With a stage full of guitars and an ever increasing reputation, the virtuoso jazz guitarist Remi Harris and double bass player Tom Moore played a set that ranged from the music of Beethoven to jazz standards and Jimi Hendrix.
The music shifted from softly played ballads to roof-raising blues, while the almost telepathic interplay between guitar and double bass had to be heard to be believed.
The duo have played together all over the country for many years – the quality of their playing and the thought that went into the arrangements showed through the entire concert.
They started with a delicate reading of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, adding a jazz ambience and timbre with string vibrato that got uncannily close to Judy Garland’s voice.
They raised the tempo for the standard Honeysuckle Rose, Fats Waller’s familiar piece finding favour in the audience.
I’ve Done My Bit, a soft filigree original written for Remi Harris’ late grandmother, suited the grandeur of the surroundings, before another jazz standard, After You’ve Gone, once again lifted the tempo.
The first half finished with a medley of Peter Green songs, including such well known classics as Need Your Love so Bad, which featured a fine opening from Tom Moore. The medley also featured the almost folk strains of Man of the World.
The second half was slightly more highbrow with an opener of All of Me, before the duo’s arrangement of the second movement of Beethoven’s eight piano concerto showed how wide their musical interests were spread.
They also played the haunting Embers, another of Remi’s originals, before closing the concert with a medley of electric blues guitar songs.
Another Peter Green piece, Albatross, moved into Jimi Hendrix’s Little Wing – the playing ranging from soft chordal playing to high register, distorted bends and vibrato, all matched by the inventive and supple double bass playing.
The inevitable encore was a swinging version of Freddie King’s Hideaway, which showed how hard the duo could rock without a drummer
Remi Harris often plays in the local area, and for any fans of jazz music and the guitar, he is name well worth seeing.
