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Exciting new and old crowds
about live performance of J. S. Bach and Duke Ellington standards, Nigel Kennedy, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and a five-piece jazz ensemble delivered an exhilarating evening of music. This time Kennedy has combined two genres of the music spectrum: classical Baroque concertos by J. S. Bach and big band music, composed by Duke Ellington and arranged by Kennedy for violin solo, orchestra and five-piece jazz band.
This unusual combination of Baroque and jazz may be perceived as odd, yet the lustrous genius of Nigel Kennedy re-invents and brings out the best of both styles. In that, Kennedy reminds musicians and fans that Baroque music was improvisatory in practice, big band music was crafted to perfection, and that dance is intrinsic to both.
The crossing of styles is carried over to the instrumentation and interpretation. Kennedy has pencilled in marimba and drums with felt sticks in the Bach pieces to accentuate the rhythm. Conversely, elegant string accompaniments and ingenious improvisatory counterpoint bring a new perspective to the Ellington tunes.
His 1980s punk image and stage antics annihilate the concert hall’s detached and stiff style of performance. In this casual approach Kennedy remains authentic and shows respect to the audience by inviting them to be part of music in the making.
He plays with abandon, takes risks and pushes the boundaries of his own technical and interpretative genius. This is why the Bach concertos in A minor, E major and the concerto for violin and oboe in D minor, which are now part of the collective unconscious, sounded sublime and left the audience still and gasping at the end. Jeffrey Crellin (oboe) and David Berlin (cello) in the “Two part inventions” were able to match this level of performance.
The Ellington arrangements included “In a mellow tone”, “Take the A train”, “Perdido”, “Harlem airshaft”, “Dusk”, “Cotton tail”, “Caravan” and the beautiful spiritual “Come Sunday”. In their interpretation Kennedy builds on the work of jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli and the “Quintette de Hot Club de France”, employing his own band of jazz musicians together with a chamber orchestra. The difference is that Kennedy plays an electric violin from which he is able to extract an amazing palette of sounds.
Tomasz Gregorski (horns), Orphy Robinson (marimba and vibes), Doug Boyle (guitar), Adam Kowalewski (acoustic bass) and Krzysztof Dziedzic (drums and percussion) delivered enticing improvisations. The MSO musicians played synchronously with Kennedy and the band, swinging along with the tunes and enjoying this rare opportunity to the full.
Kennedy sent away the crowd with a piece of his own, “Shhh”. Its magical lullaby tone softened the excitement at the end of the concert and hinted that there are more creative flights to come from this exceptional musician.
(This eloquent and perceptive review was written by Daniela Kalevi and first appeared in Australian Stage Online...........click to go there. It is reproduced here by kind permission. With sincere thanks.)
Some interesting ideas start at the 606.
Nigel Kennedy 's new, three-electric-violin "Chilling-est Violinists" or "Big Jam" project was conceived at the club, when Kennedy sat in at a gig by club regular, violinist Chris Garrick.
But this is Christmas, the time we are all reminded - sometimes positively, sometimes forcibly- that nests are there to be outgrown. This rebellious romp may indeed have already outgrown the parental home at birth. It seems clearly destined for bigger spaces, for summer festivals, for the outdoors.
The 606 was packed last night with jovial pre-Christmas folk in the mood for a celebration. Nigel Kennedy, who had donated his fee to Medical Aid for Palestinians, bounced onstage, presented violinists Omar Puente and Chris Garrick, ever-impeccable, ever-smiling bassist Alec Dankworth and drummer Krysztof Dziedzic to the audience. Every introduction led to an obligatory fist-bump. And finally: "My name's Nigel and I'm doing very well." Fist bump for the audience. Loud cheer.
Soloing duties were democratically shared out between three violinists, particularly in Nikki Yeoh's happy opener Dance of Two Small Bears. Garrick and Puente were heading off in interesting and different directions. Puente was exploring high sounds, quoting Bolero, being playful, Garrick seemed most content using pedal effects and reverb. But the guiding style they were tending to follow and imitate was Nigel Kennedy's. He tends to cut impatiently to the chase, and that chase is a sound derived from the Hendrix guitar wail. Repeated downward double-stopped glissandi at high volume, fast tremolandos, ear-splitting eeks.
An occasional gentler moment
(Courtesy bach-leipzig.de)
There were the occasional gentler moments, such as the opening to Kennedy's Hills of Saturn, but you didn't have to wait long for the rocket-boosters to get switched on. The audience loved it, I can imagine a standing crowd at a festival lapping it up even more. I found it overpowering.
The main meat of the second set, which I felt really asserted the loud, rebellious core vibe of the band was Kennedy's arrangement of Third Stone. 40 minutes might be fast for an orbit, but last night it seemed a bit too long. At one point Kennedy the rabble-rouser was facing back, eyeballing drummer Krysztof Dziedzic, as if egging him onwards to play out even louder.
But I did enjoy Omar Puente's Just Like "U" which kicked off the second half. It started with some rim-shots from Dziedzic, a jaunty bass line from Alec Dankworth, a sassy montuno from Nikky Yeoh, and then all three violinists trilling, a wash of sound. The composition then found its way to a theme resembling Average White Band's Pick Up The Pieces, which then morphed into a low-down double-time slow blues. Nikki Yeoh capped off her solo, laughing her head off, with who-cares palm clusters. There are musicians who just can't help themselves from having fun, and Yeoh is one.
An interesting first outing.
(This first appeared in Sebastian Scotney's blog, LondonJazz.........click to go there. My sincere thanks to him for his permission to reprint it here.)
Sebastian Scotney, a former investment analyst, writes about jazz. Music has always been his driving passion. He has sat in with bands at all of the main London clubs on clarinet or sax. He has been a professor at the Royal College of Music, and is currently in his 17th season coaching children at London Welsh rugby club.
The evening started stately enough with Nigel Kennedy, still sporting his Gary-Rhodes-on-steroids butchered pineapple haircut, leading the Philharmonia orchestra through two melodious movements of Bach. So far, so dignified, so what.
What the audience had come for - and got in spades - was a hefty dose of Nige’s blokeish irreverence: chatting to the band, blagging half-finished glasses of champagne from the corporate stiffies in the front row, and generally parading his hallmark punch-drunk staggering routine like a pub comedian on a slow night in his native Brighton.
But when the man picks up a fiddle, and saws in to Duke Ellington’s ‘In a Jam’ it blows away every preconception, and his virtuosity is undoubted.
......his virtuosity is undoubted......
(Courtesy gettyimages.com)
Perhaps sensing the audience’s preference for the more modern material, he confused the band by changing the running order - as he said, ‘you don’t want to work up a sweat with this big band shit and then stop’. Some of the pieces were world premieres, of original 30’s Ellington arrangements re-worked by Kennedy to put more of the emphasis into the strings, and it’s a whole new sound.
It’s a whole new audience, too - many of whom don’t know how to behave in concerts, perhaps the idea that it’s in the open air makes them forget to stop chatting, particularly the chap in row P who answered his phone during the elegant and complex Bach Interventions in which Kennedy sparred electrically with cellist Karen Stephenson, before returning enthusiastically to the Swing era.
And then, just for a moment, with the lush big band sound washing over you, the first stars of the evening appearing over the battlements of the 900-year old White Tower, and the planes lining up for their descent into London City Airport, you begin to appreciate that setting this brilliant musical anarchist on a vulgar red gash of a stage against the stones of the Tower, in the historical, cultural and commercial heart of the city is what living in London is all about.
(This article by JohnnyFox first appeared in The Londonist. My thanks to both of them for giving me permission to reprint it here. To visit the site, click http://londonist.com )
Nigel Kennedy gave a show of great music on stage at the Festival George Enescu .
Nigel Kennedy commented on it after the concert. "I do not know why she could not come. Martha Argerich found herself on the wrong side of the bed. I woke up on the bright side. Martha has a bed with eight sides and only one is good. Seven of the eight days are bad days," said Kennedy, grinning.
Nigel Kennedy brought to the stage at the Palace Hall a jovial spirit and a passion for Beethoven's compositions in an amazing show, full of spontaneity, improvisation- enriched interpretation, bow juggling, witty lines and dialogues with the conductor, conducted in full concert, to the delight of the audience. He had come from the airport directly to the concert hall, accompanied by members of the Royal Philharmonic of London. He played the solo violin and orchestra Concerto in D Major op. 61 of Ludwig van Beethoven.
On stage, standing back from the public to be alert to the movements of the orchestra, Kennedy marked the beat with foot and body movements during difficult passages of the score.
Nigel, Charles Dutoit and the Royal Philharmonic, sharing Beethoven
(Courtesy irinaroundtheworld.com)
The audience listened breathlessly to Kennedy’s interpretation of a song by Maria Tanase. The artist was encored and applauded frantically, in a hall that, after upgrading, now boasts 3,000 seats, all occupied. A few dozen people stood motionless during the entire concert. Asked where he heard of Maria Tanase, the artist explained that he had been provided with some Orient Recordings , which contained all available names. So he learned the music of Maria Tanase, loved it and felt the need to adapt it for violin and to interpret it.
"My teacher, Yehudi Menuhin, used to say that the violin should be a part of you, part of your body, and you must express yourself through it. The violin lies between your head and your heart, and that, I think, makes it a special instrument," explained Nigel Kennedy.
Admiration for his master and, through him, for George Enescu was declared openly when he spoke about the public in Romania: "People here understand the violin, and they understand music. That’s nice. One of the good things that I felt coming here, in Romania, is that it is the country of origin of Enescu, who was my teacher's teacher, Yehudi Menuhin. I was a student of Menuhin, so I feel I have a pedigree with your country. First Enescu, then Menuhin, now it's Kennedy,” he concluded, jokingly.
"We share the same space with music. Music is a common language, accessible to all, which is addressed more to the heart than to the mind. Sometimes we think too much and therefore we have problems.. Yesterday means something, tomorrow nothing but music means 'right now' and helps people to share the present moment," he explained, the nonconformist artist, who wanted to end the concert, to taste a dry wine, a local red wine brought in a glass rather than discuss things with the press !
(This article first appeared in Cotidianal. It has been translated into what Google thinks is English by Google, and then translated into what I think is English by me ! To read the original Romanian, click HERE )
Kennedy was the special host at Rosehill theatre for its 50th birthday concert marking the theatre’s golden anniversary. And it was packed to the rafters for the breathtaking performance which also featured Robert Ratony, Gyula Csepregi, Brian Abrahams and Alec Dankworth (son of Johnny Dankworth who has also performed at Rosehill in the past.)
.....showing the full range of his talents......
(Courtesy Mike MacKenzie)
The event was sponsored by the Hungarian Cultural Centre and the Hungarian Ambassador, Borbala Czako was in attendance.
Kennedy gave a four-hour jam session with an electric violin in a dazzling performance that left those fortunate to get a £40 ticket speechless. He has performed in most of the great venues of the world but he felt just at home in this tiny Cumbrian theatre and seemed to be enjoying it as much as the audience. In fact he went well past the time for his allotted slot.
The quintet entertained with a range of jazz classics and featuring solo performances and duets from those on stage. But it was Kennedy who stole the show with his virtuoso performances that showed the full range of this unusual instrument and the full range of his talents.
His career will probably survive without a critique by The Whitehaven News but should he need it... this was a gobsmacking performance by a musical sensation which has won him the hearts of the folk of West Cumbria. He can happily add the title “Marra Kennedy” to his list of honours.
*'Marra' = friend.
(This short review first appeared in The Whitehaven News. My sincere thanks to Alan Cleaver for his permission to reprint it here)
No Villa shirt, no beer, no shades...........but you know who it is, don't you ?
(Courtesy icnetwork.com)
opposite a besotted football supporter with a pseudo-mohican hairdo and three days’ growth of beard. He’s wearing a faded Aston Villa T-shirt and cradling a pint of beer as if it’s a natural appendage to his arm. I can’t see his eyes because they’re hidden by orange-tinted shades. As I near him, he’s launching into a tirade against "Man United, Chelsea and Spanish football".
He flirts with the Bulgarian lovelies floating around the reception. His language is peppered with four-letter words. He could be any slightly dissipated middle-aged British lager-lover littering any bar in Europe. Except in this case he also happens to be the most talented and acclaimed classical musician of his generation: Nigel Kennedy, the former child sensation, now turned 52-year-old versatile musician. But, as I find out, age has not diminished the rebel inside him..................
