It was not quite the twelve days of Christmas but more, as Miles Gilderdale would put it, the twelve days of pizza, as smooth jazz super group Acoustic Alchemy arrived home in London England for their now annual extended stay at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Dean Street, Soho. Smooth Jazz Therapy was there for the second night of their twelve night marathon and as they opened the set with ‘No Messin’ from their ‘Radio Contact’ album it was immediately obvious they were already razor sharp from this years thirty four city forty six night tour of the USA made to promote their latest release ‘American English’.
As many already know, the history of the band is varied and complex. Circumstances have seen their metamorphosis from a seriously acoustic unit to today’s mix of melody and funk. A profile of Acoustic Alchemy as well as a comprehensive review of ‘American English’ can be found in the May 2005 archives of these pages but one recurring feature of the band has been the changing line up of players around the central performances of Greg Carmichael and, since 1998, Miles Gilderdale with their hallmark combination of steel and nylon stringed guitars. The current lineup of Frank Felix on bass, US natives Greg Granger on drums and Eddie M on sax with Fred White, all the way from North Yorkshire England, on keyboards is ultra tight and has a combined personality that is huge in entertainment value.
The sound of Acoustic Alchemy really started to change with the May 2000 release of ‘Beautiful Game’ and they reminded the audience of this with their rendition of ‘Panama Cat’ from that album. Of course there was an Acoustic Alchemy before Gilderdale yet the contribution he made alongside the always impeccable Carmichael, as they found time to reach back as far as 1991’s ‘Back On The Case’ for the tracks ‘Georgia Peach’ and ‘Playing For Time’, made it seem he had been there forever. Other featured tracks from the era that predated Gilderdale’s tenure was the excellent ‘Ariane’ from ‘Blue Chip’ and their play out number, ‘Lazeez’ from the June 1996 ‘Arcan Um’.
Of course 2005 is the year of ‘American English’ and on a night that was very much about the band past and present the new CD was on the agenda too. Gilderdale, who was both funny and engaging throughout, provided some nice insights into touring in the USA and, when given the chance, took his scat singing on ‘Say Yeah’ which on the album never grew beyond a ‘bit part’ and built it up into a master class. The band also featured the title track from ‘American English’ but really brought the house down with another cut from it, ‘Detroit Shuffle’. With Gilderdale injecting vocal clips of ‘How Sweet It Is’ and Eddie M blowing up a storm on sax they turned the tune they wrote as a tribute to the legendary Motown backing band the Funk Brothers into a high point of the whole evening.
There was still time for the title track from ‘Beautiful Game’ and, as a prelude to the outstanding ‘Senjo Wine’ from the ‘Aart’ album, for Frank Felix to provide an amusing anecdote of a visit he made to the Caribbean. Their very deserved curtain call number was ‘The Moon And The Sun’ from the new release and so it was that the near sell out crowd, a mixture of passionate fans, Christmas revelers and the simply curious were united in mutual appreciation for one of the hardest working, most energetic and outstandingly talented bands on the smooth jazz circuit.
No doubt they will be back next year but as December 2006 at the Pizza Express currently seems a long way off its worth remembering you can still catch them there this year up until December 23 and on New Years Eve. Acoustic Alchemy will also be part of the 2006 Warren Hill Smooth Jazz Cruise that departs from Fort Lauderdale on January 21. For more details go to www.warrenhillcruise.com
