Remi Harris

Remi Harris
Remi Harris
The jazz guitarist Remi Harris, bassist Mark Green and guitarist Kevin Birch played a masterclass in music-making when they appeared as part of Lichfield Arts Blues and Jazz Festival.

Their set-list encompassed the lighter side of the genre and songs made famous by such acts as The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Fleetwood Mac, as well as a number of pieces that were more textural in nature.

Can’t Buy Me Love was introduced at a fast pace and showed just how adaptable the music of Lennon and McCartney is, while Jimi Hendrix’s spacy electric instrumental Third Stone From The Stone was delivered as an acoustic jazz reverie.

Harp guitar sounds and harmonics introduced the well worn Somewhere Over The Rainbow, which showed a certain amount of musical telepathy between the three players, before Mark Green was allowed to show off his musical pedigree during a solo which featured in the jazz standard Pennies From Heaven.

A change of instrument and sound led to the electric element of the set, which start with funky blues and some lithe rhythmic interplay, before the famous blues bends of Need Your Love So Bad, a song written by Mertis Jones Jnr, but best known for its version by Fleetwood Mac.

Standards from the school of gypsy jazz also featured, as did more songs by the Beatles, such as And I Love Her, its romantic nature provided by colourful rhythm guitar, while an acoustic, instrumental setting of Fleetwood Mac’s Oh Well breathed new life into a familiar piece.