... Blood on the Fields Barbican Hall Wynton Marsalis' near three hour work for jazz orchestra and three solo singers has been termed an opera, but perhaps oratorio would be nearer the mark, except that the term conjures up performances of The Messiah. But this is in no way meant to denigrate Marsalis' achieve ment. I am sure that when he feels the time is right, Marsalis is the man to produce an ...

... Jane Siberry Queen Elizabeth Hall If you have heard of Jane Siberry, you will probably have seen her name lumped in with Kate Bush, Tori Amos and so on--women singers with an edge. This pair of concerts, two in one day, was her first in England in, oh, centuries, and it really was a game of two halves. Despite performing pretty I much the same set, the i Canadian, augmented by a pianist, ...

... Blackpool Summer Show Preview Sheffield Stanley Road WMC brought a preview of its summer entertainment to the Dial House, and brought its own enthusiastic club members to join the Shetfield crowd. Many of the acts from other areas, who have taken residence in Blackpool, have found their efforts and talents rewarded. Some of these were on hand, working with the resident duo, the Kingstone Sound ...

... London Jazz Big Band 100 Club In the mid-seventies, pianist Stan Greig formed the London Jazz Big Band. Made up of many of the best mainstream players then active, it endured for ten years. Now, Greig has revived the band and, miraculously, many key members are back on board. The band s welcome reappearance at the 100 Club (the site of its debut back in 1975) was in support of an admirably ...

... Laurie Johnson's London Big Band Barbican Hall Opportunities to see an old-fashioned big band let rip on stage are all too few and far between nowadays, but there still remains a large audience just waiting for concerts like this one at the Barbican. wi important aspect ot com poser and arranger Laurie Johnson's original concept, when he launched this band a couple of years ago, was that it ...

... Little to stick in the memory Cambridge/Touring Cambridge Footlights Revue 1997: Emotional Baggage This year's show was ambitious, with multimedia effects and a gigantic props list, which slowed everything down so that the stage was dark between items for what seemed like minutes. It was modem, with items about virtual reality, family inter action, and the writers had an Ortonesque ear for ...

... BMHS Central Conference Centre Last month's British Music Hall Society meeting kicked off to a fine start with a mixed bill of mainly variety headliners, although this might have been called the Don Smoothey Show, since he not only compered, but drew the raffle and topped the bill. Still. Smoothey is one of those great variety comics who can turn his hand to everything, regardless of the ...

... La Feria de los Cinco Sentidos BAC You have probably never seen so many tomatoes all gathered together in one place in your life. Conceived by Alicia Rios, this riotous extravaganza of food, sounds, smells and textures delivers what its title promises-a fair for the five senses. It really is great fun, esp ecially as the crowd not so much an audience as a group of roving participants loses its ...

... A passionate fascination Jermyn Street Theatre Adieu Jacques At the beginning of his one-man show about the French composer Jacques Brel, Noel Harrison suggests that one of the main reasons he is back on the London stage after an absence of 30 years is because of a dream. Some time ago, when Harrison had cut himself off from the showbusiness world, and was living in Nova Scotia, he dreamt ...

... Blue Sunday Brentford In a cost-cutting exercise, this year's London Blues Festival was in the condensed form of a day of blues by the river, consisting of four American and two British acts. The event got off to a flying start with the solid sounding Mighty 45s offering an imagina tive portion of contemporary powerhouse blues music. New York-bom Steve James, a man who travelled extensively ...

... Martyn Wyndham-Read and Friends Tunbridge Wells For any lover of vocal folk music, this was a real treat at the Trinity Theatre and Arts Centre. From the very first notes it was clear that Martyn Wyndham-Read was on top form--his rich, powerful voice filled with emotion. Many of the songs were col lected in Australia, a country he first visited back in the early six ties. He worked on a sheep ...

... Pride of the Valley Kilmamock At this Palace presentation, the popularity of a Scottish show was thrown into high relief. Pride of the Valley opened to a near-packed house at exactly the time the streets outside the theatre were lined with thousands of townsfolk awaiting the imminent homecoming of Kilmamock Football Club, which had just won the Scottish Cup. Joe Gordon and Sally Logan ...