Kathy Dyson & Deirdre Cartwright (gtrs.)
Until tonight, I could count the number of top class women jazz guitarists I've heard on two fingers and both only on record.
Mary Osborne's solo on Coleman Hawkins' "Spotlite" - recorded back in the 1940s - struck a chord, if you'll pardon the pun, then some years later Emily Remler caught my ear on a tribute to Wes Montgomery CD.
Tonight, not only was that number doubled, but Ms. Remler was also brought back to life by two of her devotees.
Kathy Dyson and Deirdre Cartwright are both superb players albeit with contrasting styles that, nevertheless, compliment each other perfectly.
Kathy wordlessly 'sing's the lines she is playing to great effect. When playing chords it creates the illusion of a 12 string whilst her solo flights sound like horn and guitar in unison - very effective.
Deirdre, despite using the unusual fourths (E-A-D-G-C-F?) tuning, played more in the tradition of Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis and was equally effective. Wes' "West Coast Blues" had her moving into Montgomeryland.
Most of the tunes were associated with Emily Remler apart from a piece written by Kathy and dedicated to one of Sunday night's virtuosos - Jim Birkett. This was an intricately woven tapestry that required wall to wall manuscripting - it did Jim proud.
"All The Things You Are" reminded me of MJQ. The interplay between the guitars could have been created by Milt Jackson & John Lewis - that's how good it was.
I could wax eloquent forever but instead I'll quote Roly who summed it up to a T - "Delightful".
'nuff said!
Lance.
PS: More guitar tomorrow at The Cluny with Jez Franks as part of Loz Speyer's Time Zone - should be quite a contrast.
Dear Lance, thank you for your review of the Emily Remembered gig on the 'be-bop spoken here' site - it is much appreciated. We thoroughly enjoyed the gig- it was like playing in someone's front room amongst friends.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments and support. I've put a link up on the front page
ReplyDeleteof my website.
All the best
Deirdre