Jazz asks classical to come and play in an evening of musical exploration
Crossover can be a tricky genre to nail, sometimes not really doing justice to either genre. However, GS X2 at Ronnie Scott’s, the show born of a collaboration between cellist Gabriella Swallow and clarinettist Giacomo Smith, is a seamless melding of classical and jazz that shows how much both genres can learn from the other. The rest of the ensemble consisted of the acclaimed jazz musicians Joe Webb (piano) and Will Sach (bass).
Gabriella Swallow has made a diverse career from exploring a variety of genres, and this freedom and openness translates to her interpretations of classical pieces. The performance opened with the prelude to Bach’s Cello Suite No.1 in G major, the semi-quavers airily blown upwards to the domed, richly patterned ceiling.
Swallow and Smith hosted the evening, and early on mentioned a crucial inspiration for the show: Don Shirley, the American classical and jazz pianist, composer and arranger, whose story was portrayed in the 2018 Oscar-winning film Green Book. Swallow bought a lovely touch of humour with an admission of her ‘deep dive’ into Shirley – which culminated in her getting into correspondence with his daughter-in-law. One of the more impressive deep dives I’ve come across.
Shirley was an astonishing musician, described by Stravinsky as having ‘virtuosity worthy of Gods’. The next piece was a direct homage to Shirley – an arrangement of his medley of the traditional Spirituals ‘I’m On My Way’ and ‘Freedom’. Next came an arrangement of Gershwin’s ‘The Man I Love’: streams of notes poured from Webb’s deft fingers in this sweeping tune, toying wistfully with each tender syncopation.
Bernstein is a personal favourite of mine, so I was delighted by ‘Some Other Time’ from the musical ‘On the Town’, about a sailor in New York on 24 hour shore leave during WW2, who, you’ve guessed it, falls in love – and they’ve only got a brief window to share that love. Swallow and Webb performed this number with the breathlessness and pathos of a whirlwind love affair, magicking the story out of the notes.
Another piece that vividly conjured up a story was Scott Joplin’s ‘Solace’. Starting with the clarinet and piano, the black and white notes became a black and white film in my mind: a bowler hatted man strolling down the street twirling an umbrella, jabbing it with each alert syncopation. In the simplicity of the melodic line, Smith’s command over the instrument was clear – it is in the simplest music where the difference between the good and the great musicians is evident. This command was also apparent in the razzle dazzle of ‘Notes Noires’, where he seemed to lose the human necessity of breathing in as well as breathing out, as notes flew thick and fast.
Nearing the close of the show we were treated to Webb performing his own composition ‘Breuddwyd Cariad’ (translation from Welsh to English: Love’s Dream). Inspired by Liszt’s Liebestraum No. 3, the opening similarly anchors around middle C, pulling all the other notes into its warm centre. The arpeggios hover in the background and the moments of discordance come without warning, like a lover surprised, in a brilliant reimagining of a classical masterpiece.
The only moment of the show that didn’t deliver was sadly the end: an arrangement of Bach’s Concerto for two violins. It was a good concept – to return to a composer Shirley was so passionate about – but the intricacies of the dialogue between instruments felt slightly under-rehearsed. Nonetheless, a sprightly encore ended the night on a resonant note, and to watch musicians of this calibre play with the boundaries between jazz and classical made for a wonderfully exploratory evening of music.
Tickets to upcoming shows at Ronnie Scott’s can be found here: https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show