Somewhere along the line I have missed out on the music of Billie Holiday. I have never seen the film Lady Sings the Blues, and while I am familiar with most of the tunes, and have a huge respect for Billie Holiday in the history and development of jazz, and particularly vocal jazz, the music has passed me by.
Last year Iain Hunter sold out two concerts at the Tron Kirk at the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, so this year was going to be a challenge with a move to a bigger venue, the Queen’s Hall, and new backing, the Eliot Murray Big Band.
I’m a huge fan of Chet Baker, and I’ve heard trumpeter Colin Steele play before so I was always going to have this show Remembering Chet on my radar, and it was definitely an hour well spent as he, Iain Ewing, vocals, and Euan Stevenson on piano captivated a packed early evening house at the Jazz Bar for their final Festival Fringe performance.
There’s skill in staging a production that appears under-rehearsed when in reality it’s just so darn tight. That’s what you get with Vegas Underground – a precious hour of full-on entertainment with songs, banter, repartee, the odd guest, and the odd glitch (“where’s the guest, where’s the mic?”) that pass so smoothly that these artistes are either very practiced or they can just ride the wave. They’re clearly enjoying it as much as we are …
It was a sultry night. Electricity was in the air – and the smell of pizza. It could have been the Strip, Broadway or Sunset Boulevard.