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| Jeremy Pelt at Kings Place- Photo credit Melody McLaren (iPhome) |
Sebastian writes:
I’m definitely disqualified from reviewing this one, having been given the privilege of introducing the bands from the stage, but I have to say that this concert, part of the Global Music Foundation’s Easter weekend at Kings Place, was special.
Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt re-visited his 2003 album Close to my Heart with the arranger of the album David O’Rourke directing a small orchestra, plus a fine trio of Bruce Barth, Duncan Hopkins and Stephen Keogh.
In some senses it was a premiere, since the album was done with only four string players overdubbed, and this was the first ever performance with the scaled-up resources originally intended.
Jeremy Pelt played in Kings Place Hall One completely acoustically, and trusted David O’Rourke and the strings to balance – which they did. Pelt’s tone, line, spacious phrasing, logic, the sheer beauty of his playing of Cy Coleman’s Why Try to Change Me Now? was absolutely the kind of sound that the refined Kings Place Hall One acoustic was always intended for. This was supreme ballad-playing as complete nourishment for heart and soul, and heard in perfect conditions.
There was an added bonus in the set: Rene Marie performed her double-song of (wait for it) Ravel’s Bolero and Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne, realized for trio and Orchestra by David O’Rourke. And does the combination of Montreal beef brisket plus tea and oranges with a composition by a French vegetarian composer work? You really had to be there.
Earlier in the evening, Tina May and Guillermo Rozenthuler had taken the audience on a wonderful romantic world tour in Musica Paradiso, with and orchestra directed, and string arrangements by Raphael Hurwitz. An unlikely high-point of this set was another improbable double-song: Michel Legrand’s love theme from Les Parapluies de Cherbourg combined with Agustin Lara’s Piensa en mi.
Categories: miscellaneous
What a wonderful evening at King's Place last night. Sebastian has it right: this was awesome ballad playing and a masterclass in tone, dynamics and emotional depth from Jeremy Pelt. The string arrangements were superb. The bonus was the quite stunning appearance of Rene Marie. Even Jeremy Pelt had to comment that he didn't know he was going to follow her, but he did with a rendition of It's A Beautiful Evening that must have touched everyone to the core.