Attendance seems to be unpredictable, but what it depends on is anyone’s guess. I’ve never been entirely convinced by the football on TV theory, but in any case that doesn’t seem to have applied this time. Certainly, the Green Note isn’t (happily) suffering any great general downturn in trade (a couple of gigs early in the new year had seen the place rammed). Could it be the recession? The ‘January is quiet everywhere’ school of thought? Who knows? Maybe it has something to do with the Green Note being an eating place – if people book tables to eat and form an audience, it doesn’t take many to fill it up, and they just haven’t happened to book them in masses of the second Wednesday of the month. Maybe it’ll be packed next time. Just to make sure, maybe everyone concerned could try to get some folk along for the next one. We’re due a decent house.
Another point here is that, because it’s not weekly, people often forget when it’s on. Lots of musicians find anything more complex than ‘every Tuesday’ quite hard to process, even if they hold down highly responsible jobs in real life. So if you’re out and about at other jams, mention the next one to anyone you think might fit in playing-wise, or enjoy it audience-wise. Truth is, it’s not a fixture on the scene the way the weekly ones are, so a bit of effort on telling people may not go amiss. Plus, it seems to me lots of people on the ‘scene’ (or off it) who might well come haven’t heard about it.
I’m not going to bang on about what everyone played this time – I not only didn’t make a note of that, I also didn’t make a list of who was going to play and who they were going to play with; this is not dereliction of a jam host’s duties so much as not a requirement at this event. People get to go on and do their slot and they get to ask for whichever members of the bevy of alluring musicians on hand they want to play with. All of this contributes to the uniquely relaxed atmosphere of this jam, not least because there is no need to ensure that a platoon of chaps bearing lethal electric weapons can be accommodated (the churl in me would say, thank God I don’t have to work out who might spoil someone’s perfectly good act by fouling the air with a hideous pile of unwanted and very loud notes; but I don’t wholly mean to be critical of all that as I quite like making a loudish noise at other places myself, and there are plenty of guitarists out there who do know how to play with other people).
Back at the jam, we had a slightly different set of house band personnel from the last time. David couldn’t make it this time and so mandolin duties were taken up by Ryan Carr. How did anyone ever contemplate playing this sort of music without a mandolin? It is now a welcome fixture and in many ways the star of the show. This time it was Ryan’s turn to cop the ‘you only get a break when you’re bursting’ role, and throughout the evening he played quite brilliantly.
Ryan
Dave Forristal on keyboards also shone, and for my money showed the way home on how to play just the right things on a keyboard for this kind of music. The sound balance was just right, with everyone clearly audible, so at any moment your ear might have been taken by a sudden burst of mandolin genius, a terrific keyboard solo or a bit of magic from Charles on the double bass. The variety of possibilities for really good moments and really good passages of playing is great.
Mark
I kicked off on the 12-string for three songs, being joined by Ryan and then Dave and Charles as I went along, eventually switching to the National. We were joined in this set by Danno Sheehan, putting in his first appearance on harp at the Green Note and having a pretty busy night on stage. The harp being in the mix added yet another colour to the picture and a welcome one it was too. So, for large parts of the evening the line-up was guitar, mandolin, double bass, keyboards and harp. To which can usually be added drum/percussion – Martin got the dates mixed up.
After me came Barry Jackson for another fine set in his inimitable style, everything he did with the band fitting neatly together. ‘Class act’ remains the most appropriate description of Barry and everyone concerned thoroughly enjoyed his set.
Ryan did his own set next, and he’s at least partly from the bluegrass/country/folk wing of things. He’s got a very good voice indeed and some crowd-pleasing songs. For one of these, he required a fair bit of audience participation, a brave request I always think, as there is always the distinct possibility that an audience (especially a small one) will simply stare you out, leaving the artist with no hiding place and the ghastly feeling of having soiled their underwear in public. But Ryan more than carried this off, getting an enthusiastic response that made the number a riot. People with fewer crowd-appealing skills have been elected to high office.
A newcomer, Anna, came on next, and did two numbers very well indeed, backed by an assortment of the house musicians. Not having done this sort of music in public before, she was a bit nervous, but seemed to gather confidence as she noticed that it was all actually sounding pretty good. People climb over obstacles at this sort of thing, and feel the better for it.
Graham Hinton was up next, demonstrating his excellent picking and singing skills again. Quite a bit of what he does might look a lot easier than it actually is (this is true of a lot of good music of course – the stuff that looks really hard is very often rubbish).
I went back up with the full band to round off the evening. After two songs, I was wrapping things up when someone in the audience asked for another number. They had just arrived, right at the end, quite liked what they’d stumbled in on, and wanted to hear some more of it.
Now, if they could show up at the start, and bring a couple dozen friends with them ........
Mark Harrison
I kicked off on the 12-string for three songs, being joined by Ryan and then Dave and Charles as I went along, eventually switching to the National. We were joined in this set by Danno Sheehan, putting in his first appearance on harp at the Green Note and having a pretty busy night on stage. The harp being in the mix added yet another colour to the picture and a welcome one it was too. So, for large parts of the evening the line-up was guitar, mandolin, double bass, keyboards and harp. To which can usually be added drum/percussion – Martin got the dates mixed up.
Danno
After me came Barry Jackson for another fine set in his inimitable style, everything he did with the band fitting neatly together. ‘Class act’ remains the most appropriate description of Barry and everyone concerned thoroughly enjoyed his set.
Ryan did his own set next, and he’s at least partly from the bluegrass/country/folk wing of things. He’s got a very good voice indeed and some crowd-pleasing songs. For one of these, he required a fair bit of audience participation, a brave request I always think, as there is always the distinct possibility that an audience (especially a small one) will simply stare you out, leaving the artist with no hiding place and the ghastly feeling of having soiled their underwear in public. But Ryan more than carried this off, getting an enthusiastic response that made the number a riot. People with fewer crowd-appealing skills have been elected to high office.
A newcomer, Anna, came on next, and did two numbers very well indeed, backed by an assortment of the house musicians. Not having done this sort of music in public before, she was a bit nervous, but seemed to gather confidence as she noticed that it was all actually sounding pretty good. People climb over obstacles at this sort of thing, and feel the better for it.
Graham Hinton was up next, demonstrating his excellent picking and singing skills again. Quite a bit of what he does might look a lot easier than it actually is (this is true of a lot of good music of course – the stuff that looks really hard is very often rubbish).
I went back up with the full band to round off the evening. After two songs, I was wrapping things up when someone in the audience asked for another number. They had just arrived, right at the end, quite liked what they’d stumbled in on, and wanted to hear some more of it.
Now, if they could show up at the start, and bring a couple dozen friends with them ........
Mark Harrison
Sketches by Barry Jackson
Next one: February 10th
Next one: February 10th
I'm a harp player and am definately interested in getting away from the straight up Cicago stuff to some more Delta style stuff...
ReplyDeleteCount me in for the next one!
Regards, Jack Fuller