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Nigel Kennedy

Mikec

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Buckinghamshire, UK
We had a very serendipitous day yesterday. We went up to London for a touristy day, ended up at teh South Bank in the Royal Festival Hall where there was a weekend of Polish music starring Nigel Kennedy (the violinist of "Four Seasons" and bad haircuts fame). I enquired gingerly what the ticket prices were and was amazed to find there were £11 tickets left for a 3 pm concert billed as "Nigel Kennedy's Chopin Super Group" plus guests. They are a combination of Kennedy's quintet, classical musicians and Polish jazz players. The format was that they played a Chopin piece in "normal" classical style and then reinterpreted it. Firstly, hearing Kennedy play any Chopin is a real treat, as, in my opinion, he is one of those musicians who reaches in through your ears, removes your soul, caresses it, and puts it back enhanced. I bought a CD of his some years ago when he was just branching out from pure classical laying and wasn't much impressed, but I have now completely changed my mind. It was a fantastic gig ranging from achingly beautiful, to spine-tingling, to blow-your-ears-off exciting. They climaxed with the famous Polonaise in A flat which they did as a heavy rock number which Led Zeppelin would have been happy with.

Musicians:
Nigel Kennedy, violin; Mateusz Pospieszalski, producer/arranger; Anna Maria Jopek, vocals/arranger; Janus Olejniczak, piano; Robert Majewski, trumpet; Sebastian Karpiet-Butecka, violin,bagpipes and Slovakian flute; Doug Boyle, guitar; Piotr Wylezot, keyboards; Adam Kowalewski, bass; Krysztof Dziedzic, drums; Tomas Grzegorski, tenor sax. There were three unnamed string players from the Orchestra of Life, another Kennedy project.
 
We had a very serendipitous day yesterday. We went up to London for a touristy day, ended up at teh South Bank in the Royal Festival Hall where there was a weekend of Polish music starring Nigel Kennedy (the violinist of "Four Seasons" and ....

A colour and an emotion come to mind here -- green with envy. Casual gigs from famous artists don't generally happen here in Cornwall (where, apparently the rain always 'pushes east' from according to London-based weather prophets).

We make our own entertainment, there are a lot of sheep here. :)

Mart
 
A colour and an emotion come to mind here -- green with envy. Casual gigs from famous artists don't generally happen here in Cornwall (where, apparently the rain always 'pushes east' from according to London-based weather prophets).

We make our own entertainment, there are a lot of sheep here. :)

Mart

It's one of the advantages of living near a big city, but sadly there are few sheep, and pigeons just aren't as cute...
 
Personally I don't like Nigel Kennedy's faux, blokeish persona, but I would never doubt his talent. I saw him come up on stage at Stephane Grappelli's 86th birthday concert at the Barbican in 1994 and they were superb together. Grappelli was still playing brilliantly , despite sittting down as a concession to age. The contrast in styles was great - Grappelli still full ideas but ever lyrical and Kennedy a bit harder edged. It was the last time I saw Grappelli as he died in '97 and although I had seen him several times over the years at Ronnie Scott's I felt rather priviledged to have been there that night.
YC
 
That's amazing value for money music performed by famous musicians all topped off with chicken on a plate all for £11 in London

By the way shouldn't that be on a flat not in a flat>:)
 
Were the Polish contingent anything to do with Kroke? They're a superb Polish trio who Kennedy has worked with before- well worth seeking out in their own right (a gorgeous hybrid of klezmer, jazz and swirly atmospherics.. highly recommended)
 
Personally I don't like Nigel Kennedy's faux, blokeish persona, but I would never doubt his talent. I saw him come up on stage at Stephane Grappelli's 86th birthday concert at the Barbican in 1994 and they were superb together. Grappelli was still playing brilliantly , despite sittting down as a concession to age. The contrast in styles was great - Grappelli still full ideas but ever lyrical and Kennedy a bit harder edged. It was the last time I saw Grappelli as he died in '97 and although I had seen him several times over the years at Ronnie Scott's I felt rather priviledged to have been there that night.
YC

I agree entirely about his persona. I guess it's a cover for stage fright; he's often late on stage, but he is so good a player it's worth the effort. I wish I'd seen Grappelli. If you get the opportunity catch Christian Garrick. He is firmly in the Grappelli tradition and often plays with guitarist John Etheridge of Soft Machine fame.
 
That's amazing value for money music performed by famous musicians all topped off with chicken on a plate all for £11 in London

By the way shouldn't that be on a flat not in a flat>:)

:)))
No, we went back to someone's apartment for the chicken....;}
 
Were the Polish contingent anything to do with Kroke? They're a superb Polish trio who Kennedy has worked with before- well worth seeking out in their own right (a gorgeous hybrid of klezmer, jazz and swirly atmospherics.. highly recommended)

I've just googled Kroke, and it seems not, Jules. A band mentioned in the publicity is Zakopower led by Sebastian Karpiel-Butecka who should be worth investigating. They were all of a very high standard, as you'd expect, and though I know nothing about Polish music, the whole thing sounded to me how Polish music might sound (along with all the other influences). I've been intending to listen to some Polish jazz for some time and I now have some names to look for.
 
Mike - you may be right about the stage fright, but it is ingrained in him now - he was on BBC One Show last week being interviewed and is just the same. Still, as you suggest, you need to look past that. Thanks for the tip on Christian Garrick. I shall look out for him. A new name, although I know of John Etheridge of course. Grappelli would wander round the audience chatting between sets at Scott's. Seemed a really nice bloke.
Interesting Jules' mention of klezmer influence in the Polish band. Some traces of the klezmer tradition can be heard in the playing of white Jewish Americans (of Russian/European descent), particularly clarinetists - Goodman, Shaw - but also in some of Gershwin.
YC
 
These are the guys, superb stuff http://www.kroke.krakow.pl/html_en/main_en.html#
Actually- their website lists the May 30th gig- London, Southbank Centre- "Kroke & Nigel Kennedy"
 
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These are the guys, superb stuff http://www.kroke.krakow.pl/html_en/main_en.html#
Actually- their website lists the May 30th gig- London, Southbank Centre- "Kroke & Nigel Kennedy"

It was a whole weekend of Kennedy and Polish music; they must have been on another time; as I said, we found the gig purely by chance.
 
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Anyone see the documentary on him last night (15th) on BBC 1? Quite interesting. Some of the clips shown were of the gig I went to, and there were others of his gig with Kroke, so hopefully they will make it to TV soon.
 
Just caught the end Mike. Did wonder if it was the same gig. Will have to see if it's on the red button replayer thingy.
 
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