John Etheridge with the Remi Harris Trio, The Hatch, Lindridge, Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, 29/03/2012.

The star of Bromyard born Remi Harris, Herefordshire’s local guitar hero, continues to rise. The twenty four year old has turned his back on a promising career as a rock guitarist (with the band Mars Bonfire) to devote himself to the gypsy jazz style pioneered by the great Django Reinhardt.

Now fully pro Harris’ date book is rapidly expanding and his trio is also becoming an increasingly popular festival draw. A frequent presence on the pages of The Jazzmann Harris is also winning the respect of his peers and has made important appearances with such well established figures as violinist Dan Cassidy and fellow guitarist Gary Potter as well as making his London début at Le Quecumbar in Battersea. 

Harris’ performance with Potter at The Hatch in summer 2011 was a triumph and in the wake of this promoter Ben Salmon, also rhythm guitarist with Harris’ regular trio, invited the great John Etheridge to the venue for a night of music making. The Hatch is situated in the beautiful countryside of rural Worcestershire and is the family home as well as the venue for Ben’s recording studio. In good weather it’s a magical place to hear live music and on a beautifully sunny spring evening a large crowd squeezed into the Salmons’ admittedly very capacious front room (a converted oast house or something similar) to hear two sets of excellent music, the first a John Etheridge solo performance, the second by the trio augmented by Etheridge.

Etheridge’s solo set mainly comprised of material to be found on his 2008 live solo album “Alone! Live” (Dyad Records) and was broadly similar to other solo shows I’ve seen from him, most notably at the 2010 London Jazz Festival. Utilising a variety of guitars and making judicious use of live looping techniques Etheridge gave an absorbing performance that highlighted his enormous technical abilities in a good natured manner. As in any Etheridge performance his rambling between tune “badinage” was part of the act and actually seemed to work very well in the intimate surroundings (on occasion his excessive verbiage can be something of an irritant). 

Turning to the music Etheridge’s performance embraced bebop standards, the blues and the music of West and South Africa with the Reinhardt stuff deliberately left for the second set. Introducing Etheridge Ben Salmon made reference to Etheridge’s work with Soft Machine, Stephane Grappelli and Nigel Kennedy, a good indication as to the sheer versatility of the man. 

Etheridge began with Sonny Rollins’ “Doxy” (“a slang word for a woman of easy virtue” explained Etheridge helpfully) played very quietly on barely amplified electric guitar and full of sophisticated bebop chording and elegant single note runs.

Next came an extended version of Charles Mingus’ elegy to saxophonist Lester Young “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”. The tune has become something of a favourite among guitarists with musicians as diverse as Jeff Beck and Ralph Towner recording versions of the piece. Etheridge’s interpretation is right up there with the best of them incorporating a subtle bluesiness with its bent notes but also embracing the technology of live looping as Etheridge established a chord pattern and then improvised jazzy single note runs over the top. However this was far more than a mere technical exercise as Etheridge brought a real sense of emotion to this very lovely tribute to one of the music’s all time greats. Considering Mingus’ often fearsome reputation the piece represents a surprisingly tender homage to his late friend.

Etheridge then segued together two pieces, “Obea” and Guitar Makossa”, by the Cameroonian composer Francis Bebey adopting a typically singing West African guitar sound on the first piece with his dexterous finger picking allied to thumbed bass lines. On the second part of the segue he again used live looping to create a layered sound of interlocking melodies and rhythms topped off with his own wordless falsetto vocals.

For the next two pieces Etheridge switched to a guitar incorporating bass strings which allowed him to produce walking bass lines that often gave the impression of more than one performer at work. Both the “old swing tune” “Mean To Me” and the following “Stormy Weather” included strong blues elements and were very well received.

The set concluded with Etheridge sticking a piece of cardboard under the strings of his instrument (he made something of a production of this) to produce a kalimba/mbira like sound for his joyous take on Abdullah Ibrahim’s township masterpiece “M’Sanduza”, a terrific way to round off a hugely enjoyable first set. 

For the second half Etheridge on acoustic guitar was joined by Harris, Salmon and new double bassist Mike Green, the latter replacing former incumbents Del Strodder and Tom Moore (I believe the latter may currently be touring with drummer J J Wheeler’s quintet). The experienced Green proved to be an excellent musician who carried out his rhythmic and occasional solo duties with aplomb.

Concentrating in the main on the music of Django Reinhardt this set centred on the interplay between Etheridge and Harris as the pair traded increasingly fiery solos as Salmon and Green stoked the fires with their fast and often furious rhythm playing. “Swing 42” got things off to a lively start followed by an even more propulsive “China Boy”. Here the rhythm section eventually dropped out to leave the duelling guitars of Etheridge and Harris, the younger man meeting the challenges thrown at him with confidence and gusto. This set the tone for the rest of the evening as the pair continued to joust good naturedly throughout. I think we should be very grateful they weren’t playing banjos!

The tempo slowed to something more languid for Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin” but the exchange of ideas between Harris and Etheridge, with the younger man now leading, was no less thrilling and Green also demonstrated his considerable soloing abilities. Reinhardt’s “Manoir de ses Reves” (literally “Castle of my Dreams”) was essentially a feature for Etheridge with a solo guitar introduction followed by a more conventional solo prior the now familiar exchange of ideas with Harris.

Etheridge switched to a solid bodied electric guitar and featured prominently on an intriguing arrangement of Eden Ahbez’s “Nature Boy” and remained on the instrument for a bright breezy rendition of “There Will Never Be Another You” featuring solos from Harris, Etheridge and Green plus the customary interchange of phrases between the two guitarists.

Edgar Sampson’s “Stompin’ At The Savoy”, originally a huge hit for Benny Goodman, raised the energy levels again with Etheridge quoting from “Dinah” in an imaginative treatment of the old jazz classic. “Caravan”, written by trombonist Juan Tisol and made famous by Duke Ellington took things storming out with Etheridge’s fast strummed intro leading into a blazing electric guitar solo punctuated by Harris’ acoustic guitar breaks. Thrilling stuff.

The audience loved it and the obligatory encore was, almost inevitably, “Sweet Georgia Brown” with Etheridge cleverly disguising the intro on electric guitar before the rest of the group kicked in. Following Etheridge’s initial solo the baton was passed right round the band with Salmon, hitherto happy to play the “Dave Kelbie” role of pure rhythm guitarist to perfection, suddenly thrust into the spotlight for the first solo breaks I’ve ever seen from him in numerous Remi Harris Trio performances. This was a fun, high energy end to a terrific evening of music in a delightful setting. We were even allowed to bring our own wine and beer!

Harris just gets better and better and he more than held his own with the hugely accomplished Etheridge, the performance clearly generating a good deal of mutual respect between the two front line musicians. They were well supported by a crisp and sympathetic rhythm section, Salmon and his assorted double bass partners are easily overlooked but they too have developed as Harris has honed his craft. The relaxed atmosphere of The Hatch brought out the best in each musician in a strong collaborative performance. it is to be hoped that this is a musical acquaintance that may be renewed at some point in the future.   

 

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