Bob Livingston, Jack Hutton, Ric Giorgi, Brian Bauer, Will Wilson
Resplendent and timeless in their signature concert garb, five of the finest in the fields of ragtime, jazz, swing and beyond returned to the Gravenhurst Opera House on Friday 20 July 2012. Jack Hutton at the piano, Will Wilson on banjo and guitar, Ric Giorgi on bass, Bob Livingston on trombone and Brian Bauer, the clarinetist with the largest collection of saxophones known to Muskoka, or anywhere else, charmed an appreciative audience with mostly familiar tunes, and one that was nearly unknown.
Just as Brian Bauer collects clarinets, saxophones, weird sounds and terrible jokes, Jack Hutton gathers around him authentic players, multi-talented in all directions, and able to swing, literally and figuratively, from instrument to instrument to voice, and from style to style. Wag Bauer, an incurable punster, wants us to know that he is “cymbal-minded”. I want him and you to know just how effective are those well-timed, brassy, foot-activated clashes. Perfect punctuation.
As I relaxed and enjoyed this concert the word that came to me out of nowhere was, “Groovy”. Just what did that term from the twenties, revived in the sixties and seventies actually imply? I guess it means any number of experiences for musicians and audience.
For me, it meant: comfortable and refreshing for us refugees from a gruelling heatwave. Mellow, but a kind of mellow that keeps the listener entertained and alert for the unexpected.
Rounded tones from Bob Livingston’s masterly trombone underpinned a sparkling blend of sound. The sparkles sprang from all and any of the instruments, as the rhythms changed, with turns of a melody and travel in time. Flying fingers on piano or banjo painted with fresh colours time-honoured tunes like “Honeysuckle Rose”, “Just One Of Those Things“ and “If They Asked Me I Could Write A Book”. The clarinet in itself is a multi-lingual instrument. The bass abounds in tonalities.
Their final selection sounded rich and symphonic - as the five rounded out a delightful evening with a glorious burst of melody. Jack writes of “Tickletoe” by Lester Young:
“Only Will Wilson and Brian had ever heard this before. It was the very first time we had ever played it as a group, which is one of the things that makes this group special – constantly re-discovering gems from the past.”
The day after the concert, as this review took shape, I happened on an internet article that went on and on about “the groove”. All fascinating, but I sat up and took notice at this comment, lightly edited by me for comfortable reading:
“When a groove is established among players, the musical whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts, enabling them to experience something beyond themselves which no one of them can create alone.”
That neatly describes what happens when Jack Hutton and friends get together.
Links:
Will Wilson’s new CD: inquire at: guitarbanjoman@gmail.com
Article on the groove:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groove_(music)
No comments:
Post a Comment