Live
Nigel Kennedy: 606 Club 16/12/09
Critics have tended, of late, to really have a go at Nigel Kennedy these days. They tend to concentrate on his "perceived blokish behaviour" rather than the actual musical content. What they fail to realise is the guy never stops still whether he's playing Elgar or Ellington, Mozart or Miles, or even Mendelssohn or Monk.
Give the guy a break! He just happens to be a normal guy with a god given, prodigious talent. The audience at the 606 know him intimately and relish in his exploits.Garnering a first class band which included Nikki Yeoh on piano, Alec Dankworth on bass, drummer Krysztof Dziedzic and two other guest violinists cuban born Omar Puente, (currently in Courtney Pine's band) and Christian Garrick, Nigel wasted no time in getting down to business in the cosiest of all london Jazz venues the 606 club.
With his hand picked band and his posse dubbed "the chillest violinists". The evening kicked off at a terrific tempo. Nikki Yeoh's tune was given the mash up by Puente, whose florid stlye added a sweet hue to the proceedings and Garrick as if to try to out do the master of proceedings, headed for his pedals and total annihilation, good attempt but NK has more pedals than most death metal guitarists and won't get blown into the bull rushes quite so easily.
It's a kind of musical sonic contact sport, the contortions, twists, enveloped in a swirl of schreeching wailing flurries that provide NK with an unleashing cathartic release. To get to the sweet stuff, the mellow, the gentle side of his playing you have to endure the flip side and like life, it can be brutal,nasty and ugly. This guy's in touch with his feelings and he wants us to be too.....
A generous player NK positively encourages his guests to be themselves, egging them on with encouraging support, (even the owner, Steve Ruby joined in with a superb melodic flute). NK enjoying himself immensely by winding the drummer into a contorted frenzy of actions. Alec Dankworth, placid yet forceful holding down the group like captain Ahab chasing the whale in a force 9 gale! electrifying stuff!!
Highlights were the somnambulistic yet beautifully dolorous 'Hills Of Saturn' which shows you NK's strong compositional skills in all it's glory. 'Caravan' was a tour de force bringing out the very best improvisations from this crack ace band and no jam session would be complete without a blistering hendrix tune,'Third Stone From The Sun' weighing in at a hefty 40 mins,the length Miles Davis would give numbers back in '69.
NK always takes his audience with him, a great communicalor and performer that sadly comes to this country seldomly. Catch NK and his polish propositions at the south bank in May for a long weekend of all things eastern european....can't wait!
Words Emrys Baird
