And just like that, it’s time for the gala night of the Watford Jazz Junction festival! In only its third year, WJJ already feels like an essential and much loved fixture on Watford's cultural landscape, and the gala opening at the Watford Palace Theatre like a long standing and highly anticipated tradition. The fact that several of the festival's shows have already sold out is testament to how quickly our town has taken WJJ to its heart.
The gala evening opened with the blissful Xantoné Blacq. Resplendent in a billowing, colourful cape, wide brim hat and sunglasses, Blacq looked every inch the fashionista. His piano playing and vocal style were an exciting blend of jazz, soul and funk, a heady mix of Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. His first three songs, all originals, were contemplations on love and relationships with storytelling at their core, evoking trips to the cinema and nights full of dance. His charming interactions with the audience coaxed a fair bit of tentative singing along, which really took off when he gave his groovy version of Michael Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel, his voice was perfectly suited to imitating some of those iconic high register MJ sounds. His breath control was spell binding and garnered a round of applause in its own right!
After the interval, Ray Gelato and his swinging band The Giants proved a remarkable contrast. Gelato's Louis Prima style (an early influence from his father's record collection) mixed jive and swing and even a touch of rock ‘n’ roll to create a really rhythmic, vibrant, energetic set.
Gelato's wide smile and open-armed personality turned the Palace Theatre's Edwardian auditorium into a vast living room, with The Godfather of Jazz as our avuncular host. He said the crux of his performance is making people happy, a sentiment pointedly reflected in his optimistic, uplifting set list, perhaps best captured in his rendition of The Best Things In Life Are Free. Just A Gigolo/ I Ain’t Got Nobody was a perfect comic set piece with banter and wobbly vocal lines honed to perfection, and there were occasional moments of poignancy, such as the sultry instrumental version of Cry Me A River.
His original songs really hit the funny bone, as he regaled us with anecdotes about having to go to Youtube to relearn his own lyrics! 'If we listened to the experts, everything they said, forget about living we might as well be dead' was a great example of his sardonic wit and his determination to squeeze every pleasure he can out of life. The second original Bar Italia, originally written as a jingle for his friend's restaurant in Frith Street in Soho, was an instant crowd pleaser with everyone singing along to the catchy chorus.
The request section towards the end of the show had audience members shouting out favourite tracks with enthusiasm, among which choices Gelato ended up giving us Volare, which he said (tongue in cheek) he hadn’t performed in over a decade. He introduced Mack The Knife by reminding us of the difference between that inimitable swing style which we all love and the pop style which stretches and flattens out phrases to a song's detriment. Gelato then gave a masterclass performance, with a knowing twinkle in his eye, bringing Macheath to life with the shortened syllables and stabs of textbook swing style.
A mention must go to the surprise star of the show drummer Ed Richardson who turned out to be an amazing vocalist and gave us a sumptuous swing rendition of Ain’t That a Kick in the Head, and the evening ended with Blacq returning to the stage to join Gelato and the Giants on a gorgeous rendition of Have You Met Miss Jones.
Overall, a fitting opening to the third Watford Jazz Junction festival bringing together so many different strands of jazz style into a harmonious evening of pure entertainment.
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