Take Me Back To Paris
Louise Blackwell @ Nexus Cabaret
5:00pm, Sun 27 Feb 2011
After the bliss that was Urban Soundscapes, I was left to muse on why I had initially missed that in The Guide… and yet managed to pluck Take Me Back To Paris out of the Music category? I mean, I adore French cinema, and the accent is lovely, but I know nothing of jazz – or Lou Blackwell. At this stage of proceedings I was definitely starting to second-guess my selection mechanism.
Blackwell performed with The Bruce Hancock Trio (Hancock on piano, bassist John Aué, and drummer Yuri Markov) and, despite looking initially awkward onstage during the solos granted by the jazz style, managed to charm my little socks off. Mid-tempo numbers were separated by Blackwell’s missives from her extensive time spent in France. She talked music – of course – but also waxed lyrical about cinema and food and general street life, delightfully veering en français on occasion (even dropping a gentle tu versus vous joke in there for French thickies like me :)
As mentioned before, I have no real grounding in jazz – but the rest of the sold-out audience seemed to love it. I found it all very soothing: warm, lush notes gently washing over me as Blackwell purred most of the songs in French, and the Trio were suitably slick – but without detracting from her presence. So, all in all, I’d have to say that this pick turned out to be a bit of a success – a little outside my usual fare, but very much appreciated.