Music / Jazz
Review: Nick Smart’s Black Eyed Dog, St George’s
If there’s a current revival of interest in the late Nick Drake then trumpeter Nick Smart was well ahead of the curve when he put together the album project Black Eyed Dog in 2005. Given the reverence with which Nick Drake’s three albums are generally treated and the excellent original production and arrangements of his songs any attempt to ‘jazz it up’ had to prove its worth, but the record drew instant critical acclaim. This revival performance represented another step forward in ambition, however, with the addition of strings and piano to the original 9-piece band configuration. Apart from Nick Steele himself only guitarist John Paricelli represented the 2005 personnel, the rest a rich mix of younger talent.
From left: Alex Taylor, KIt Downs, Nick Smart, James Gardener-Bateman, Will Harris, James Allsopp
Understandably the sound took a while to find its feet, but by the third number things became clearer, with Alex Taylor’s warm vocals on Way To Blue balanced with equally warm flugelhorn from Nick while pianist Kit Downes’ perfectly caught both the easy flow and wistful mood of the tune. James Allsopp’s tenor sax solo was clever and uplifting and the tune ended with a beautifully phrased coda from the Lochrian String Quartet.
The undaunted Emily Wright
Someone had to do it, of course, but if singer Emily Wright was daunted by the prospect of Drake’s classic Riverman she didn’t show it but rather took the song as a jazz vocalist should, riding the appropriately lush strings and thick piano harmonics with her own phrasing a natural fit to the tune’s 5-time rhythm. It was a finely judged moment that did the original proud.
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Lochrian String Quartet (left) and John Parricelli (right)
The first half closed with Alex back to sing for a medley of Horn and Saturday Sun that started in lounge mode for the instrumental number and shifted through a free-blowing link into a kind of Alan Toussaint downtown New Orleans workout for the song, the vocal hovering between Dr John and Van Morrison, the piano heading for Professor Longhair and the whole thing steeped in a rich Louisiana gumbo.
Now that the sound had settled the second half was full of highlights like Poor Boy with James Allsopp’s bass clarinet offsetting the jaunty string arrangement with overtones of Kurt Weill and James Gardiner-Bateman ripping into an absorbing alto solo. Both vocalists returned for a fine, stark reading of Black Eyed Dog, Emily’s vocals catching exactly the balance of raw blues and English folk that Nick Drake brought to play in the song, and that was followed by a spell-binding version of God Only Knows (apparently Pet Sounds was an inspiration for Bryter Later’s production values), given a light bossa nova lilt from Tim Giles’ drums and Will Harris on bass.
John Paricelli’s guitar was a bit lost in the mix
By the evening’s close any doubts about the wisdom of embellishing Nick Drake’s original recordings had been quashed by the sensitivity of the arrangements and the quality of musicianship. The one frustration was the difficulty of hearing John Paricelli’s guitar, initially clear in a bubbling solo on Know and the vigorous Three Hours but subsequently lost behind the piano. That aside, however, the whole evening was a fine jazz tribute to Nick Drake’s melodic vision and showcase for Nick Steele’s empathetic ensemble composition.
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