Pasadena Roof Orchestra
January 22, 2008
Leeds Town Hall was transformed into a vision of the 1920s and 30s by the irrepressible charms of the Pasadena Roof Orchestra. Specialising in pre war dance band music the band appear in their trademark dicky-bows and tuxedos with orchestra leader Duncan Galloway in rather dapper black tails.
They kick off with a Duke Ellington number (Double Check Stomp?) and while Duncan admits he can’t dance he does put in a nice bit of scat for good measure. Speaking of dance, Irving Berlin’s Change Partners follows, made famous by Fred Astaire, a cheeky tale of romantic rivalry.
An even looser take on relationships appears in Berlin’s No Strings, No Connections, allowing Stephen Shaw to display his prowess on trombone. The crooning continues with a number always associated with Bing Crosby, Some Day, Sweetheart, before upping the tempo with a wild rendition of Sydney Bechet’s Polka Dot Rag.
The beatitude of being in love is richly captured in Berlin’s Isn’t This a Lovely Day and then on to some of George Gershwin’s wit with Nice Work If You Can Get It. We are reminded of the early days of the ‘talkies’ by If I Had a Talking Picture of You, some eight decades before our modern obsession with MSN Messenger!
The unashamed nostalgia continues with Fats Waller’s Honeysuckle Rose plus The Golden Wedding featuring a drum solo in the Benny Goodman style by veteran John Watson. Duke Ellington’s The Black Tan Fantasy and Who Walks Out When I Walk In are performed with great gusto before the group are pared down to a sextet for Avalon.
One last chance for Duncan to prove his vocal capabilities come with the film Casablanca’s As Time Goes By before the band blast out a raucous St Louis Blues for a finale. All four generations in the audience demanded an encore that was granted with the swinging classic Side By Side and, appropriately, Home in Pasadena to finish off a charming evening of excitement and escapism.
www.pasadena-roof-orchestra.com
www.leedsconcertseason.com
20 January, Leeds Town Hall
- Rich Jevons