United Kingdom, London, Jazz Cafe', - REVIEW - The official launch of A very nice album. - June 2008.
Angela: A nice way to spend a Monday night!
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It was the musical event of the evening in London, or at least that is what The Times dated Monday 16th June 2008 said on page 27: The Daily Universal Register.
It was a lovely warm evening and I arrived at the venue to find that a queue had already formed!
I met my friend who commented: Always late, Angela!; I muttered something about the Northern line not having any trains for the High Barnet branch(?)
We park ourselves near the bar, once the band starts everybody will congregate near the stage, standing room only, and we want to make sure we have to something to lean on for the evening! (No, we were not planning to get that drunk that evening!) ...and anyway Monday night is hair washing night!
I keep going to the door to spot the late arrivals of my group, although I had left their tickets at the ticket office, any way, basically, I was doing my “mother hen” impersonation!
Eventually all my friends were there and we settled down to chit chatting about this and that whilst watching the video of the Carnivore on one of the screens: Nigel doing a very good impersonation of the “Werewolf in London” standing by the gas light near Westminster Bridge waiting for his prey to walk past! We still have gas lights in London around Westminster Bridge but many people do not realise that they are gas lights!
The group walks down the steps from the balcony and the whole place erupted in applause and cheers. Nigel did his usual cheer-o-meter test to check if all the ladies and the men were present. He explained he was very happy about being back in London as he had been on a long German tour and his German is not very good. (Little did he know what would happen at Ronnie Scott's the following Thursday!)
Nigel welcomes one of his guests: Donovan. Nigel had only rung him the day beforehand very kindly Donovan had flown from Ireland to attend the gig! (I also flew to Cork to hear one of Nigel’s concerts, that is something I have in common with Donovan!) Everybody cheered. I remember the name Donovan, I was a little school girl and he was somebody famous….
Nigel mutters something about his colleagues:
Piotr Wylezol piano and Hammond organ,
Adam Kowalewski bass,
Pawel Dobrowolski drums,
Tomasz Grzegorski tenor sax, and
Xantone Blacq keyboard and vocals.
Nigel dedicates his first song to Donovan and the musical journey begins!
Nigel mentions various titles, amongst others: “Where all paths meet” and “Nice bottle of Beaujolais, innit?” He would say that! The types of people that use the term “innit” are not the type of people that drink Beaujolais!
The girl in front of me screams at the sound of the first few notes and gives a crushing hug to her diminutive boyfriend. He is two thirds her size. I think of about the “Praying mantis”.
The crowd in front of me starts swaying and nodding their heads.
The couple next to us produce a very fancy mobile and start clicking away. There is an official looking camera at the back of the room with a lens about a foot long and a somewhat miniscule spot light shooting away.
It is at this point that I realize that there are no blue and claret lights. Are they one of Nigel’s “I am being demanding” requests when he plays classical music in concert halls and tonight he does not care as he is having a “jolly” with his mates?
The evening is great!
Jolly, cosy and friendly!
I promise myself to talk with them during the interval.
Nigel introduces the next piece: OUT.
He mentions the name of a most gorgeous blonde he has met in Paris about a couple of years ago at somebody’s birthday party. You can trust Nigel to surround himself with gorgeous girls, why do you think he did not play at the Classic Brit awards? Have you seen a picture of the group Bond?
The blonde girl is to be our singer. The piece is jolly and catchy!
I pick up courage and I snap away with my camera using the ISO setting (no flash) but the musicians are too dynamic! My hand is quite still! The timing of the shutter is too long: all I can catch with the camera is the dynamism of the front trio!
Eventually it is time for a break and Nigel is very democratic about this: we are given a choice about the length of it. >br> Nigel and his musicians disappear upstairs.
I rush around catching up with all the old faces I have not seen since the last gig and exchanging news!
Nigel and the Quintet reappear on the stage cheered by the public who now presses even closer to the stage.
A couple of girls nearby are looking at a copy of a white CD.
I ask them about it; they hand it over to me and I ask whether they bought it, at the venue?
Yes, over there.
They say pointing toward the other side of the room where there is a blue neon light.
I look at the wall of people between the blue light and myself and decide: NO!
I am not fighting my way across all those people to buy it here! I shall go to the CD shop!
The diminutive boyfriend I noticed earlier goes to the bar to buy drinks: I look at him and noticed that he is, as they say, “Small but perfectly built!”
I quite enjoy listening to the music and watching the stage and the public!
It feels like a party.The room is small: it could somebody’s front room! All right: somebody’s through lounge! It reminds me of University parties!
Nigel makes an announcement: the next song will be “Boo Boooz Blooooze”.
Nigel becomes somewhat bashful and finally blurts out: …and for the first time in public: vocals by Nigel Kennedy!
The public cheers very loudly!
Nigel appears ever so endearingly timid!
He rearranges the microphone, moves his bottle of beer out of the way, puts down some papers, apologises with a girl in the front row as he spilled something over…
The lyrics are quite captivating and when eventually Nigel shouts NO! NO! NO! NO!
The whole room joins in a loud NO! with Nigel giving him their full support!
One girl near me looks shocked and raises her eyebrows. (Is she a Carnivore?)
(This ballad is about Nigel finding the courage to stand up to Agnieszka during one of her nagging sessions about going shopping.
Towards the end of the ballad Nigel finds the courage to say:
I am staying at home with Kylie.
Kylie is small,
Kylie is beautiful,
Kylie is shapely,
Kylie is portable,
I take Kylie everywhere I go,
Kylie makes sweet sounds to me.
Kylie has won an OBE for services to music. (The last lyric from the Editor)
Eventually the music stops and Nigel looks around, articulates the name Agnieszka whilst pointing the bow round the room, shakes the bow and off he goes into the next piece of music!
Oh Nigel! If only you had listened to your mother when you were a wee boy and she was teaching you “Where are you going to, my pretty maid?”
More music follows: it is never ending.
I look towards the staircase and onto the balcony.
Donovan is no longer sitting at the table; he is standing at the top of the staircase, dancing to Nigel’s music!
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The tune is forceful and enchanting!
Magic!
Oh I nearly forgot!
Nigel did play “The carnival of the animals.” No sorry,”The carnivore of the animals”.
I listen to the lyrics and I wonder if Nigel is the carnivore looking for his mate or whether Nigel is the victim of a carnivore…
or perhaps he has not quite decided yet!
And before we know it, well, that is it!
Nigel announces that the gig has ended and after more introductions they all disappear upstairs.
I look at their backs and can't help but think that the music performed had seemed cathartic! Like Kafka.
They are back, by public demand of course!
One more piece and guess which one: Third stone from the Sun.
I wait as Nigel talk, expecting that at any point he announces that Doug Boyle is to play guitar (I had earlier spoken with Doug), but no, I did not hear those words. I suppose it is, after all, the launch of the A very nice album by the NK quintet!
Not the Kennedy Experience!
I look behind me on the bar and my coke has disappeared!
I ask the chap behind the bar as to its whereabouts.
I return my gaze to the Quintet playing away.
I stand and listen and I am back in the Festival Hall listening to the Kennedy Experience!
I look again at the bar and the very nice man behind the bar has replaced my missing glass with a fresh full glass of coke!
Isn’t he lovely!
Eventually all good things come to an end and the lights come on.
People quickly disappear, it is well past eleven!
We chat a bit more with old friends, hug and kiss good bye to all promising to see each at the Proms.
Eventually the rest of us disappear in the warm balmy evening toward Camden Town and the Northern line where we discuss our next assignation at the Royal Albert Hall.
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