I don’t know what a thesis is don’t you, we’ll let me tell you; a big lump of paper about sod all”!!
Don’t lose sight of the Dr. If it was anything like last years Warwick gig, it will have been fabulous, any initial doubts about Sarah Morrow, the musical director, taking it all over being soon dissipated by her obvious joy in the music of Mr Rebennack. Did he balance to his feet for one song on guitar, more unnerving for whether he would fall than its content?
Agree with your comments about Ms Morrow. She was having a whale of a time. We did have the one song in guitar, but the real heart in mouth moment was during Splinters when he walked without a cane to the side of the piano to get busy on some kind of percussion. The poor chap had been playing in the US two nights before, and I remember thinking that I hoped he hadn’t flown over in an economy seat.
Was the Warwick show one of the Louis Armstrong gigs? I was expecting that on Sunday as the whole festival had a Louis theme, but it turned out to be a Dr John set, with just Wonderful World and Motherless Child from the new album.
Did anyone mention the word Gumbo?
It’s the Gris from Bris.
Very enjoyable gig but I did find Sarah Morrow a bit overbearing, to be honest. Perhaps it’s a general feeling about band leaders anyway, they tend to be pretty good at blowing their own trumpets, so to speak. The band were tremendous though and the good Doctor on fine form, loved his guitar playing as well.