It's been a long time..
..since I saw a black man playing a banjo.
There's no real reason for it to be rare; the instrument was invented by black people; it's very useful, like the accordion, for playing outdoors, because it can be bloody loud. But still, apart from perhaps Taj Mahal you don't see it.
The bill at the Barbican last Thursday was the Preservation Hall Band and Allen Toussaint.
Toussaint opened, which surprised me, played a lot of his hits (I would have liked to have heard Freedom for the Stallion and Wonder Woman and could have done without Southern Nights, but then) and was very profesional in his raconteuring, despite only starting performing live again quite recently. Well worth the £25. After the interval the Preservation Hall band. Very corny to start with - like that twerp Max Collie, making massive claims to authenticity while doing the Ted Lewis schtick - but the piano player was good, throwing Herbie Hancock licks into the hackneyed predictable standards. Then they did the funeral bit, with lengthy explanation about the "mournful out/cheerful in" procedure, and struck up a very slow "Just a closer walk" and Toussaint came out to sit in on piano. It was astonishing how well he fit in; added a sentimentality and simplicity that the other guy wouldn't have been able to fake. Things rather took off from there. The tempo speeded up and they went into a longish medley featuring each player. As well as the jazz favourites (The Saints was writen in 1939, it just sounds very old) they dropped in some Prof Longhair, sung by the banjo guy - Carl Le Blanc his name - and it really did the trick. The horns marched round the theatre, dozens of 40-year-old schoolteachers "danced" behind them, a good time had by all. Life-enhancing and thoroughly recommended.
There's no real reason for it to be rare; the instrument was invented by black people; it's very useful, like the accordion, for playing outdoors, because it can be bloody loud. But still, apart from perhaps Taj Mahal you don't see it.
The bill at the Barbican last Thursday was the Preservation Hall Band and Allen Toussaint.
Toussaint opened, which surprised me, played a lot of his hits (I would have liked to have heard Freedom for the Stallion and Wonder Woman and could have done without Southern Nights, but then) and was very profesional in his raconteuring, despite only starting performing live again quite recently. Well worth the £25. After the interval the Preservation Hall band. Very corny to start with - like that twerp Max Collie, making massive claims to authenticity while doing the Ted Lewis schtick - but the piano player was good, throwing Herbie Hancock licks into the hackneyed predictable standards. Then they did the funeral bit, with lengthy explanation about the "mournful out/cheerful in" procedure, and struck up a very slow "Just a closer walk" and Toussaint came out to sit in on piano. It was astonishing how well he fit in; added a sentimentality and simplicity that the other guy wouldn't have been able to fake. Things rather took off from there. The tempo speeded up and they went into a longish medley featuring each player. As well as the jazz favourites (The Saints was writen in 1939, it just sounds very old) they dropped in some Prof Longhair, sung by the banjo guy - Carl Le Blanc his name - and it really did the trick. The horns marched round the theatre, dozens of 40-year-old schoolteachers "danced" behind them, a good time had by all. Life-enhancing and thoroughly recommended.