Thursday, May 15, 2008
La Bilbaina Jazz Club turns 17
Next year it'll be allowed to drink!
Last Thursday's show was somewhat unorthodox: A seven-piece act (although the website says it's a quintet...) called the "Fun Collective", apparently a group of friends who just like to play together, starting off the show, and ending in an open jam session (well, for those who had instruments).
The jam session is perhaps not worth commenting on: it was a birthday party, and everyone pulled out their instruments and jammed - there was no particular logic, and as jam sessions go, no particular show, but it was certainly a lot of fun, and contributed to the festive mood already begun with the cake and champagne cocktails distributed during the break!
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned Enrique Crespo and his wonderful photos that he now has up on his site.... well, it seems that not only has he pleased happy jazz-goers like myself, but now, he seems to have filled the position of photographer for La Bilbaina Jazz Club. Again, I highly recommend you check out his photos! They convey the mood of the party beautifully!
So, the first act... Great! I wouldn't go as far as to say they were extremely sophisticated, but I would definitely say that they had an amazing energy. It reminded of SomaFM: Secret Agent, which sometimes plays the sort of happy energetic jazz that reminds you of Austin Powers! When I say they weren't 'sophisticated', perhaps I mean that they weren't subtle - which is the thing to be expected when you put a trumpet, an alto and tenor saxophone, drums, keyboard, bass guitar and electric guitar on stage together. I apologise this time for not having references. I was informed that they haven't gotten anything recorded, and the names went by so fast that I didn't quite manage to catch any of them, other than that of their amazing guitarist (Raoul).
But regardless of that, here are some observations.
As far as characters went, the drummer and the tenor sax really amused me. I dubbed the drummer, with an indian style hippie shirt, bootleg pants and a cigarette dangling from his mouth 'the displaced hippy'. The sax, on the other hand, had these vertical lines appearing from the corners of his mouth, making him look extremely happy at all times! But appearances aside, I must say that without a doubt, it was him and Raoul that were the backbone of the whole act, with the pianist as an important back-up.
The pianist, unfortunately stuck in the corner out of view, is definitely deserving of special mention. Going the way of many modern musicians, he had his laptop by his side throughout the show, no doubt thus enhancing his already great performance!
I'm looking forward to the group releasing a disk in the future!
fon @ 9:43 PM link to post * *