Review: Edinburgh Jazz Festival Orchestra: Swinging for Basie, Queen's Hall

Published on Thursday 5 August 2010 07:51

Edinburgh Jazz Festival Orchestra: Swinging for Basie**** Queen's Hall

Latterly swing has been consigned to the mushy moments in Meg Ryan movies and slick Las Vegas Casino heists. Making it all too easy to forget that this is the music our grandparents fell in love to.

It was the soundtrack of their youth and Big Band was the backdrop of the personal dramas that must have played out over dance floors all over the world between the arrival of the "Old Testament" Swing of the 1930s and the appearance of "New Testament" in the 1950s. And at the centre of it all was Count Basie.

For almost 50 years Basie led his own Jazz Orchestra through the most influential decades of America's musical history. By his side for some of that time were Lochgelly-born saxophonist Joe Temperley and Detroit baritone Denis Rowland, who spent much of last night entertaining an enthralled audience with anecdotes, history, a lot of music and not a little mischief.

Joining them on stage for a lesson in Old Testament riffs and New Testament cool was the Edinburgh Jazz Festival Orchestra, comprised of: Ryan Quigley, Colin Steele, Kevin Ferris (trumpet), John Allred, Rick Taylor, Phil O'Malley, David Gibson (trombone), Bobby Wellins, Michael Buckley, Loren Stillman, Colin Skinner, Jay Craig (saxophone), Howard Alden (guitar), Brian Kellock (piano), John Webber (bass).

Leading the first act, band director Temperley guided the audience through some of the original orchestra's most famous pieces; One O'Clock Jump, April in Paris and Shiny Stockings.

Giving the performers lots of room to play with the riffs within each piece, Temperley encouraged the musicians to experiment and harmonise with one another, to rounds of spontaneous applause. Taking over the second act, Rowland infused the evening with his smoky vocals and cheeky patter, contributing his own riffs on leaving Scottish lassies for the charms of Chicago and warming the crowd up with well-tuned audience participation. All that was missing was the one thing that these bands were made for; a dance floor. Although, not for want of trying on Rowland's part.