This evening's entertainment got underway with The Mike Walker Trio
Mike Walker - keyboard,
Pete McGregor - bass/ bass guitar
Bruce King on drums.
This trio picked up the 'Best Band' at The Variety Artists Club November awards night, and I could hear why. Their performance throughout the evening was flawless, very smooth - not a jarring note to be heard. This band has been together for a long, long time. Their introductory numbers were gentle jazz. Later, Bruce swapped his bass for a bass guitar to back Ray Woolf. Now these things both have 4 strings but that's about the only similarity - you need to play differently fingered on the guitar as it has frets but the bass does not. He made it all look so easy.
The band was bathed in coloured light - the strings and drums had warm pinkish hues while the keys were greenish. I'll leave you to imagine that.
Barbie Davidson opened. She is obviously beloved of the patrons and is making a return to the stage parting with 3 fingers. She wore a stylish lacy top with a specially tailored long lacy glove to match - it looked great. Very feminine. Barbie's first number was 'I'm Walking', followed by 'On a Clear Day', a tune made popular by Cleo Laine.
Then a piped light jazz hiatus allowed raffle selling, drinks/food purchasing and general chat. You've seen those TV shows where club patrons sit at their tables with drinks etc while the entertainment proceeds at the front. Well, this was like that. Having tried several tables and being told the seats were saved, I concluded that this was the sort of gig where you need to bring your own cronies.to sit with. I don't give up easily and a pleasant couple let me sit with them. Maybe folks lose that spirit of meeting new people and making new friends as you get older and just want to be with their own friends for a pleasant evening out. Fair enough. This was a mostly 50s+ audience. I was half expecting Winston Peters to pop up!
After quite some time, Ray Woolf appeared and introduced his first number 'You Make Me Feel So Young', launching into it with great gusto.
Full volume and right on tone from the first note - nothing feeble about this 67 year old! He has been on location filming a movie hence his new short-back-and-sides haircut. (Even shorter than in this picture). It suits him - just think Martin Shaw as Judge John Deed with even shorter hair and a slightly thinner face and you'll get a pretty similar image in your head. If you can't, click the link!
Ray gave us 2 30 minute sets, with much reference to singers who had previously sung the numbers and mention of Auckland's past jazz scenes which brought back fond memories. Places I hadn't thought of for years, like 'Montmartre' and 'The Embers', where one smuggled in many an alcoholic beverage concealed in a paper bag, surreptitiously pouring it into purchased soft drinks. Post baby Boomer New Zealanders would never understand the liquor laws of the 60s. I enjoyed my trip down memory lane, and I suspect it would have brought back similar images for a large part of the mostly seniors audience.
Ray gave us a selection of swing numbers, from 'The Sunny Side of the Street' to 'On the Street Where you Live'. Being a bit of a novice when it comes to the proper terms for things, I'd call this Light Jazz. In other words, pleasant songs that everyone senior most most of the words, just slightly jazzed up. Easy listening. Ray is a seasoned performer still at the top of his craft. His voice is robust. He makes good use of all the stage area, delighting the ladies with a foray into the audience with 'The Very Thought of You'. I hope I move as well when I'm 67.
There was much finger and toe tapping and body swaying in the audience. Half a dozen dozen pairs even got up to dance during the 2nd set - those drinks breaks having loosened things up and done a power of good. Some pretty lythe movers amongst them too, with one or two of the pairs even remembering how to rock and roll properly. The ladies loved it all, and the blokes looked like they were pretty pleased with the evening too.
This was an evening where everyone had a good time. Ray had plenty of quips. He wore a dark blue shirt with a tie in the first set, changing to a red open-necked shirt for the second half. His tongue-in-cheek remark was that he was being even-handed, given that it is election week and he wanted to be fair.
If you get the chance, go see Ray Woolf and the Mike Walker trio. I promise you'll have a feel-good time. It might be billed as jazz, but it's at the end of the scale where you will know the tunes, most of the words, and will be without flights of fancy into unknown discords that can make jazz a terrifying challenge.
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