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I had been looking forward to re-visiting Inchyra since I saw Police Dog Hogan there a couple of months ago and the opportunity to see jazz musician, singer-songwriter and comedian Earl Okin was a great reason to come back. This time I was lucky enough to be accompanied by my friend David Murdoch who agreed to handle photographic duties leaving me free to hit the bar where we met Earl himself. We had a nice chat about his music and influences, his beloved Rover 95 car, the comedian Stewart Lee (I’m a fan and Earl is a friend of his) and the role of comedy in music. We chatted so long it was nearly time for the show to start and we had to take our respective seats, Earls on the stage, mine in the audience.
The show started on familiar ground with one of Earls romantic songs, the hilarious My Room which features the first of many spectacular vocal trumpet solos of the evening. He explained to me before the show that this was easy to do, you just have to vocalise a “la la la” sound then close your lips and voila! Instant trumpet! In the solitude of my own flat as i sit and i type this I decide to give it a go. Alas when I try it it sounds more like a broken kazoo and now my neighbours are banging forcefully on my ceiling. I fear Mr Okin was being modest.
The next song was a slinky Bossa Nova standard Corcovado replete with lyrics in Portuguese and English both sung with real heart and soul. The Bossa Nova rhythms gave way to the plaintive chords of Georgia on my Mind, this has been one of my favourite songs since I heard the Willie Nelson version as a wee boy and this version really does the great song justice, particularly the vocal trumpet solo. A switch to keyboard brings a fascinating story encompassing the Harlem Renaissance and the history of stride piano playing followed by Duke Ellington’s Black Beauty, a slow stride piece about singer and dancer Florence Mills beautifully played by Mr Okin.
Next we are treated to a rousing version of My Way with special alternative lyrics reliving Earls pain at the substandard piano’s he has been provided while on tour. He describes one of these as “the nearest thing to a piano… without actually being one”. This leads the Earl Okin of the song to breaking point: “I shout in words obscene, I yell and scream but that’s just my way. They know what I mean. I want a Steinway!”
Earl Okin is also a really great serious songwriter, his songs have been covered by the likes of Cilla Black, Georgie Fame and Helen Shapiro. More recently one of the self-penned songs he played tonight, the lovely ballad Autumn Wind has been sung by James Torme, son of the legendary singer and songwriter Mel Torme. We are then given two performances of the bar room tale One More for the Road. Once from the original perspective of the barfly and again from the point of view of the poor beleaguered barman forced to listen to this drunken bore whining when all he wants to do is lock up and go home to his family.
The show ended with Earl back behind his nylon strung guitar singing Bessie an acoustic delta blues (more turquoise) number that tries to be more realistic with regards to the beauty and proportions of it’s subject. Vindicative, vicious, insulting and above all hilariously funny. “Bessie, Bessie, Bessie, just get off my knee and all the other knees of the men on this bus” is now possibly one of my favourite song lyrics.
Despite all the hilarity there is also some really serious musicianship on show, not least in the epic vocal trumpet solo, with Earl imitating a bewildering array of trumpet techniques and eerily mimicking the sound of different trumpet mutes. Bessie goes down so well with the audience that we are treated to another song about a stately proportioned gal titled Huggin’ & Chalkin’ to bring an excellent evening of music to a close.
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SCBP8th May 2017
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