Jim Mullen at The Blue Vanguard Jazz Club, Gipsy Hill Hotel, Exeter, 14th December, 2017

Memorable Mullen

It was an excellent evening seeing legendary guitarist Jim Mullen playing last night at The Blue Vanguard Jazz Club held at The Gipsy Hill Hotel, Exeter.

The two sets of jazz standards were brilliantly played, the ‘house’ band of Coach York on taut, crisp drums [and great soloing], Al Swainger on perfectly perambulating bass [and great soloing] and the superb keyboards of Craig Milverton [and great soloing] supporting Mullen’s resonant playing.

Covers included the Styne/Cahn I Fall in Love Too Easily, Earth, Wind and Fire’s After the Love is Gone, the Sinatra classic All the Way, the Duke/Gershwin I Can’t Get Started, with the finale an apt if surprising choice of College Boy, the theme tune to the TV programme University Challenge which Mullen playfully introduced as a shoehorn for the informed and jazz-educated audience.

Vocalist Zoe Francis sang a couple of songs too, and her interpretations, the first a Billy Holliday number, were wonderfully concise and fitting, conveying a palpable sense of the jazz era embraced by the whole night’s main musical focus.

I have not been an avid follower of Mullen’s career, and being now honest in acknowledging my ignorance, was unaware of his work in the music of the 70s that I did follow, for example Mullen in the band Pete Brown & Piblokto!, especially his co-write and beautiful playing on one of my all-time favourites High Flying Electric Bird, and his time with Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express when I most likely saw Mullen playing at an early 70s gig at Ipswich Civic College.

Any look at Jim Mullen’s entire and illustrious musical career will show his status as one of the great jazz guitarists is well-earned, and it was a privilege to have this confirmed last night be seeing him perform so expertly, and with the support of that sterling band. A bonus was seeing him at The Blue Vanguard Jazz Club, Gipsy Hill Hotel, Exeter, which is a fine venue for such memorable entertainment.

Jim, Zoe and band at last night's gig. Thanks to Timbo for pic

Glen Campbell, April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017

Riding Out on a Horse in a Star-Spangled Rodeo

It is sad to hear the news of Glen Campbell's passing, though it is well known and charted that he has been ill for some time. I mention that general knowledge because it does mean there has been a reflective focus on his life and music over recent years, not least in the release of a few albums which have, in a variety of ways, highlighted aspects of his condition, especially the excellent Ghost on the Canvas.

I grew up as a boy hearing his music on the radio and watching his TV programme: nothing significant or staggering there, just that whatever it is which plants genuine liking happened then. Like millions of others equally captured, it was the distinctive sound of his perfect voice, and the beautiful songs that helped him to deliver this.

The reviews and observations I have made in the past to better convey the depths of that personal liking can be found here.

Michael Chapman - The Globe, Topsham, 3rd June, 2017

Still a Breath of Fresh Air

Michael Chapman delivered a superb guitar and songwriting masterclass at The Globe in Topsham last night.

I have enjoyed his latest album 50, and have over the years dipped in and out of his others [though never as attentively as I now want to return to and do], the occasional listens prompted by my introduction to him and his song Postcards of Scarborough on the 1970 Harvest sampler lp Picnic – A Breath of Fresh Air.

He didn’t play this last night – a shame for my nostalgia needs – but he entertained with some sustained guitar brilliance, a well-rehearsed line in Yorkshire semi-redneck repartee, and two songs in particular that were simply beautiful, The Mallard and Caddo Lake, this latter a most gorgeous finger-plucked melody.

Thanks to Chapman for coming to Topsham, and for Julian Piper who organised.

Ryley Raga-Reverie Walker - Phoenix, Exeter, 28th May, 2017

Reveries

We were treated to a different Ryley Walker to the one who performed with Danny Thompson at Bristol back in February of last year. Then it was the folk Walker, the one from Primrose Green and wearing obvious inspirations on the individual but influenced sleeve, and a fine line in banter with Thompson who was always the king of this with one of those influences, John Martyn. There were the raga jams, and the whoops and hollers, but all from Walker on his acoustic, plugged in, yes, but more the solo focus that many will have wanted to see. I did, and loved: read here.

At the Phoenix last night we saw a different Walker, though one you can find all over YouTube, and it was these jam-oriented, band-based raga reveries, this night with Chicago band Health&Beauty who opened with their own jazzrock set and then supported Walker’s with wonderful driving jams, not least the anchoring percussion of Frank Rosaly. Guitarist Brian J. Sulpizio also provided fine guitar work, though he might have ripped it up more here and there – his sound, perhaps, lost a little in the acoustics of the venue, or that lost for my friends and me sitting in the higher balcony.

Those expecting the folk-focus may have been a little disappointed. There was a formula to last night’s performance. Apart from Primrose Green with its distinctive walking up and down bass line, I think all the songs were from Walker’s latest Golden Sings That Have Been Sung [but I can’t be sure] and they were either introduced by expansive instrumental openers or moved into expansive instrumental jams, driven by the riffling guitar of Walker and always building to a crescendo before moving back to the melody – such as it is – of the song.

So the set opened with The Roundabout and this, as melody, is very similar to the others on the album Golden Sings…., his signature sound, and the performance became – and needs to be judged as – a whole. The same with Funny Thing She Said and Sullen Mind. There was also a cover of Tim Hardin’s If I Were a Carpenter, a song from a dead dude [!], and it was immediately evident how Walker’s vocal is very similar, and suited to the song, which did move into another jam, and these jams also reminded me a little of The Doors playing live.

I was caught up in the reverie all night, and still a little this morning. Far out.

Walker and Rosaly

Tír na nÓg - Unit 23 Live, Totnes, 25th March, 2017

Live and Nostalgic Reverie

Spotting Leo at the entrance to Unit 23 Live I naturally went over to say hello. I began with an anecdote how earlier at a local bistro a girl behind the bar had asked how I was and, enthusing with a shout of Great, I explained this was because I was in town to see a band that evening she probably had never heard of [being considerably younger than me] Tír na nÓg who I last saw over 40 years ago. She concurred. She didn’t know them. It wasn’t the best line with her nor remembrance for Leo. However, I managed to follow-up with the observation that my friend Steve and I last saw Tír na nÓg at the Weeley Festival in 1971 which drew from him the nostalgic sigh Ah, Weeley…. I do feel we coalesced then, even if only briefly.

Being effusive – I trust not embarrassingly – I did add that his and Sonny’s music had been a significant soundtrack to my life, growing up in the early 70s, especially Tír na nÓg’s second and special album A Tear and a Smile. It still is special as was hearing songs from it during their genuinely stunning live performance that night.

The venue Unit 23 Live in Totnes was the perfect setting for Saturday’s gig. An anonymous looking ‘unit’ in a block on a small industrial site, it was inside an intimate yet nicely open space, including balcony, with tables and chairs set out for the performance. Easy to park right there next to it and a place to sit for the night at the front of the stage as my friend and I had arrived early. At my age, such ease of attending is bliss.

Finely supported by the psychefolk of Jacqueline Crystal, when Tír na nÓg started their set they didn’t so much roll back the years as simply reconvene them and at times add electronic effects to blow us away with louder sounds than the folk of their 70s output, Leo O’Kelly playing some fine echoed and wah-wah guitar, for example on Venezuela, Sonny Condell applying other effects as on Love is Like a Violin: I don’t think I have ever seen so many effects pedals linked up to two acoustic guitars.

In running now through most of their set for the night, I want to convey its rich variety as well as nostalgic impact. Opening with Mariner Blues from their eponymous first album, it was noticeable how playing live adds another impressive layer to their oeuvre [as well as musicianship], clearly no waning in the performing over the years, and Leo’s guitar soloing impressive. In introducing next Looking Up, he tells us this is about first seeing Sonny back in 1968 and deciding then how he wanted to perform with him, and Leo is once more superb on electric [electrified] guitar. And then it is the first outing for a song from A Tear and a Smile, the sublime When I Came Down with its sweet chorus Oh you are still a mystery to me that I am signing in my head from all those years ago.

Then we return to ’71 and the first album with Aberdeen Angus, a classic folk ditty where such musical and lyrical jollity was a requisite of albums at the time – the opening on record sounding like Sandy Shaw’s Puppet on a String which I mention as joking about thoughts of both Sandys Denny and/or Shaw become a part of the warming banter between Leo and Sonny. We are next introduced to the bossa nova of Andria from their latest album The Dark Dance, recorded after a 42 year ‘break’ from Strong in the Sun in 1973. Before the intermission Leo refers to someone who recalled a song of theirs on the album featuring, among others, Sandy Denny, Jethro Tull, Quintessence, Cat Stevens, Mountain, Free and The Incredible String Band: and it was of course the brilliant Island sampler El Pea - with the single huge pea on the cover, the original vinyl in my collection - and the song they play from this is Our Love Will Not Decay, taken from their first album.

After the interlude, Leo and Sonny return with another gem from my all-time favourite, Two White Horses, ploughing a beautiful nostalgic line from back then to now, and immediately another from this album, a folk ditty from there – the jaunty rag of Bluebottle Stew.

An upbeat switch is, as Leo tells us, one of their few covers, the rock of Nick Drake’s Free Ride, and then the title track from the album on which both of these first appeared, Strong in the Sun. One more cover is of the Jagger/Richards Play with Fire and Leo for the first time that night plays violin, this with a haunting tone.

Introducing the album The Dark Dance explicitly, they play You to Yellow which is the first song on that and perhaps one of the most reminiscent of their signature sound, Sonny, as throughout the night, quite poignant in his familiar vocal lilt and clarity. And then it is the glorious So Freely, back to A Tear and a Smile, my managing to defer a sentimental reverie producing the former physical response in the title but definitely not preventing the second from spreading across my face, and I record this on my camera, just for me, as a precious memory from this night.

They then play Venezuela, very much Leo’s song from the 80s and prompted by a TV programme he watched then, a rousing guitar and vocal with effects performance that blows me away, this also resonating – literally – as my friend and I sit there at the very front and in the smaller but excellent venue that is Unit 23. There is a ‘demo’ version of this you can see on YouTube, as well as more recent live performances, but you have to be there next to the PA to get the full wonderful impact, and a fine display of lead guitar prowess.

Another highlight of the night, as with Venezuela, was the song Eyelids into Snow, written by Sonny with his then 80s band Scullion, and it is a CS&N-esque perfection – both in that songwriting and the night’s performance – Sonny and Leo in superb harmony, and Sonny at his most vocally soaring. What more could one want?

Well, obviously, an encore. This brought us more delightful banter about loving the same girlfriend and playing the songs Piccadilly and Daisy Lady, though there was confusion about which was actually concerning this girl – and did they play both? I can’t fully recall because by this stage I was in a palpable reverie having enjoyed the very good company of my friend from long ago and Weeley and now, and this outstanding performance from Tír na nÓg in Totnes and Unit 23 Live.

For other reviews and observations from me on the work of this duo, read here.

If you get the chance you must make the effort to see them live:

Thur 4th May - Cathedral Arts Festival, Duke of York, BELFAST

Sat 3rd June - The Borderline, LONDON

Sun 4th June - Acoustic Festival of Great Britain, UTTOXETER

Tues 6th June - Milton Rooms, MALTON, North Yorkshire

Wed 7th June - The Old Courts, WIGAN

Thur 8th June - Trades Club, HEBDEN BRIDGE,  West Yorkshire

Fri 9th June - Bridgewater Bar, RUNCORN, Cheshire

Wed 1st Nov - Kitchen Garden, Birmingham

Thurs 2nd Nov - Arts Centre, Evesham

Fri 3rd Nov - The Crown, Nuneaton

Sat 4th Nov - Greystones, Sheffield

Their music can be bought here.

Ralph McTell and Wizz Jones, live at The Beehive, Honiton, 10th February, 2017, gig review

Memorable

Ralph McTell and Wizz Jones each have their individual legendary status, and playing together there is such a depth of talent and experience to provide. And they did. In summary, the two hours of performance were delivered as a charming, anecdotal narrative of their individual and shared musical roots and experiences, illustrated then by the songs, either independently or shared. Each continually conveyed genuine humility as well as mutual appreciation, and at this purely personal/personality level, the two were engaging, warm, humorous, and also instructive about musical history, from songwriting and songwriters to guitar techniques.

One pervasive impact from the night, for me at least, was a sense of history and context. Without overstating – indeed, far from it – a few of the songs reflected poignantly, and sadly, on current events, for example the performance of Willy Guthrie’s Deportee about Mexican migrants working in the USA and then sent back home once their hard work and exploitation of that had been completed,

The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon,
A fireball of lightning, and shook all our hills,
Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says, "They are just deportees"

Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil
And be called by no name except "deportees"?

Another, Pete Seeger’s He Lies in American Land, tells the story of an immigrant man, husband and father, who travels on his own from Europe to work in Pennsylvania, in McKeespot making steel, but dies before his wife and family arrive to join him. As McTell and Jones didn’t need to extrapolate further to make the broader, contemporary relevance, I won’t, but when this Seeger song was song, the weight of current events made the performance resonate with sadness, and more,

  

Ah, my God what is this land of America?

So many people travelling there
I will go too for I am still young
God the Lord will grant me good luck there

Wizz Jones at 77 still plays a mean guitar, and this came to the fore on his solo of Mance Lipscomb’s ‘Bout a Spoonful [which made me recall my comments here on Dixon’s song performed by Cream], an authentic sense of the blues brought alive in his playing. Another sweet song he played was Night Ferry, and he also played When I Leave Berlin, recounting then and throughout the gig his and Ralph’s time playing in Germany, and also recounting how Springsteen played this at his Berlin gig in 2012, without acknowledging Wizz as the writer. He did so with a laugh, and I think it was a genuine dismissal from a genuine great.

Ralph McTell at 73 also played some gorgeous guitar, a great blues on his The Ghost of Robert Johnson, and once on his 12 string. The highlight of his on the night, and I am astonished I didn’t know the song – but I do now, and throughout this morning with repeated listens – was the beautiful From Clare to Here. McTell’s voice has over the years settled to a resonating bass and it was wonderful to hear the fulsome delivery live. Both he and Jones told anecdotes of how they came across songs of theirs [as with FCTH] in songbooks stated as traditional Irish songs. Again, in that shared humility which ran throughout the night, they expressed complete satisfaction with this.

A memorable night.

Scroll down just beneath this for videos of two great performances.