Voices of Swing Queen's Hall Edinburgh 23rd April 2023 Review
Voices of Swing with the 30 piece Down for the Count Orchestra at the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh this evening delivered exactly what its promotional material promised to do. If you are a fan of that iconic sound of a big band/swing orchestra, classic vocals, and classic songs from “The Great American Songbook” from some of the greatest composers and arrangers of the 20th century, then this is the show for you.
Getting all of the orchestra, with its strings, rhythm, brass, and woodwind sections plus vocalists into the available stage space at The Queen’s Hall was obviously a bit of a tight squeeze, but conductor/compere Mike Paul-Smith made everything seem so relaxed that the music simply took over the evening from the first few bars. Mike is obviously a very gifted arranger of music in his own right too and for a few songs gave us a small glimpse of his own abilities as a jazz keyboard/piano player. Also adding much to the evening was Mike’s informative introduction to every song performed on stage.
There were so many classic songs from so many great composers and arrangers this evening, but still there was only time to give us all an introduction to the many great songs from the “Great American Songbook” that have over the years been performed by countless singers and bands. There was a heavy focus tonight on the now iconic sounds of Capitol Records from the 1950s and the recording sessions from Capitol Studios, and why not? This after all was the time of some of the greatest vocalists in popular music history being signed to that label – Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland (to name only a few) and often one great arranger of music behind so many classic songs, Nelson Riddle.
With the Down For The Count Orchestra, songs from wonderful composers including George and Ira Gershwin and Nat King Cole were brought to life on stage as they were often written to be heard, with big band/orchestra and vocalists.
This evening, songs like “ ‘S Wonderful”, “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head”, “Mr Paganini” and many others were brought to life by the vocal talents of Lydia Bell, Hannah Castleman and Callum Gillies; three very different singers with often very different approaches to how they interpreted these classic songs, but each always working so well with the band behind them.
It is often easy to overlook just how difficult many of these songs are for any vocalist to perform as often that easy-going, almost effortless performance style that they have disguises some very difficult timing and phrasing for any vocalist. Add into this the fact that a big band/orchestra is stopping for no-one. Any vocalist upfront is either in time with it, or not, and if they are even slightly out then that becomes instantly obvious. No fears with that this evening as Lydia, Hannah and Callum had not only the timing and the experience to front a big band, but also that ability to perform within the spaces that the music/orchestra allowed.
As always, there were a few personal favourites from this show for me. It is always good to hear the Harold Arlen/Ira Gershwin classic “The Man That Got Away” and it is always nice to think that when Ira Gershwin was adding lyrics to the last song that he worked on with his brother George, “Our Love is Here to Stay”, he was maybe writing these words to his own brother. Some classic songs from outside the Capital years too – “Mr Bojangles” (Jerry Jeff Walker), and a song now so closely associated with Frank Sinatra, but originally written by John Kander and Fred Ebb for the 1977 film of the same name and sung originally by Liza Minnelli, the now iconic “New York New York”.
The classic sounds of big band leaders including Tommy Dorsey and Harry James were brought to life this evening, and if you want more of these sounds then the Down for the Count Orchestra are back at the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh on 17th November with their “Swing Into Christmas” show.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Getting all of the orchestra, with its strings, rhythm, brass, and woodwind sections plus vocalists into the available stage space at The Queen’s Hall was obviously a bit of a tight squeeze, but conductor/compere Mike Paul-Smith made everything seem so relaxed that the music simply took over the evening from the first few bars. Mike is obviously a very gifted arranger of music in his own right too and for a few songs gave us a small glimpse of his own abilities as a jazz keyboard/piano player. Also adding much to the evening was Mike’s informative introduction to every song performed on stage.
There were so many classic songs from so many great composers and arrangers this evening, but still there was only time to give us all an introduction to the many great songs from the “Great American Songbook” that have over the years been performed by countless singers and bands. There was a heavy focus tonight on the now iconic sounds of Capitol Records from the 1950s and the recording sessions from Capitol Studios, and why not? This after all was the time of some of the greatest vocalists in popular music history being signed to that label – Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland (to name only a few) and often one great arranger of music behind so many classic songs, Nelson Riddle.
With the Down For The Count Orchestra, songs from wonderful composers including George and Ira Gershwin and Nat King Cole were brought to life on stage as they were often written to be heard, with big band/orchestra and vocalists.
This evening, songs like “ ‘S Wonderful”, “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head”, “Mr Paganini” and many others were brought to life by the vocal talents of Lydia Bell, Hannah Castleman and Callum Gillies; three very different singers with often very different approaches to how they interpreted these classic songs, but each always working so well with the band behind them.
It is often easy to overlook just how difficult many of these songs are for any vocalist to perform as often that easy-going, almost effortless performance style that they have disguises some very difficult timing and phrasing for any vocalist. Add into this the fact that a big band/orchestra is stopping for no-one. Any vocalist upfront is either in time with it, or not, and if they are even slightly out then that becomes instantly obvious. No fears with that this evening as Lydia, Hannah and Callum had not only the timing and the experience to front a big band, but also that ability to perform within the spaces that the music/orchestra allowed.
As always, there were a few personal favourites from this show for me. It is always good to hear the Harold Arlen/Ira Gershwin classic “The Man That Got Away” and it is always nice to think that when Ira Gershwin was adding lyrics to the last song that he worked on with his brother George, “Our Love is Here to Stay”, he was maybe writing these words to his own brother. Some classic songs from outside the Capital years too – “Mr Bojangles” (Jerry Jeff Walker), and a song now so closely associated with Frank Sinatra, but originally written by John Kander and Fred Ebb for the 1977 film of the same name and sung originally by Liza Minnelli, the now iconic “New York New York”.
The classic sounds of big band leaders including Tommy Dorsey and Harry James were brought to life this evening, and if you want more of these sounds then the Down for the Count Orchestra are back at the Queen’s Hall Edinburgh on 17th November with their “Swing Into Christmas” show.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com