Music
SymphRONica
La Belle Angele, Edinburgh
Rob Adams
four stars
SIXTY-plus years on from the first jazz-with-strings experiments, jazz and classical elements can still make an uneasy blend. Scotland’s own New Focus is one group that has successfully brought the two together and the Canadian pianist Ron Davis’ SymphRONica is another.
Davis’ ideas have some resemblance to another outfit that merges differing genres, Portland’s Pink Martini, not least in the way Latin American rhythms are given vivid emotional colour by the string arrangements but also in the light, almost throwaway manner that serious musical ability is juxtaposed with wit.
There may have been an element of putting the show together as we go here – only two of the other seven players onstage actually flew over with Davis – but the music has such a strong personality, and the musicians responded so surely to the aide memoirs from guitarist and musical director Kevin Barrett, that the results were entirely convincing.
The only drawback was that Davis is probably much more used to working with an acoustic piano. Even on an electric keyboard borrowed from the very promising and instrumentally accomplished young opening band, Manchester’s Artephis, however, Davis confirmed his chops.
His own compositions show a liking for characterful basslines, now taking big menacing steps, now waddling contentedly as the string quartet variously converses animatedly, conspires, sighs and improvises, and his arrangements and contrafacts lack nothing in imagination, drama and surprise. Rhythma-Ron, based on I Got Rhythm, featured the strings in brilliant duo and trio conflagrations and just to confirm Davis’ ear for detail and sense of fun, the Muppets theme was delivered as immaculately as the determinedly swinging The Way You Look Tonight.
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