by Peter Callaghan
Jazz musicians of his “sort” (top drawer, my words not his) don’t perform in Scotland that often and when they do it is usually in less intimate venues at a more costly price. So if you love movies and soundtracks and a feel-good night out, then you’ll love Joe Stilgoe’s Ronseal-inspired Songs On Film – an hour-long celebration of classic theme tunes and long forgotten but instantly recognisable movie songs with one sparkling original in the form of What’s On? from his latest studio album Songs On Film: The Sequel released by the Glasgow-based record label Linn who have produced a string of award-winning CDs by other contemporary jazz musicians such as Ian Shaw, Barb Jungr and Claire Martin.
In between each genre-specific sequence, which range from cartoons and musicals to Tarantino and the Footloose and fancy-free 80’s which is satirised throughout, run a series of short film clips from the “Meanwhile back in the jazz world” cafe in which a variety of movie stars all played by Stilgoe turn their hands (and in one instance Scissorhands) to playing the piano or singing a song. The standout being a muzzled Hannibal Lecter whose unintelligible crooning is reminiscent of and as laugh-out-loud funny as The Monster’s rendition of Puttin’ On The Ritz in Mel Brooks‘ spoof Young Frankenstein. Like much of the show: class!
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/48288410″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
- REVIEW: Orphans @ Edinburgh King’s Theatre ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - 13th April 2022
- REVIEW: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie @ Edinburgh Festival Theatre ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - 30th March 2022
- REVIEW: Sheila’s Island @ Edinburgh King’s Theatre - 2nd March 2022