Author: Moray Jazz Club

 

We welcomed back Morag to MJC after a long absence, too long as Morag showed once again what a superb jazz talent she is. If you get the chance go and listen to  Morag at the Edinburgh Fringe on 15 and 22 August. She will be performing sixties numbers, think Cilla, Petula and Witney.

Morag was joined at MJC by Reiner Goldberg – Guitar, Lewis Benzies – Bass Guitar and Harry McFarlane – Drums. Morag took us on a vocal journey from classic twenties and thirties numbers through to the fifties and sixties including:

Harry Warren’s ‘September in the rain’;

Fats Waller ‘Homeysuckle Rose’ and  ‘Saving my love for you ‘;

Kirk Wild & Ogden Nash ‘Speak Low’;

Dorothy Fields ‘I  can give you anything but love’;

Brooks Bowman ‘East of the Sun(and west of the moon)’;

Hank Levy & Duke Ellington’s ‘Caravan’;

Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes ‘The Girl from Ipanema’

Cole Porter ‘Lets  do it (Lets fall in Love)

Harold Ireland and Ted Koehler  ‘I’ve got the world on a string’;

Sonny Burke and Paul Webster ‘Black coffee’;

Carl Sigman &Bob Russell ‘Crazy he calls me’;

Reiner Goldberg also played a guitar original ‘Getting closer’

It was a pleasure having Steve Garrett on acoustic guitar and  the versatile and frequent visitor Pete Lowit on double bass to Moray Jazz Club  on the 18th July. Both musicians provided us with a medley of original and adapted film and folk music ranging from the Joe Pass then ‘For Django’,  Dimitri Tiomkin’s ‘Green Leaves of Summer’, Jerry Goldsmith’s ‘Love Theme’ from ‘Chinatown’,  Alex North‘s ‘Spartacus ‘Love Theme’, Charlie Haden’s ‘Our Spanish Love Song’, John McLaughlin’s ‘Follow Your Heart’ to the Charlie Mingus lament ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ , finishing with what is believed to be Henry VIII’s composition for Anne Boleyn – ‘Greensleeves’.  An eclectic fusion of  music in to a jazz format that worked really well. Thank you gents.

Great to have Pamela Nairn back this week alongside Colin Henderson on Baritone and Alto Sax and Flute, Graeme Nairn on Guitar, Bill Jannetta on Bass and Alistair Stuart on Drums. Pamela’s superb easy  and clear tone so reminiscent of  Doris Day’s light vibrato voice made it a real joy to hear jazz standards such as:

 I could write a book Rogers and Hart;

Dearly beloved Jerome Kerne;

Just one of those things Cole Porter;

Witchcraft Cy Coleman;

East of the sun Diane Krall;

On the Street where you live Frederick Loewe;

Hey there  Rosemary Clooney and many more.

It is reassuring that Jazz in Moray is alive and well with a youthful input by four school pupils  at Moray Jazz Club  last Thursday evening at Elgin City Football Club.   Cameron McPhail, Blair Marleon and Connor Whyte from Academy and Darcy Taylor from Mosstowie Primary played two numbers to rapturous applause from the audience. One was a bluesy number composed by house band member Colin Henderson and the other  was Miles Davis’ ‘Freddie the Freeloader’. They gave a confident performance  on clarinet, trumpet and saxophone and were accompanied by Graham Nairn on guitar, Bill Jannetta on Bass and Alun Murphy on drums

All four are pupils of Glen Macintosh who with Colin have been working on their jazz playing for the past five weeks. Colin’s workshops were instigated after an article in the Northern Scot concerning the threat to the provision and cost of music lessons in Moray attracted a very generous anonymous donation to further promote jazz with young people. The standard achieved in such a short time by the four youngsters who came to Moray Jazz Club just shows what  fantastic potential there is in Moray. The Jazz Club would welcome more young people to showcase their playing and appreciation of jazz.  Colin is especially looking for bass players, pianists and drummers.  If any primary or secondary students would like to take advantage of the free workshops  on offer please get in touch with Colin Henderson on 01343 542969.