Reviews
Gary Potter with the Matt Holborn Trio (January 10th 2018)
GENIUS OF DJANGOLOGY - GARY POTTER AT THE CASK January 2018
In this age of hype and hyperbole how simply wonderful to find somebody living up to an immense reputation. Swing guitarist Gary Potter is in the flesh everything the reviews and videos suggest he might be – a genius of Djangology!
The moment he took the stand and jumped straight into a full-on version of All Of Me the roof was lifted on The Cask, Scarborough’s gem of a Wednesday night jazz club. Immediately we were hearing the legendary Django Reindhardt, transported in imagination to the Paris of the late 30s and 40s and the Hot Club where continental swing found its spiritual home.
Sadly, Gary’s arrival had been delayed by traffic holdups but the Mike Holborn Trio were a star turn in themselves, playing exuberantly a full set of swing standards, Indiana, Stars Fell On Alabama and China Boy, for example. A deeply moving I Surrender, Dear will remain long in memory, Matt showcasing his virtuosity on the swing fiddle, tugging at our heartstrings while plucking the violin in one passage of rare bravura. Kourosh Kanani, on guitar and Dave o’Brien, bass, both rare talents, made the most of the opportunity to take extended solos before the great man’s arrival.
In the second set, Gary swung magnificently across a good selection of music associated with Django, including of course his best-known and most frequently recorded composition, Nuages, now perhaps the classic of the gypsy jazz repertoire, Minor Swing and the haunting Russian folksong Dark Eyes. If Gary was Django then Matt was legendary violinist, Stéphane Grappelli, to the very life and it was a joy to hear the two of them exchanging solos and extemporising on each other’s themes.
Playing the eternally beautiful I’m Confessin’, recorded memorably by Django in 1935, they brought down the tempo and simply caressed the melody – before swinging out with an uninhibited Sweet Georgia Brown.
Jazz nights don’t come any better than this, which was fit to grace any of the world’s top venues. And that’s not hype!
Yorkshire News
