Musical History
VERA BELL
If to deconsecrate a church means to make it not necessarily God’s home but that of the people, then the Henry Ward Hall in Robertson Street is a shining example. This grand church with its elaborate wooden pulpit and altar, built-in organ, and elegantly curved pews, is the perfect place for a family concert.
Viéllefon and band at the Henry Ward Hall
The concert given by Benoît Vielléfon and his Hot Club band commanded an almost sell-out audience, and, like most local audiences, they came in early. The place buzzed with anticipation, excitement and warm conversation, helped on by the bar at the back.
And they weren’t disappointed. The band presented twenty great tunes in the familiar ‘Gypsy jazz’ style of the Golden Age of jazz in the 1930s. There were an appreciable number of Django Reinhardt fans around the hall for the evening: Reinhardt (with his injured hand and his specialist guitar, French-made with an enlarged sound-hole for increased volume) has done as much as anyone to popularise the music during that period. What is perhaps less well-known is that he was one of the first people to use the guitar as a lead instrument, so it’s possible that without him we would never have had an Eric Clapton, a Carlos Santana, or even a Jimi Hendrix.
While their musical style remained true to its roots , Vielléfon’s band played a wide-ranging set. Along with popular standards like Body and Soul and The Sunny Side of the Street there were jive standards originated by early pioneers of rock-and-roll like Louis Jordan and Cab Calloway. There were tunes made famous by jazz luminaries Benny Goodman and Earl Hines, and by popular singers Nat King Cole and Rosemary Clooney in the 1940s and 50s. There was some Duke Ellington, and the Brazilian tune Tico Tico No Fubá, which is one of those ingrained numbers that everyone recognises but doesn’t necessarily know the name of, written (astonishingly) more than 100 years ago.
FRENCH RESISTANCE
The French songs were probably the least familiar. But many (older) people will remember C’est Si Bon from when Yves Montand was a universal heartthrob, and Bambino by Dalida, from about the same time. They also gave us Ca s’fait, ça s’fait pas, recorded by Alix Combelle and popular with French zazous, early, pre-beatnik, style-rebels who emerged as a counter-culture during the French WW2 Nazi occupation. Ménilmontant, written and first recorded by Charles Trenet in 1939, is fascinating for having been discovered later to be co-written by a controversial classical pianist, Alix Weissenberg. His name was omitted from the credits for years, partly because (in the days before Prévin and Bernstein) a classical pianist might be disrespected for writing ‘popular’ music, and partly (I imagine), because being Jewish in Nazi occupied France wouldn’t have been a great help to anybody’s career, controversial or not. So in fact, on a little bit of reflection, a concert like this presents us with a small, valuable piece of cultural history.
At the event, the band played with great panache, and the audience enjoyed every minute, and I doubt if anybody thought about cultural history. Saxophonist and clarinettist Björn Dahlberg is a local musician and teacher and has for years worked in an Abba tribute show, playing keyboards. He plays a beautiful Conn tenor (now almost 100 years old) with a fabulous, authentic, fuzzy throaty tone. Trumpeter ‘Magic’ Mike Henry has an immaculate technique and was a long-serving member of Chris Barber’s band; lead guitarist Jarrod Elks (also vocals) lives in Brighton and has written specialist books on the guitar. Bass player Jack Garside graduated from Leeds jazz course seven years ago and plays regularly with the band of leading ‘new-jazz’ trumpeter Mark Kavuma. A great evening’s entertainment! We can look forward to Vielléfon’s next concert later this year.
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