Fortnight Publications Ltd.

A Night to Remember in DerryAuthor(s): Dougie KnightSource: Fortnight, No. 246 (Dec., 1986), p. 27Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25551032 .

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Fortnight December 1986 27

GLUTTED BY THE

ARTISTIC FEAST JAMES SIMMONS offers a breathless panorama of

the Belfast Festival while DOUGIE KNIGHT picks out the high spot of the North-west event.

NO ONE person can cover the whole Belfast festival. The excitement is to be part of a communal bonanza. While still in the middle of it I offer this summary of the detailed

reports of our large staff of specialist reporters. In classical music, while looking forward to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the

high point has been Janet Baker's singing of Berlioz' Nuits d'ete. In the more popular musical forms De Danann and Van Morrison showed similar intensity, ebullience and

expertise. In the more intimate forms Agnes Bernelle and Jake Thackery revealed their different masteries of word-orientated songs.

Beckett's Footfalls at the Lyric was very well done if you like late Beckett. It seemed

fairly empty to us. Real confrontations between old women and their ageing daughters are more poignant and tragic than this formalised presentation.

By the end of its run What the Butler Saw was a richly amusing and disturbing anarchic farce, played for all it was worth by a talented cast to full houses. The 'Oscar Wilde of the

housing estates' presents a great challenge to actors, directors and audience. How the

Lyric company does so well on two and a half weeks rehearsal I don't know. They also

premiered John Boyd's new play, Summer Class, on November 2. Curiously enough the

actors seemed more creative and at ease than they had been all season and at first Boyd seemed to be writing with more richness, variety and humour; but the second act failed to develop the possibilities of the first. Still, there is much to enjoy and the set is

magnificent. The Guinness Spot has been the setting for many memorable evenings in the past

(Benny Carter, Joe Newman, etc). So far this year the New Black Eagles were too

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From 'Swann in Love' at QFT

lightweight for our taste and the lead cornet, so important in New Orleans ensemble

playing, left a vacuum between the embroideries of the clarinet and the trombone. This was the more frustrating in that his solo playing was very attractive indeed. Never mind, there is still the peerless Dave McKenna to come as I write and Tal Farlowe.

At QFT there was an exciting and entertaining bunch of films. We were particularly impressed by Swann in Love, a beautifully literate piece of film making which reveals just how funny and moving Proust can be about jealousy.

We were thinking sentimentally how the old Festival with Michael Emmerson in charge used to have more ambition to involve all classes and creeds; but once the idealist

Emmerson had made his name he quickly became agent for a handful of superstars like James Galway. So it goes.

The Joel Hall Dancers (Stranmillis) from Chicago were a disappointment for the dance

community. A single vibrant jazz piece was followed by a set of contemporary ballet

pieces where the choreography seemed dated and some of the dancers jaded. The audience that responded so warmly to this should have had the superior delight of

watching the Welsh Gwylan Dance Company at the Crescent. These four technically accomplished young female dancers were a joy to watch. There was meaning in every

movement and they had the advantage of live musical accompaniment. Accompaniment? The deft antics of the two musicians were part of the act.

The Festival constitutes a huge artistic feast, enough to choke any individual. There can be nothing but praise for the taste and organisational skills of the organisers; but wouldn't it make more sense to spread these riches over the whole year and arrange tours of the

Province for visiting artists so that more people could enjoy more?

A NIGHT TO

REMEMBER

IN DERRY

FRIDAY, November 7, 8 pm - a day, a

date and a time that was of great

significance to all who care about jazz in

Ulster.

Derry's Rialto Cinema held a capacity audience, who showed by their response to the Buddy Rich Orchestra that they not

only enjoyed but appreciated both the

quality of the music and the content of the

jazz. Every solo was applauded

intelligently, as were some brilliant passages of section work.

Buddy was stunned by the enthusiasm and warmth of the people, some of whom behaved as if they were his 'buddies'. One fan shouted: "Let's go, Buddy," and

Buddy replied, quick as a flash: "Where to

buddy?" This concert was not 'the best kept

secret since Pearl Harbour' - a remark that

Buddy was prompted to make at the

beginning of his first Northern Ireland concert, in the Whitla Hall, where only 300 fans made the effort to attend. That was back in the late 60s.

A few years ago the Queen's Festival

again presented Buddy Rich and his orchestra -

this time at the Ulster Hall

before a much larger audience -

but the

Derry concert surpassed the other in every

way. Not since the Louis Armstrong All

Stars at the King's Hall has an Ulster audience given such a reception to a

visiting jazz group.

After the euphoria comes the

assessment. The programme over the

years has included the West Side Story and

Porgy and Bess suites and, good as they are, I had hoped for entirely new material - maybe too much to expect from a band

with such a full touring schedule.

Unfortunately these heavily scored pieces allow for the minimum of solo work,

though they do exhibit the band's orchestral ability.

Solo work has never been a great

strength in Buddy Rich Orchestras: apart from the technical excellence of the lead tenor sax of Steve Marcus and occasional

contributions from a competent lead

trombone, the book offered few

opportunities for individual flair. I longed to hear more from the excellent pianist, and an interesting Sonny Sitt style alto-sax

man. But a 'band within the band' did not exist - a feature we have come to expect from ensembles like Ellington's, Basie's and Kenton's.

Yet such criticism is nitpicking. This was a fine concert -

worth every mile of the drive to Derry and back.

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