Edinburgh Jazz Festival
Swing’it Dixieband Play Disney, Rose Theatre
Alison Kerr
3 stars
Saturday lunchtime’s concert at the Rose Theatre, a brand new venue which used to be a chapel, was certainly a popular choice with audiences. Not only did it offer shelter from the rain and wind, but it also provided some child-friendly jazz in the shape of the young Norwegian/English band Swing’it Dixieband which was offering a programme of music from Disney films and other animated movies.
This exuberant seven-piece group, which bounded on stage dressed in the trad jazz uniform of black and white plus straw boaters, also proved popular with young ladies – and this was possibly the first time that an out-of-town hen party has included an Edinburgh jazz festival gig in its itinerary.
Led by a charismatic if slightly cocky Norwegian singer and trumpeter, who sounded like Joe Stilgoe when he sang and had an impressive, swinging trumpet style, the band’s charm, enthusiasm, humour and energy carried them through the hour-long gig and endeared them to the crowd to the extent that they probably brought their own audience to the Mardi Gras in the Grassmarket, which was their next port of call. Especially impressive was the clarinettist whose slightly squawky tone brought the great Pee Wee Russell’s (and the less great Woody Allen’s) to mind.
They may not have delivered particularly great jazz versions of Disney tunes but it was a treat nevertheless to hear the likes of Everybody Wants to Be a Cat (from The Aristrocats), Whistle Stop (from Robin Hood) and Cruella De Vil (from 101 Dalmations) being performed live – and the youngsters present went particularly nuts for the calypso sounds of Under the Sea.
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