Candlelight Night another success!
Starting the line-up was Julie McKee with her own brand of sorrowful lost-girl lamentations, including a polished set of staccato-sprinkled keyboard-etudes (or attitudes?). Her red stiletto-stabs at hopeless situations and alphapower-driven relationships were exquisitely presented and expectedly well applauded. I was taken in by her sweet, melodious voice which had the ring of a lonely nightingale. Should she not still be playing with china dolls? The tragic reality of her lyrics was reflected in the twinkly lights of the make-belief chandeliers above our heads, and was also verified by the ever-changing faces toing and froing through the constantly swinging exit-doors in the background. The room as glass-cage enhanced the nostalgic feeling of her songs and made the scene almost surreal. A wall of applause followed her performance.
Then, Sailfish was longingly calling out, full of desire to be with 'Marianne' and the audience was humourously captivated, wanting to hear more. They put everything into the performance, finally ending up in jail, where the security alarm was screaming out and there was no happy ending with the woman of their dreams. Just in their song, of course, but it hit a note with the crowds.
Already with a firm set of supporters in Essex Nava Cross came to woe the Colchester audience with their lively country rock and soul-inspired tunes. In the end they had everyone jigging on the quiet and secretly touching the light. (The wine and spirits probably helped numb the pain as our daring fingertips were being dipped into the candle wax.) Being a girl with a romantic heart, the number I enjoyed most was an accoustic love song which sounded like a mixture of Robbie Williams and David Gray, soo smooth. 'I thought you learned, . . .' In the end it was not only wax that melted, - it was also nearly my camera which was running and overheating in the bag while I was too engrossed in the performance. Great stuff, come again, always welcome, lively and well rehearsed.
Headlining and last of the evening was Jazmine Ava with songs from her album CD, as well as some rocky new ones, including 'Set me on fire', inspired by a chunky rhythm and a vibrant sax solo, and 'Mystery', a catchy song which calls out for openness and understanding in a love relationship. (The tune might just follow you and wake you up at night.)
The new Taylor guitar performed well and Geoff played all the heartstrings , with Ken's bass churning the beats into shape and Matt teasing the drums into perfect and timely submission as usual. Jos' violin rounded up the sound. The sensation of the night was Leana with her starry saxophone, showing us an elegant and effortless dance across the majors and minors, her instrument blending in creatively with the others and her nimble fingers impressing us with those courageous arpeggio skills. Several gutsy solos invoked extra loud cheering from the audience, - that's how good it was.
Everyone was set on fire by the evening and several encores confirmed that it had been a full success. The Riverlodge as venue was highly appreciated by everyone and thanks to a manager with flexibility they were able to pull it off. Very grateful. There are plans for a repeat on May 27th and hopefully more in the summer.
A DVD with 3 different songs from the night (J.McKee, Nava Cross, Jazmine Ava) is available for £ 2.00 from Jazmine Ava.
copyright : alf black 2009
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