Sounds for Spies and Private Eyes at Colston Hall - Live Music Review
Posted on: 2017-03-24
Our rating:
The funky riffs and jazzy grooves of some of filmdom's most iconic movie scores played to a packed house at Bristol's Colston Hall for Sounds of Spies and Private Eyes on Saturday 18th March 2017.
Led by the effusive charm and boundless energy of conductor Charles Hazelwood, he led his Army of Generals string orchestra alongside his ensemble of Jazz All-Stars - combined creating a magnificent musical menagerie of jazz, classical, pop and experimental performers - for a roster of cinema and TV's most influential and identifiable jazz and blues tunes.
One of the many concerts being held as part of the 50-plus gigs across the four-day feast known as the annual Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival, the theme from Mission: Impossible got proceedings off to a suitably rousing start. That was followed by a further 22 legendary sonic barnstormers composed by the likes of maestros Jerry Goldsmith, Lalo Schifrin, Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini and Roy Budd.
Themes from The Ipcress File rubbed shoulders with The Pink Panther and Bullitt, Dirty Harry and The Man from U.N.C.L.E, In Like Flint and Get Carter for a full-on, non-stop rollicking jazz-based rollercoaster.
And - indubitably - James Bond, a theme which required absolutely no introduction and put the musicians, especially the brass players, through a real musical workout, flexing their muscles with a showstopping, muscular and ballsy rendition of this immortal classic.
At the best part of 90 minutes and with no interval, the time absolutely flew by. One thematic masterpiece segued effortlessly into the next with some absolutely stunning, superlative musicianship on display. With Hazlewood at the helm, the evening was given a buoyant, fun-filled boost courtesy of his ebullient, erudite introductions, while his enthusiastic gyrations on the stage would have put Leonard Bernstein's legendary podium gesticulations to shame.
Some extra musical help was given in the form of Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley and Goldfrapp keyboard player Will Gregory, but this was a truly joint, magnificent ensemble effort that got toes tapping, faces smiling and - for audience members of a certain vintage (my dad included) - many nostalgic musical memories evoked.
A dizzying, whirlwind gig that barely paused for breath celebrating a raft of irrefutable film and TV jazz classics, a final encore reprise of the James Bond theme left everyone joyously shaken and breathtakingly stirred. Cracking stuff.
5/5
Article by:
Jamie is a writer, blogger, journalist, critic, film fan, soundtrack nerd and all-round Bristolian good egg. He loves the music of Philip Glass, the art of Salvador Dali, the writings of Charles Bukowksi and Hunter S Thompson, the irreverence of Harry Hill, and the timeless, straw-chomping exuberance of The Wurzels. You can sometimes find him railing against a surging tide of passing cyclists, or gorging himself senseless on the Oriental delights of a Cosmos all-you-can-eat buffet.
