Winner of the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Media, 2019

Review

John Etheridge’s Sweet Chorus

John Etheridge’s Sweet Chorus, Assembly Rooms, Presteigne, Powys, 27/11/2010


by Ian Mann

November 30, 2010

/ LIVE

The legendarily versatile guitarist explores the "Hot Club" legacy and beyond.

JOHN ETHERIDGE’S SWEET CHORUS

ASSEMBLY ROOMS, PRESTEIGNE, POWYS 27/11/2010

Guitarist John Etheridge brought his Sweet Chorus group to Presteigne as part of a short UK tour. A supremely versatile guitarist Etheridge has played right across the jazz and rock spectrum from Stephane Grappelli to Soft Machine. Sweet Chorus is a reflection of his heritage with Grappelli, ostensibly a “Hot Club” style group but one that does far more than merely regurgitate Django Reinhardt compositions. With Sweet Chorus Etheridge also tackles the music of Charlie Christian, clearly another primary influence as well as exploring more contemporary material by song writers such as Richard Thompson.

Joining Etheridge in this enterprise are long term musical associates Christian Garrick (violin), Dave Kelbie (rhythm guitar) and Andy Crowdy ( double bass). Dave is one of the great movers and shakers of British jazz and a superb organiser, so thanks to him for arranging my press pass in conjunction with local promoter Alison Parry of Mid Border Arts.

When Etheridge first arrived in Presteigne he probably wondered just what he’d let himself in for. However his three companions are all regular visitors to the Welsh Borders and probably knew what to expect. The Assembly Rooms were fuller than I’ve seen them for some time and the group got a great reaction from the knowledgeable Presteigne crowd. The concert was certainly a musical and artistic success, let’s hope it broke even financially as well. Presteigne is a hot bed of live music and we need to see musicians of this quality continuing to visit the area.

Etheridge played acoustic guitar for the first set which mainly comprised of Django Reinhardt numbers and other compositions adapted to that style. In the classic “Hot Club” style line-up Etheridge quickly established his credentials as an inventive and agile soloist, playfully sparring with the often fast and furious violin playing of Christian Garrick. Garrick also possesses something of Etheridge’s versatility, he also leads his own “prog jazz” outfit which often features him on electric violin. Tonight he basically stayed in acoustic mode but revealed himself to be far more than just a Grappelli copyist. Garrick is a major improviser on violin, often coaxing horn like lines from his instrument. He also moves adeptly between arco and pizzicato playing, the latter style adding delightful additional colours and textures to the arrangements. I’ve always been a great admirer of his playing and his sheer musicality.

Often the forgotten men Kelbie and Crowdy are also superlative players. Kelbie’s rhythm guitar work is crisp and intensely rhythmic, always keeping perfect time whatever the tempo. It’s an underrated craft requiring considerable musical skill and a high degree of stamina. Kelbie is held in awe by guitarists in the numerous other Django inspired groups dotted around the country, he’s widely regarded as the country’s premier rhythm guitarist and with his organisational skills has done more than most to keep Reinhardt’s music alive in the UK.

Andy Crowdy is one of the most musical double bassists around. Etheridge revealed to the crowd that his colleague is in fact a multi instrumentalist, loves prog rock and rather improbably runs a Led Zeppelin tribute band. In addition to his sterling rhythm work Crowdy also proved to be a fluent and highly dexterous soloist who was given plenty of chances to shine over the course of the evening, most notably on “Trickatism”, a quote filled bass feature towards the end of the first set.

On a cold November night the band came on stage in their coats, Kelbie didn’t take his off until three numbers in and many of the audience members remained wrapped up throughout. The music soon warmed us up though as the group opened up with “When Your Smiling” and proceeded to play a well programmed first set that varied between the swinging and the lyrical. A breakneck “Swing 39” (I think)  contrasted with the ballad “I’ll Be Seeing You” and the gently swinging “Just You, Just Me” with the waltz ” A Place Between” as the group mixed fire with sensitivity. They closed the first half with “Airmail Special”, a piece variously attributed to Benny Goodman and Charlie Christian but one that is indelibly associated with the pioneering jazz guitarist. Etheridge’s swinging, bluesy version brought the first half to a wonderful conclusion.

The second set was, if anything even better, with an even greater degree of musical variety. I recently saw Etheridge play an entertaining solo set at the 2010 London Jazz Festival. He began the second half here unaccompanied having switched to electric guitar. The two pieces he chose to play, Charles Mingus’ homage to Lester Young “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” (famously covered by Jeff Beck on his “Wired” album) and a joyous Abdullah Ibrahim tune that evoked the sounds of South Africa were both thoroughly absorbing and even topped the versions he’d performed in London. The Ibrahim tune saw Etheridge using technology to loop his guitar lines resulting in a rich layering of rhythms, melodies and textures.

Etheridge was then joined by Garrick on a moving duo version of the Richard Thompson song “At The Dimming Of The Day”, Garrick’s rich, mournful violin lines blending well with the delicate chiming of Etheridge’s guitar. The pair recently released a duo album “Men On Wire” and although this tune doesn’t appear there the range of material covered is equally enterprising and adventurous.

Brazilian composer Louis Bonfa’s “Manha De Carnaval” saw Crowdy return to the proceedings with a typically melodic and resonant bass solo. His duet with Etheridge was also a delight as was Garrick’s concluding violin solo.

Charlie Christian’s riff based tune “Seven Come Eleven” saw Etheridge and Garrick gleefully trading solos followed by the early Django tune “Blue Drag” which mixed the classic Hot Club style with the blues.

It was left to another Reinhardt classic to close the set with a scorching Garrick solo the highlight, he was practically on fire! If memory serves it was “Limehouse Blues”-I recognised the tune but I’ll hold my hands up and admit that I’m not great with titles unless they’re actually announced. Whatever it may have been it was a great way to end a hugely entertaining evening.

I’ve seen Etheridge in various contexts over the years and my only real gripe concerns his stream of consciousness verbal ramblings. Most audiences seem to find them amusing, and maybe they are first time round but surely any regular observers must eventually start to find them irritating. Sometimes it really is a case of “Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar” as Uncle Frank Zappa once famously said.

Maybe I’m being too hard on Etheridge, his musings are borne of a real enthusiasm for what he’s doing and he was certainly good company when we chatted after the show, something that can also be said for his very able colleagues.   


blog comments powered by Disqus