A Century of Swing with the Down For The Count All-Stars Queen's Hall 29th April 2024 Review
Down for the Count All-Stars celebrating “A Century of Swing” at the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh tonight was exactly what the title and promotional material promised, an upbeat homage to some of the greatest big-bands, songwriters and musical arrangers of the genre.
Bringing to life some of the most popular music from the bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and others plus some iconic songs made famous by legendary vocalists that included (amongst others) Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, this 10 piece band which included two vocalists, brought to life for this evening that unique feel of the swing music era.
There are many reasons that this band works so well on stage; first class musicians and vocalists are two of them, but the love and enthusiasm that everyone on stage has for this music is infectious and that is swiftly shared with their audience. A big part of this enthusiasm comes from musical director and also pianist tonight, Mike Paul-Smith, and his deep knowledge of this music, its performers and history is always something that he is happy to share with us all as many songs are given a little bit of background (often humorous) that makes them and everyone involved in their creation come to life.
Anyone who has ever tried playing an instrument or singing in a swing band will tell you that this music is very deceptive. On the surface it looks and sounds natural and often easy flowing, but in truth swing music can present a complex system of musical phrases and timing which will test everyone in the band and very quickly expose any weaknesses in anyone on stage, particularly a singer. There is no hiding place for a singer’s mistakes here as the band is a bit like a speeding train, always running to its own timing schedule.
This band has no worries on the vocalist front as Callum Gillies has a natural feel for swing music and knows how to use those little spaces in between the musical arrangements to at times play with the songs and personalise them. His performance of “Mr Bojangles” was as always outstanding and there are few songs out there more difficult to time and phrase properly than this one. Callum’s performance of “That’s Life” was another highlight of the evening.
In contrast to Callum’s at times fun-filled performances, Ineza Kerschkamp has the vocal range to take us firmly into that gospel and blues based space that fused together to form R&B. As Mike pointed out, one of the defining sounds of swing and big band music, “call and response” takes much of its power from the church and the minister shouting out for the congregation to respond to. The old blues shouters used this style too, and without its musical influence so much of what was to become R&B, Rock’n’Roll and rock music would not sound like it does today. Of course earlier classical composers also used “call and response” too.
Every big band, apart from great musicians, needs one extra to make it stand out from everyone else, and that is good musical arrangements. Tonight those arrangements, some specially written by Mike and other band members, were just right for this music.
Only one Glenn Miller song was performed tonight, the now famous “American Patrol”, and again the popularity of this song, originally written in 1885, owes much to its arrangement by the band, and although not hearing their signature clarinet and saxophone in this line up, this was a great cover by a band that obviously understand what a “patrol” song is and you can almost imagine that band approaching, passing you and then going off into the distance again.
There is no faulting any one of these band members and it always seems unfair to single anyone out for special attention, but James Smith on drums was so often the beating heart of this band with metronome-like timing precision, carefully laid down drum patterns, with a wide range of playing techniques setting the musical scene so often for the rest of the band to weave their way in and out of.
If you want to see and hear the Down for the Count sound expanded, they are back with Swing Into Christmas on 7th December at the Queen’s Hall with a 30 piece orchestra.
Review by Tom King © 2024
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