Janie and I love a bit of jazz at The Wigmore Hall. We think the venue suits the genre. It is also a venue that could do with expanding its demographic catchment, which jazz, on the face of it, should help achieve.
Here is a link to the Wigmore Hall stub for this concert.
Having said that, the audience demographic for the excellent Patricia Brennan Septet seemed little different from the Wigmore Hall norm. Possibly we were, on this occasion, quite close to the average age, rather than still being in the younger half of the audience.
No matter.
Except that Patricia Brennan, bless her, seemed very keen to engender a party atmosphere and encourage some dancing in the stalls, which, frankly, was not going to happen in that cohort.
Also, it has to be said, the intriguing but complex syncopated rhythms, that seem to be Patricia’s hallmark, do not really lend themselves to dancing. At least not dancing in the sense that Janie might get up and dance and look as though she knows what she is doing…which Janie does.
I possibly could have managed some jerky moves that could embarrass beyond the level of “dad dancing”. Is “grandad dancing” a thing? Or is that term an oxymoron?
Still, the Breaking Stretch music was both interesting and enjoyable. It took a while to attune to it, but once we did, the melodies and rhythms took to our fancy.
Here is a sample of what we heard from Patricia Brennan’s own YouTube channel. You should get a decent idea from this 10-minute clip:
I have to say that the musicianship from all of the musicians on show that evening was superb, but especially the virtuoso performance of Patricia Brennan herself on vibraphone.
I must confess to very limited exposure to “vibes” prior to this concert. In fact, ahead of setting off, I felt compelled to play Janie The Intro & The Outro by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, with the immortal quote:
…and looking very relaxed, Adolph Hitler on vibes…nice!
In fact, Patricia Brennan not only looked very relaxed but also looked as though she was enjoying herself more than the audience, which is, after all, one of the first laws of jazz musicianship. The other performers all looked less relaxed and less full of joy.
Let’s give the last word to the Patricia Brenan Septet – this live clip from a few months before our concert: