Leaving home with the prospect of little play at the Cricket to listen to due to early on set of Autumn and having chosen music over the hit and miss entertainment that England’s football team provides at Wembley, I headed for Ronnie’s Bar, Upstairs at Ronnie Scott’s with high expectations based on my first experience of six great acts in the heat of early August. Not knowing which bands where playing lead me to answer the question at the door as to whom I was their to see with – “you’ll have to tell me”…
| The leather jacket and battered bowler hat of the front man of the openers – Human – set my expectation of the set towards the rockier end of the spectrum you’d expect in a venue with the Jazz heritage of Ronnie Scott’s. That shows that you shouldn’t judge a band by their dress code – the mellow sound of Human was brought about by a smooth acoustic guitar and clever lyrics. Unfortunately the only further information I have about the band is a link on myspace. That web site is showing it’s age – lacking any mesh into the rest of the social network cloud. Google also draws a blank – maybe Human as a band name is too generic even for the magic of Google to find more information… |
| Next up were the Irish/American Reardon sisters and their band Maud in Cahoots. The combination of a Tuba, Cello, Violin, and Keys - with the occasional use of a glockenspiel brought a soulful sound to the venue with a hint of pop and motown. Then they added some Jazz to their set as a homage to the venue roots - for me the best part of a set full of highlights. |  |
 | The pace was then picked up by Alex Vargas, adding the element of rock I’d expected at the beginning of the night. Offering a more raw sound than the previous acts. I can see why Alex has become a regular on TV Nights line up – he bridge the gap to the headline act well warming up a growing audience. I needed my fisheye lens to get all them members of the headline act into the picture... With nine band members I wondered if Professor Penguin could produce a coherent sound – in my experience too many musician can spoil the effect – they pulled it off with great success by each being specialist. A better approach than individuals switching instruments which I’ve seen spoil the continuity of a performance in the past. |
With a brass section, three guitars and two percussionists plus keys and requisite MAC book, Professor Penguin are able to produce an almost orchestral sound – add great vocals from multiple members of the band and the enthusiasm of the packed venue is was well deserved. Their self produced album Planes will be on my list to investigate... Their set was delayed in the hope that some late arrivals would be able to over come the one out one in policy needed because the venue was full, no such luck, as evening was going too well for many to want to leave… Another evening of great live music – the lacklustre win at Wembley by a team paid more each month than all the performers present on Ronnie’s Bar could hope for in a career, confirmed I’d made the correct choice. |  |
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