Brecon Jazz Club Tuesday March 14: The Remi Harris Trio.
Once in a while in Brecon, we get an amazing performance in an amazing venue. Last night, that accolade belonged to Remi Harris and The Muse Arts Centre. I saw Remi Harris play gypsy jazz guitar about five years ago and he was mind bogglingly good. Well, judging by the explosive performance at The Muse, he's turned a corner - it's what some people in the arts call the 'tipping point'. Well he's tipped. And I'm tipping him for the top.
There's an audible sense of excitement at this Muse event. It's become the new home of Brecon Jazz Club and organisers Lynne and Roger know how to pack a venue. You just have to admire the couple's energy and sense of community - something sorely lacking in the arts, in this day and age. All too often, it's about the money. Brecon Jazz Club at The Muse is all about the music.
Guitarist Remi Harris takes to the Muse stage with fellow guitarist Caley Groves and double bass player Simon Smith. We learn later that it's Smith's first show with Remi, but you'd never know. Pleasingly, the trio kick off with Can't Buy Me Love, a Beatles tune given the gypsy jazz treatment. From the off, Remi has this jazz crowd in his pocket. ("Any Django fans in? Put two fingers up!")
I might be wrong but the Remi Harris show from five years ago was quite a straight and linear affair, Django Reinhardt influenced and possibly on the safe side. Tonight he's live and dangerous, throwing caution to the wind and throwing sly reference riffs in along the way. English Country Garden, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the French national anthem - the knowledgable audience snigger and smile with every diversion.
He's not daft though, some classic jazz standards get the Remi Harris effect - All Of Me, Sweet Georgia Brown (check out Les Paul playing this, it was his kind of theme tune) and a fab version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow. It must be said here that I have a theory that young Remi is drawing on influences like Jeff Beck and even Buckethead. (Note: Buckethead - for those of you who are yet to come across him - is an unidentifiable US guitarist who wears a white mask, a KFC bucket for a hat and plays beautiful / metal solo pieces.) Remi even tune-checks Buckethead with a snatch of Pure Imagination (from Willy Wonka) tonight.
If you missed it, go to remiharris.com. Remi tells us that there are YouTube live performances on his website. Hurrah!
Below: Fan Brian Cuddy with gypsy jazz genius Remi Harris
So where next for Brecon Jazz Club? Well, I hear that Roger and Lynne are already working on their offerings for this year's Brecon Jazz Festival. In the meantime, Lynne tells us that Brecon Jazz Club at The Muse welcomes the wonderfully exotically named Ella Piergorgio Quartet next month (Tuesday April 11). A word of warning though: Get there early to avoid disappointment. Nice.
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