Afternoon:
8°c
Jack Massarik's rating
Ray stays on the sunny side
By
Jack Massarik
19 Dec 2007
Let's hear it for Ray Gelato, an unfashionable British jazzman who combines the soul of an artist with a crowdpleaser's hunger for applause.
This bouncy Anglo-Italian tenorist/vocalist's role model was Louis Prima, the bouncy American-Italian trumpeter/vocalist who grew up on Louis Armstrong's music and used it to become the king of Nevada's casino bands.
Ray is faithful to these principles, which will be at a premium during his Christmas run in a venue striving to regain its jazz identity.
He featured from classics by Woody Herman and Count Basie to lusty Broadway vocals (Sunny Side of the Street, Them There Eyes) and the occasional sumptuous instrumental ballad such as Stardust.
Three Handed Woman ("she was left-handed, right-handed and underhanded, too") featured solid-gold blues tenor from Ray. "There was no X-Factor when I was a kid," he explained. "You went out on the pub circuit and learned how to play."
He gave young newcomer Paul Booth space to impress on tenor and alto while trumpeter Danny Marsden and trombonist Andy Rogers shared group-vocal riffs.
Throbbing behind them was Jamie Cullum's Dutch drummer Seb De Krom, who couldn't really have been there purely for the money. Recommendation enough.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (1)
The band were much better than expected, he is a great performer and his band were real pro's. Ronnie Scott's also looked great, its a long time since I had been in and the changes were for the better. Only the waitress service let the evening down, very slow, avoided eye contact and unhelpful. Other than that a fantastic way to spend a night out in London.
- Phil Jones, London, England, 21/12/2007 16:32
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