[Harp-L] Brendan Power and Andrew White (Bobbie Giordano)

[James Thurgood <jthurgood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Just time for a quick review of their show in Halifax
on Friday evening.

Power and White performed in The Music Room, a theatre
of about 100 seats or so, and excellent acoustics. 
White is a top-notch guitarist, playing an acoustic
with pick-up through board, finger-picking with a
rag-time/swing feel.  The two played almost all
original material - a number of White's rags, some of
Power's Irish-jazz fusion pieces, and some of Power's
more experimental or unusual numbers.  In each of
their two sets, White performed solo for a few minutes
then called Power on, and the two performed together,
then Power performed solo, then the two played
together again.  In the second set, they invited up a
young sax player whom they had heard and met the
previous night in a local watering hole.  Robert
Crowley I believe was his name.  He and Power whipped
off an unrehearsed Honeysuckle Rose which was a
highlight of the night, with Power wrapping all kinds
of Fats Waller's variations and improvisations around
the sax.  It was just the two instruments on that
number, and it was captivating ...  White joined them
for a second number.  A little later, fiddler Gillian
Boucher, White's significant other, came up and
spelled off Power to play some original material that
she and White have cooked up, then the three played
together till the end of the show.

Other highlights:  a Balkan-style piece of Power's
creation, played solo on chromatic - specially tuned
for Balkan music; a "fusion" piece which seamlessly
blended Balkan, blues, ragtime, Irish, Tuvan, and
you-name-it; a "ballad", as Power called it - I
suppose I might have called it a "slow air" - that
dealt in a kind of bittersweet melancholy untouched by
most of the other pieces; a straight-ahead Irish reel
written by Power - the only conventional Irish piece
of the night, which was surprising to those of us that
associate the man primarily with Irish music.

Included in this eclectic mix were about three
conventional twelve-bar blues songs, which I felt
didn't have quite the punch of the rest, perhaps just
because they were in such flamboyant company ...

I didn't get a chance to talk to Power; he was busy
signing CDs after the show and I had a bus to catch
...

Highly recommended.  Check them out if you get a
chance.

- thurg

 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 09:34:45 -0500
> From: Bobbie Giordano <bogio@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] Brendan Power and Andrew White
> To: Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> Message-ID:
>
<6.2.3.4.2.20070225085044.04e2d9d0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii";
> format=flowed
> 
> Here's a link to a story about Brendan making some
> appearances next month 
> in Nova Scotia with guitarist/singer Andrew White. 
> It has some nice 
> tidbits related by Brendan himself concerning his
> musical background 
> which many of you might like to read.
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/32xzop
> 
> On a side note for Elizabeth Schulz on this list...
> didn't you say a 
> little while back that you held Andrew White's
> guitar-playing in very 
> high esteem?  If I recall that correctly, you may
> want to check this out 
> and perhaps pick up their co-released CD "Live In
> Ireland" if you don't 
> already own it, and perhaps keep a lookout for
> White's upcoming double CD 
> set about to be released, as well, which are
> mentioned in the article.
> 
> Peace y'all,
> Bobbie
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2007 12:20:11 -0500
> From: Bobbie Giordano <bogio@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Mutation of the Planet
> (Harmonica)
> To: Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> Message-ID:
>
<6.2.3.4.2.20070225144849.04e33550@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii";
> format=flowed
> 
> Also sad to see it go, Ben.  Yours has been one of
> the harmonica sites 
> I've visited on a regular basis over the years.  It
> will be missed, but I 
> have to say I'm enjoying Harmonica Ramblings more
> already anyway!  ;-)
> 
> I can relate, too... my original linkage to the Net
> was via Tallahassee 
> Free-Net, which was one of the first [out of 5, I
> think] in the world, 
> moving from strictly university and governmental
> connections to opening 
> the Internet to public usage.  And, yes, it remained
> FREE all this time, 
> [except for the $10 it cost me to join in January
> 1995!]  Unfortunately, 
> it has also been the sole host for ILUS Harmonicas'
> website and the 
> custom made Renaissance that Doug and I produced,
> but the TFN service is 
> closing its doors permanently as of May 31, 2007. 
> So, I'll have to move 
> my pages, I guess; not that it matters much anymore.
>  Time staggers on.
> 
> Continued good luck with HR, Ben.  I admire the hard
> work you've put into 
> both sites, and will surely continue my loyal
> surveillance!
> 
> Bobbie
> 
> On 2/23/2007 8:36:50 AM, Richard Hunter
> (turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
>  > Ben Felten wrote:
>  > <I have announced this week in an interview on
> the French harmonica
>  > <blog L'Homme et l'Harmonica that Planet
> Harmonica will soon no longer
>  > <exist in the current form.
>  >
>  > Planet Harmonica published a lot of great stuff. 
> Goodbye, Planet
>  > Harmonica.  I will miss my occasional visits.
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2007 19:30:57 -0500
> From: Bobbie Giordano <bogio@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Angie's deduction
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Message-ID:
>
<6.2.3.4.2.20070302183935.04a47920@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii";
> format=flowed
> 
> At 02:37 PM 3/2/2007, Winslow Yerxa wrote:
>  >I grew up in Vancouver and many of my early gigs
> were in strip
>  >clubs, either on the Granville Mall or East
> Hastings.
>  >
>  >And yeah, there were some strippers who really
> liked the harmonica.
> 
> First, I apologize to all for the limited value of
> my usual input, since 
> I don't play out musically, neither harp-wise nor
> vocally, the latter of 
> which I'm more at comfort with anyway.  Also,
> apologies for my repeated 
> references to my former partnership with Doug Tate,
> but that is without 
> doubt the most ingrained part of my harmonica
> experience. 
=== message truncated ===



 
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