Monday, October 30, 2006

Little Jimmy Scott - Everyman Palace, Cork

This weekend was the Guinness Jazz Festival weekend in Cork, and I went to see Jimmy Scott play in the Everyman Palace last night.

I'm not a big Jazz music fan. It's an area of music I just never got into. I'm sure there's loads of jazz I would like, but I never really know where to start - and here's the real problem: a lot of jazz is instrumental.

I need a voice in music to keep me interested. And if any voice is going to keep you interested, Jimmy Scott's will.

I found a great article on Jimmy Scott that's worth reading if you don't know who he is.

The support were a group called Five Play, and they were great. The thing with jazz is I sit there knowing that the musicans are really talented and playing really well, but I'm bored. Until the vocalist starts up. The vocalist in Five Play (who are all women) is a Portugese singer Maria Anadon, and she has an incredible voice.

I am very grateful that she was such an amazing singer because, through no fault of the band, I would have fallen asleep otherwise. Apart from finding instrumental jazz boring, the heat on the balcony of the Everyman Palace is crazy. Something seriously needs to be done - air conditioning or at least some kind of fan system is badly needed. I love the balcony in the Everyman because it's a great vantage point and the sound is great up there, but having been to several plays and gigs on the balcony the heat is a real problem.

Anyway, on to Jimmy Scott. Scott's band came on first and expertly bored me with what was probably an excellent instrumental number. Then Jimmy Scott was helped on stage. Scott is 81, and seemed to have some difficulty walking - walking somewhat awkwardly with a wide limp but at the same time with an oddly sprightly gait.

When Scott began to sing his voice also is an odd contradiction - incredibly fragile and yet definite and strong.

A hormonal disorder, Kallmann's syndrome, is responsible for Scott's unique high pitched voice, often described as haunting, but it is not just the quality of Scott's voice that makes him unique - his timing and phrasing of songs and his obvious love for what he is doing also make his music irresistible.

The aforementioned article puts it like this: 'No one sings slower or farther behind the beat than Jimmy Scott; his long, melismatic flights freeze conventional time'

Jimmy Scott himself seems frozen in time, speaking unapologetically in the jazz-speak of a fifties hipster adds to the slightly surreal quality that lends itself to the cool of Jimmy Scott.

A lot of the jazz classics have fairly obvious (and well known) rhymes, and singing as slowly as Scott does and with such elongated pauses (often before the last word in a line) you might think that the song would become predictable and tedious. Not so - Scott's style means that you know what's coming and you are savouring the moment he sings a word or line before he ever gets to it, in the same way you might look forward to a planned holiday for weeks beforehand.

I was not overly familiar with Jimmy Scott before going to the gig, only knowing him from the Twin Peaks 'Fire Walk With Me' soundtrack (where he sang Sycamore Trees') and Lou Reed's 'Magic and Loss' album.

I was not disappointed - Jimmy Scott is a legend. You know it as soon as you see him - he emanates legendness.

Scott sang a handful of songs, classics such as 'Pennies from Heaven', 'Embraceable You', and his original hit from the fifties 'Everybody's Somebody's Fool' - all given the unique Jimmy Scott treatment. He then took a break and let his band bore me with some more instrumental before coming back to do another handful of incredible songs.

It was a short enough gig, one got the feeling that the legend was not up to singing for longer. Scott left the stage to massive applause and cheering which did not let up even when the house lights came up.

Scott's piano player came out and explained that while they were hugely grateful for this reception, they had to look out for 'the master' and there wouldn't be an encore, but on behalf of Jimmy Scott he thanked us.

There was an immediate standing ovation, which was incredible really considering there was to be no encore, but Jimmy Scott had completely captivated the audience and there was huge love for him in the applause. On hearing the response Jimmy Scott looked out from backstage and came on stage one last time to wave and bow.

If you get the opportunity to see Jimmy Scott live, grab it.