Magic moments delivered by a wizard of the blues
CONCERT ----------------------------------------------------------- Bob Malone Ellington Jazz Club Review: Rosalind Appleby -----------------------------------------------------------
It was just like I’d imagined New Orleans honky tonk piano; US blues pianist Bob Malone cakewalked all over the keys with rip-roaring pyrotechnics that were part skill and part showmanship, often eschewing the piano stool and jumping around like a rock star. Malone was accompanied by his wife Karen Nash on backing vocals and a snappy Sydney rhythm section Mick Malouf (bass) and Andy Burns (drums). The band were tight and hard driving through fast-tempo, New Orleans blues tunes, with Malone belting out scratchy, wheezing vocals over the top. With six albums under his belt and a career built from touring the globe, Malone is well seasoned at connecting with a crowd. But it took a few songs for him to hit his stride. It wasn’t until a solo piano number where his voice deepened and a darker tonality emerged from the piano that his performance became really arresting. In such soul-baring numbers as Ingenue and Butterfly, head-tossing antics were put aside for a far more engrossing melancholic sweetness. Billy Joel eat your heart out. Not that the swinging tunes like Ain’t What You Know and Why Not Me were bad — far from it. Malouf and Burns provided a swinging, rhythmic groove that burned and bounced off the waves of energy Malone projected. His solos were a feast of blues piano tricks mixed with dense repeated textures and the odd Bach and Beethoven quotation, a reference to his classical background. Most numbers came from the most recent album Ain’t What You Know, some with slightly jazzier chord voicings to suit the venue. Beneath the banter and the wizardry Bob Malone revealed a raw and splendidly large heart.
