Upon arriving at Fernham hall a work colleague was quoted as having claimed “Jazz is for old people” to which the response had been “Well how old do you need to be to listen to Beethoven then?”… a quick fired reply which I found rather amusing… although with the 3 B’s having a combined age of 244 you could almost be forgiven for having this misjudgement yourselves.
Chris Barber:
Having seen him earlier in the year I felt the hour set this time around was just right, previously my mind had started to wander and it all felt a little tedious, however this performance was great with the vocals also sounding a lot stronger than before.
It was also good to see each instrumentalist given time to shine, with the solos sounding natural rather than contrived as can so often be the case with some traditional jazz. Plus even as a Pompey supporter I couldn’t help but appreciate the sets closure “When the Saints go Marching in”.
Acker Bilk:
With some members of Acker Bilks band having played with him for considerable years it’s no surprise that the musicianship was incredibly tight, and with the in-between song banter Acker Bilk seems to have a unique way of capturing the audience.
As to be expected “Stranger on the Shore” was the crowd favourite although it was when the band left the stage for Acker (on Clarinet) to play a beautiful piece accompanied only by the pianist, that was the moment I treasured most from this part of the evening.
Kenny Ball
So last set was left to Kenny Ball, who quipped that he was only last on due to being the youngest (at the age of 81)… the only complaint about Kenny was the talk, unlike Chris Barber who gave an insight to the origins of the music or Acker Bilk who provided half music/half comedy act, Kenny Ball’s performance was dragged out far longer than needed as a result of his ramblings.
That aside, yet another tight set with musicians that know each others’ playing inside out, there was also a slightly different take on the traditional performances as classical pieces were performed note perfect and the drummers solo using every inch of the stage floor before turning the double bass into a percussion instrument too.
So jazz, is it just for the old folk – well, going by the average age of the crowd you’d think my colleague maybe had a point, but would I ever trade in my night out so I could relate to the young people by watching the latest X-Factor antics? I think not…
Keith
