Ardrishaig treated to a night of hot club swing
WITH CHARM and eloquence, Swing ’17 wowed the audience at Ardrishaig village hall on Saturday evening with a night of hot club swing, courtesy of Mid Argyll Arts Association (MAAA).
The band played an interesting jazz style for strings that draws on gypsy folk music, Latin dance and American jazz.
John Russell, founder of Swing ’17, led his talented quartet through standards including, Blue Drag, Black Orpheus, Minor Swing, Honeysuckle Rose, and many more.
The band were authentic in every detail as John Russell played on a gypsy jazz ‘D’ hole style guitar, while Steven Coutts, trained in the west coast American jazz guitar style, used an immaculately prepared electro acoustic, delighting the audience with solos showing great virtuosity and musical judgement.
With her violin, Seonaid Aitken shared the front-line solos with Steven, creating ingenious improvisations and neat dialogues with lead guitar.
Seonaid, a guest with the band, then surprised the crowd by revealing her rich and beautiful jazz singing voice in performances of J’attendrai, I saw stars, and I’ll see you in my dreams.
Backing the group on the double bass was Roy Percy, previously a visitor to Ardrishaig as part of the Tim Kilphius trio. Roy teased the audience with only a few solos, despite increasingly generous applause.
While introducing a Reinhardt piece, John recounted a story of the bravery of Django Reinhardt as a gypsy musician in Nazioccupied Europe.
Through his composition, he created a surrogate national anthem for the French and, despite a severely injured left hand, he continued to play guitar to a standard beyond most of his peers – a reminder of the challenges the best musicians can face in bringing their music to the public.
The concert ended with Dark Eyes, eliciting a roar of applause from the audience who were rewarded with Try a Little Tenderness as encore.
MAAA was delighted to welcome Swing ’17 to the stage and have a number of upcoming shows and events in the area. Visit www.ardrishaigpublichall.org.uk for information.