John Etheridge and the Soft Machine Legacy with Keith Tippett,
Pizza Express. Ethereal prog meets jazz for one of the most versatile guitarists around
by Matthew WrightSunday, 15 September 2013
Some people have all the luck. Listening to John Etheridge's self-deprecating description of how his career has progressed (in interviews such as Radio 3's Jazz Library, or at a gig, when he is a disarmingly open host), you would think he had stumbled upon Stephane Grapelli and Nigel Kennedy (to name merely the most famous of his many stellar collaborators) while out for a pint of milk. What sounds like luck is of course talent, and last week, during his annual Pizza Express residency, he showed exactly why he is one of the most skilful and versatile guitarists of his generation.more/less
Soft Machine went through more incarnations than Dr Who in the seventies, so the idea of a definitive re-formation is misleading, though with its current line-up of Etheridge, bassist Roy Babbington and drummer John Marshall, Soft Machine Legacy now contains three-fifths of the group that released the iconic Softs in 1976. Only saxophonist Theo Travis is new. The "legacy" tag is also ambiguous, too, since they don't perform an inherited body of work, but a vigorous combination of old and new.
Etheridge's pulsing, meaty rock guitar set the tone, with Travis' sax and flute (he alternated very effectively) in hot pursuit, teasing it, writhing and flirting, then standing off. One of the delights of jazz-rock is the opportunity to hear the machismo of the rock guitar subjected to a jazzy interrogation, and this pair gave a compelling demonstration. The first set continued to mix prog rock's meandering phrases with jazzier experiment in sound textures with "Voyage Beyond Seven", a new piece by Travis for the band's latest release, Burden of Proof, exploring a fantastical world of ethereal electronic sound in which jazz and prog rock cohabit.
The addition of distinguished pianist Keith Tippett in the second set gave the band an extra harmonic and rhythmical dimension, and with Tippett's free jazz expertise, the sound shifted definitively to the avant-garde. Tippett dazzled with mesmeric Eastern harmonies, explosive improvised solos of questing dissonance, and a range of trickery inside the piano. The freer structure gave Marshall the chance to dazzle with some delicate rim sounds, while Babbington had a solo of funky, squirming power. Travis responded to the change of genre with some sumptuously controlled fluttering flute. While the freedom of the group's improvisation was uncompromising, the range of sounds involved was much wider and subtler than with much free improvisation, and the result was beautifully textured.
By the end of the second set Soft Machine Legacy had given a festival's worth of variety in a single evening. The band's partnership with Tippett sounded so inspired that I assumed he knew them of old. In fact, the partnership is a new one, only premiering at last year's Frankfurt Jazz Festival. Another piece of Etheridge's good fortune, perhaps, or an example of a consummate musician's expert judgement?
John Etheridge and Nigel Kennedy
(Pizza Express Jazz Club, Tuesday 10th September 2013.
Review by Andy Boeckstaens)
John Etheridge - acoustic and electric guitars, Nigel Kennedy - violin and electric violin, Yaron Stavi - double bass and bass guitar, Mark Fletcher - drums
Like many top jazzmen, John Etheridge has spent his life alternating between low-key gigs with journeyman musicians, and high-profile concerts with international stars. His stature is recognised by the Pizza Express Jazz Club with an annual residency, and this year's six-night season at the Dean Street club reflects his enormous versatility. It features performances with the Zappatistas, the Blue Spirits Trio and two appearances with the Soft Machine Legacy.
John Etheridge's association with Nigel Kennedy dates back around 30 years, when they met through Stéphane Grappelli (with whom Etheridge was touring); later they joined forces in the younger violinist's group in 1992. Although their relationship has been rekindled sporadically since then - including a couple of recordings - this was a rare opportunity to see them play together in a small venue. more/less
The first of their two shows began acoustically with Da Blues, accompanied by Yaron Stavi on double bass and Mark Fletcher on drums. Django Reinhardt's tunes Swing 39 and Nuages were played with a restraint that contrasted with the passionate Melody In The Wind, but the highlights of the first set were Kennedy's sublime Fallen Forest, and Etheridge's I Saw You Passing By. Some of the finest moments came during Etheridge's solos which were accompanied by Kennedy playing pizzicato quasi guitara. An exciting finish to the set was assured with It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing).
Nigel Kennedy resisted the temptation to say anything about football; but the concert was a game of two halves. One sensed the loyalties of the crowd dividing when it was announced that the second set would be played "electric".
The great violinist eased into it with a piece of unaccompanied (and acoustic) Bach; then the electric instruments came out for a raging So What, during which he awkwardly quoted Strangers in the Night. An understated Mood Indigo might have fitted more comfortably into the first set but there was no question that what followed was eagerly anticipated by many punters. Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing was given a high volume and lengthy workout. Few people have the knack of upping the ante like Kennedy, and here he flew into an utterly stupendous middle section, letting rip with such gusto that even the most staid members of the audience became animated. Etheridge was grimacing with effort and beaming with satisfaction.
Both principals are clearly fans of Hendrix, so after the last "jazz" piece, Perdido, it was no surprise that Purple Haze was chosen for the grand finale. It contained another Strangers in the Night quotation (perhaps an oblique reference to the reunion) and ended to tumultuous applause with the familiar pounding riff of Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water.
Kennedy's presence was responsible for the high ticket price (and perhaps also the sell-out audience), although he and Etheridge shared the spotlight and were equal partners throughout the performance. Yaron Stavi and Mark Fletcher received little solo space, but were working very hard throughout. Overall, the gig wouldn't quite gain a "blissful" rating, but it was packed with drama and excitement. A man at the front punched the air, swayed, and loudly brayed "Yeah!" or "Oh My God!" at virtually every phrase. Many of us were echoing his joy and appreciation - while managing to do it rather less intrusively.
John Etheridge / Sweet Chorus
The Hub. Edinburgh Festival (4 stars). 30 Aug 2010
John Etheridge is one of the UK jazz scene’s great enthusiasts. He arrives guitar in hand and immediately radiates his pleasure in playing music. With a background that includes swinging with Stephane Grappelli, playing jazz-rock with Soft Machine and recreating the music of Frank Zappa, he has much experience to draw on and over two nights, working with his Sweet Chorus quartet and with just his own hands and a quartet of guitars, he covered those fields and more.
Sweet Chorus is Etheridge's tribute to Grappelli and guitar icon Django Reinhardt. Tunes the violin-guitar partnership made famous are celebrated with an immediacy that makes them sound familiar yet fresh, with Etheridge and the violinist Chris Garrick spurring each other into ever hotter variations over guitarist Dave Kelbie and double bassist Andy Crowdy’s admirable rhythm patterns.
A duet on Louis Bonfa’s Gentle Rain took the Reinhardt-Grappelli template into more contemporary, impressionistic territory, with scintillating extemporisations from both Etheridge and Garrick, and if Seven Come Eleven utilised a post-hot club riff, its electricity and passion, allied to stop-on-a-sixpence ensemble discipline, continued an honourable tradition.
Etheridge's Saturday solo concert managed to be wonderfully personal and mind-bogglingly varied, ranging from meditative blues to joyful Cameroonian makossa, from electronically created guitar orchestration to acoustic swing and from the intricacies of Sonny Rollins’s bop era Doxy to the simple, soulful pleasures of Carol King and Richard Thompson, all linked by equally off the cuff reminiscences and priceless observations.
Rob Adams
John Etheridge solo and Sweet Chorus
The Hub. Edinburgh Festival
In a thrilling set imbued with mellow emotion and punctuated by off-beat banter, John Etheridge paid as much tribute to his own band playing alongside him as he did to his mentor, violinist Stéphane Grapelli and musical partner Django Reinhardt.
Kicking off in hot club style with When You’re Smiling, Sweet Chorus showed that although their music bears gypsy and jazz traces, it’s distinctively their own, fired equally by fluent rapid movement as subtle musical quotes and decorative flourishes.
Over a pulsing bed of grooves from rhythm guitarist Dave Kelbie and double bassist Andy Crowdy, Etheridge and Chris Garrick traded vibrant improvised solos. Their take on I’ll Be Seeing You was dark, Garrick’s violin splintering with pain, Etheridge’s guitar full of glistening grief; while lyrical delivery between the two characterised Lois Bonfá’s The Gentle Rain.
Playing solo the following night Etheridge cooked up a storm switching easily between four different guitars for an eclectic mix that testified to his understated virtuosity. Using various pedals he sparred with himself with the genial dexterity of a master musician shifting genre and styles, from Cameroonian Francis Bebey’s O Bia and Guitar Makossa to a bittersweet version of Carole King’s Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.
His mesmerising version of Stormy Weather sounded as if there were two, even three, guitarists at work as he simultaneously picked bass and melody lines.
Jan Fairley
John Williams & John Etheridge - Places Between: Live in Dublin. Sony Classical 88697009072
Meetings between classical and jazz musicians have a habit of slipping between two stools. But John Williams is not your typical, staid recitalist, and John Etheridge is on a purple streak at the moment (he has also just released some restful duets with the violinist Christian Garrick), so the results of this guitar encounter are special. The programme is a superbly poised mixture of influences, from West African dance rhythms to Django-esque swing and delicate elaborations on baroque themes. When Etheridge switches to electric guitar, his playing is no less subtle. And not a dull crossover anthem in sight.
Clive Davis - The Times.
Williams/Etheridge. 'Together' and solo Australian tour.
Mark Coughln - Australian.
Magic in the hands of masters.
Their playing was deeply impressive and both musicians navigated their instruments with effortless brilliance and control..
John L Walters - Guardian Review Pages
When guitarist John Etheridge settles down for a residency at Pizza Express, he rarely takes the easy route. This time he's appearing with four different line-ups over seven days. But Etheridge is a musician who can play everything from acid rock to gypsy swing - sometimes in the space of one solo - so playing world, classical, jazz, prog (in the Soft Machine Legacy) and the great American songbook in one week must be a doddle. - more
The duo pieces made the most of their contrasting approaches: in Monti's Casino, it was fascinating to hear how well Williams's straighter, crisper parts meshed with Etheridge's natural swing. Malinke Guitars, Williams's adaptation of three Malian tunes, had a churning groove that refracted the African motifs into something resembling Spanish-tinged minimalism. Williams is that rare thing, a "serious" musician who delights in playing within non-classical contexts without compromising his roots. They concluded with Djanjon, a west African piece that, in Williams's words, has "no beginning, no end, it just is . . . we just start somewhere and end it somewhere else". Etheridge said with a grin: "That's a bit deep!"
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John Etheridge
Pizza Express Jazz Club, W1.
Clive Davis. The Times
Some guitarists see a solo recital as the pretext for endless displays of mercurial fingerwork. No chord substitution left unturned, and all that. It’s a measure of John Etheridge’s talent that a fair proportion of his opening set was devoted to unpretentious, globe-trotting themes that other jazz musicians might have felt slightly beneath their dignity. - more
The lilting, circular phrases in the opening sequence found him paying homage to his fellow guitarist the late Francis Bebey, a dominant figure in modern Cameroonian music. Even without the help of a percussion section, Etheridge had no difficulty at all in generating a seductive dance pulse. In more reflective vein, he sketched serene lines across Richard Thompson’s The Dimming of the Day, and the programme took a more orthodox, boppish turn with a medium-tempo version of Sonny Rollins’s Doxy, underpinned by a sultry walking bass line.
An eagerly awaited series of acoustic duets with John Williams did not disappoint, unless anyone was expecting virtuoso one-upmanship. Instead the two players — who had previously joined forces on Williams’s album The Magic Box — settled into a restful waltz from Cape Verde. Later, a performance of traditional griot songs — originally written for the kora — demonstrated just how much the pair could glean from the starkest of chords.
After a reunion with members of Soft Machine, Etheridge will be in introspective mood again at the end of his season on Sunday when he teams up with that superb violinist Christian Garrick.
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John Etheridge with John Williams
Pizza Express Jazz Club, London
Sholto Byrnes. The Independent
John Etheridge's week-long residency at Pizza Express promised "exceptionally special guests" from the guitarist's extraordinarily varied career. more
Both played solo numbers, Etheridge dipping into the standards with "God Bless the Child" and Sonny Rollins's "Doxy" and Williams demonstrating his mastery of the Latin American classical canon. Music from Mali and Senegal flowed from their fingers when they joined each other, but in their own compositions, the combination moved to another level.
Etheridge, who swapped between acoustic and electric guitars, laid down a series of arpeggios to introduce his "Strange Comforts", a tune that nicely unsettled the ear with its chord changes, and then let Williams take over harmonic duties, allowing him to solo more freely. They ended with a tour-de-force arrangement by Williams that pointed to the heights these two are likely to scale the longer they perform together; this was the first time they have paired up.
Now called "Extra Time", the number was originally titled "8-4-7" in reference to the first three chords in Bach's C Minor Prelude. The two guitarists worked their way through the prelude's form, gradually developing it into their own. The last quarter, where bass notes anchor what I've always thought of as a recitative section (what jazzmen might call "the stops"), became a series of mini-cadenzas for Etheridge, before both, remaining true to Bach, brought it crashing to its magnificent conclusion. The pair moved on, first to a lyrical passage, and then to a long ostinato section that mesmerised the listener as the two wound the tension ever higher.
No encore could quite follow such a finale. Anyway, as Williams explained, they had no more material: "That really is all we know," he apologised. They'll have more ready in time for a forthcoming US tour.
John Etheridge's week-long residency at Pizza Express promised "exceptionally special guests" from the guitarist's extraordinarily varied career.
He started the week with a guest who certainly merited that billing, the classical guitarist John Williams. The contrasts between the two were many. Williams, quietly spoken, produced notes from his classical guitar that were oboe-like in sweetness and intensity. Etheridge was supremely laid-back, calling out to the audience for a file after he broke a nail, and cracking jokes about his sartorial deficiencies. But there was nothing lacking in his playing, in which his soaring improvisations were the perfect foil to Williams's more formal technique.
Both played solo numbers, Etheridge dipping into the standards with "God Bless the Child" and Sonny Rollins's "Doxy" and Williams demonstrating his mastery of the Latin American classical canon. Music from Mali and Senegal flowed from their fingers when they joined each other, but in their own compositions, the combination moved to another level.
Etheridge, who swapped between acoustic and electric guitars, laid down a series of arpeggios to introduce his "Strange Comforts", a tune that nicely unsettled the ear with its chord changes, and then let Williams take over harmonic duties, allowing him to solo more freely. They ended with a tour-de-force arrangement by Williams that pointed to the heights these two are likely to scale the longer they perform together; this was the first time they have paired up.
Now called "Extra Time", the number was originally titled "8-4-7" in reference to the first three chords in Bach's C Minor Prelude. The two guitarists worked their way through the prelude's form, gradually developing it into their own. The last quarter, where bass notes anchor what I've always thought of as a recitative section (what jazzmen might call "the stops"), became a series of mini-cadenzas for Etheridge, before both, remaining true to Bach, brought it crashing to its magnificent conclusion. The pair moved on, first to a lyrical passage, and then to a long ostinato section that mesmerised the listener as the two wound the tension ever higher.
No encore could quite follow such a finale. Anyway, as Williams explained, they had no more material: "That really is all we know," he apologised. They'll have more ready in time for a forthcoming US tour.
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'I Didn't Know'
(Dyad Records DY 024)
Derek Ansell. Jazz Review
Busy since the 1970s in various fusion bands and working regularly with Stephane Grappelli's touring group for many years, Etheridge has been very prominent in a number of musical environments. He was, for example, in The Soft Machine until the end of the 1970s. His jazz work has always featured solo spots both on record and live concerts but here, at last, he gets to do what he does best, a whole hour of diverse and fascinating solo guitar. more
And yet Etheridge's blues tinged sound is uniquely his own, very full, very expressive and creating his own, personal jazz environment. His reading of the hackneyed My Romance is unlike any other jazz version I've heard and there have been a few! Mr. E has found his best method of self expression and should nurture and continue it. Meantime we have this comprehensive CD of his solo skills.
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JOHN ETHERIDGE QUARTET. Pizza Express, W1. **** (four)
David Sinclair. The Times
A man of many parts, the guitarist John Etheridge has journeyed from the furthest shores of jazz-rock fusion with 1970's pioneers Soft Machine to more recent collaborations with classical musicians such as Nigel Kennedy and John Williams. His ongoing group Zappatistas carries a torch for the tortuously intricate music of the late Frank Zappa. more
Drummer John Marshall (also an alumni of Soft Machine) and double bass player Jeff Clyne laid the rhythmic foundations with the poker-faced air of the hardened professionals that they are. But Etheridge played the role of front man and host with a genial, self deprecating manner that belied the thoughtful intensity of the performance itself. Having broken a string during a particularly ferocious bout of soloing in Miles Davis's 'All Blues', he maintained a wry running commentary while replacing it and re tuning his guitar - "You put on one new string, and the others all start sulking".
The merriment among the crowd between numbers was balanced by the respectful hush which prevailed once the band resumed playing, and nevermore so than during a sensational reading of the title track of Etheridge's 1993 album 'Ash'. After a very last but silky-soft introduction, the number took off on a series of unexpected twists and turns that showed off the quartets exceptional gift for improvising as a unit to spectacular effect. As the number returned to its original theme by a route so circuitous that the musicians themselves seemed surprised to have discovered it, even the imperturbable Marshall cracked a smile.
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'I Didn't Know' album launch. Pizza Express, London. WI
Alyn Shipton. The Times
THE idea of a guitarist playing entirely unaccompanied for an entire evening is not new. It conjures up the svelte sounds of the late Barney Kessel, the acoustic wizardry of Charlie Byrd, or the urbane perfectionism of Britain's own Martin Taylor. - more
Such an approach would not sit well with the wide ranging musical interests of John Etheridge, a veteran of such diverse environments as the Stephane Grappelli Quintet on the one hand, and Soft Machine on the other, whose current bands include everything from an acoustic quartet to an extrovert Frank Zappa tribute package.
Etheridge's playing is no less technically brilliant than those other players, but he adds a harder edge to his music, and he is prepared to take greater risks in order to aim for more excitement and rhythmic variety.
Playing a solo evening at the Dean Street jazz room to launch his new album 'I Didn't Know', Etheridge proved from the outset that he can keep all the grit and excitement of his band-playing intact, even with in a solo contexL. His striking melodic lines and deftly shifting chords jumped out of the opening 'Little Willie Leaps', which set a high standard for the evening.
Maybe it's because he is right in the middle of a short national tour with the classical guitarist John Williams, exploring music from Africa that Etheridge's two African numbers were the most memorable.
'Guitar Makossa' by Francis Bebey caught the gentle rolling rhythms of African dance music, with a joyous township melody superimposed on top, and an anonymous Madagascan piece developed the mood with a particularly hypnotic bass line.
But when it came to bass lines Etheridge was on inventive form instrumentally, having added bass guitar strings to the lower end of his Fender Telecaster, giving a huge depth to his sound, and allowing him to give the impression on 'Lullaby of Birdland' that an invisible bassist was accompanying him.
There were more surprises, too, notably a fretless Guild guitar that ushered in the title track of the new album with a twangy, plangent tone, and a Yamaha electric beast that gave a fair impression of Jimi Hendrix in his pomp.
When someone requested Happy Birthday, they probably weren't expecting a Hendrix style rendition, complete with a wall of psychedelic noise that was the very antithesis of the suave nightclub solo guitarist.
On this form, I recommend catching Etheridge when he returns to the club for a week in August
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Pizza Express, London
John Fordham, The Guardian. Monday June 21, 2004
With his distracted, Tommy Cooper-like cackle and air of embarrassed amateurism, John Etheridge likes to give the impression he has no idea what he's doing. But there's never a moment's doubt about his awesome authority whenever he touches a guitar. more
Etheridge has an immense breadth of musical interests. This has allowed him to work with the pioneering British crossover band Soft Machine, with the violin virtuoso Stephane Grappelli, as the core of the highly creative Frank Zappa tribute band, Zappatistas, and sometimes with the classical guitarist John Williams.
Etheridge, in jazz guitar mode, opened with Charlie Parker and then a subtle account of Charles Mingus's Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. Then he relaxed into the Cameroonian groover Guitar Makossa (duetting with his own sampled rhythm part) and a sensuous Madagascan dance tune that sounded at times like a 1950s rock ballad.
He then explored a tone-poem of long echoing sounds and spacey effects, eased into a melody that wandered between 'Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child' and 'Summertime', before becoming 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' - the latter a gem of choir-like sound effects, busy low counterpoint and rich chords.
A stomping bassline under 'Lullaby of Birdland' drove a sharp, high-register improvisation, and a churning, Hendrix-like account of 'Happy Birthday' for an audience member rocketed off into a whirlwind of abstract sound, then a brief boogie, a clamour of bell-like sounds, and an abrupt dead halt. A master-of-all-genres guitarist at work, even if he does his best to hide it.
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Finger pickin' good Pizza Express Jazz Club, London W1
Stuart Nicholson, The Observer. Sunday June 20, 2004
Filling in the blanks of guitarist John Etheridge's career between a stint in the 1970s with rock band Soft Machine to his current duet project with fellow guitarist John Williams would take a piece of closely written A4. But it's safe to say he'd never played a solo concert until premiering his latest album, 'I Didn't Know'. more
Armed only with five guitars, from a Fender to a fretless, and a suitcase-sized amp, he fearlessly set about masterfully deconstructing an eclectic range of songs. A dazzling look-at-me introduction acted as calling card and CV, saying everything you needed to know about John Etheridge - here was a master guitarist at work.
Cognisant of many styles and able to dip in and out at will, Etheridge avoided nailing all his colours to one stylistic mast alone. From Charlie Parker's 'Now's the Time' to 'My Romance', a standard associated with pianist Bill Evans, to Charlie Mingus's 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,' he made them all his own.
Even the spiritual 'Swing Low' took on a new glow, but unlike the English rugby team you knew the wheels were never going to come off Etheridge's chariot. A player capable of creating the elegant and the profound, he settled for the former, even on a spontaneous piece of rock impressionism of a sleepless night.
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'I Didn't Know' - CD.*****
Peter Bacon. Birmingham Post. July 17, 2004
He plays Frank Zappa's music, he plays Django Reinbardt's, he can coax the gentlest melody in harmonics from an acoustic guitar, and he can out-rage the wildest heavy rocker. John Ethendge has to be the complete guitanst. This is a solo album and mostly there is just one guitar - there are minimal overdubs from time to time. more
While this disc may give other guitarists reason to weep, the rest of us can luxuriate in the outstanding musicianship and more importantly, the emotional warmth that Etheridge brings to anything he plays. Technical brilliance but never for its own sake, always in the service of the music. And even more brilliant for it.
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CD REVIEWS
"John Etheridge is one of our unsung national treasures – a man with staggering technical prowess but who understands that that prowess is nothing without the heart and soul which
turns the notes into music"
Peter Bacon, Birmingham Post, Jazz CD of the Week : Chasing Shadows.
"a death defying version of Coltrane's 'Giant Steps' that would cause most other guitarists to fall apart after the first chorus"
Dave Gelly, The Observer CD of the Week: Chasing Shadows
"An effortless display where warmth and passion are never allowed to be subordinated. Records like this are all too rare so miss it at your own risk."
Hugh Gregory, Jazz Review
"If John Etheridge weren't so brilliant he might be more famous. His versatility is confusing. What other guitarist could have begun his career as a member of Soft Machine and the Stephan Grappelli Quintet? For this set Etheridge revisits Grappelli territory, but in the spirit of exploration rather than nostalgia. His companionns are rhythm guitarist Dave Kelbie, bassist Malcolm Creese and Christian Garrick, the best young violinist in jazz today. The programme ranges from old ballads, such as 'I'm Through With Love', to a death defying version of Coltrane's 'Giant Steps' that would cause other guitarists to fall apart from the first chorus."
Dave Gelly. The Observer (CD Of The Week).
"A virtuoso on acoustic and electric guitars."
Time Out
"World class fretwork"
Guitarist Magazine
"The guitarist John Etheridge - playing an acoustic instrument for once - was deftly brilliant throughout. His duet with the other guitarist was the highlight of the evening."
Martin Gayford - Daily Telegraph
"...Etheridge redeemed the genre, in short he made the guitar talk and the audience listened with rapt attention."
Phil Johnson - The Guardian
John Etheridge's Sweet Chorus Live
Marsden Mechanics 11 10 03
Classic and compelling jazz.
THERE was a moment of alchemy in the early 1930's when a French violinist and a Belgian gypsy guitarist blended thetr music with American jazz.
The result was a style that is Europe's only original contribution to classic jazz.
The combination of violin, solo guitar, rhythm guitar and string bass remains utterly distinctive, utterly Continental and utterly compelling. The creators of the style, leaders of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, were guitarist Django Rheinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli. To imitate them requires great instrumental virtuosity.
John Etneridge and his Sweet Chorus demonstrated lass night that they had virtuosity to burn, not to mention phenomenal powers of improvisation and the musical elan that characterised Rheinhardt and Grappelli's mwic. The concert opened the 2003 Marsden Jazz Fsattval - and eould hardly have done so more joyously. Guitatist Etheridge who played with Grappelli towards the end of the violinist's long career, has a command of his instrument so complete that he seems to know no limitations. But even his fastest runs make melodic sense and are filled with emotion. Violinist Christian Garrick is equally exceptional. His solos last night took technique to Paganini like extretnes, but they, too, were full of meaning.
There were plenty of breakneck numbers, too, although bassist Jeremy Brown and rhythm guitarist Dave Kelbie constantly maintained a high-precision pulse. It was also fascinating to hear a much more contemporary piece, Nothing Personal.
William Marshall
Huddersfield Examiner