Apollo Big Band conjures up that Old Black Magic

Apollo Big Band with vocalist Steph Richardson at Sutton Hall, Stockcross on Friday, November 4. Review by GAVIN WILKINSON

The band chose Sweet Georgia Brown as their opening number, with just the rhythm quartet swinging into the intro passage, then the band sections taking it in turns through the ascending fourths.

Steph Richardson chose Orange Coloured Sky for her first vocal, as ever completely at home with her band, and emphasising the doubled-up lyrics. Clearly in excellent voice, she took That Old Black Magic at a good tempo, swinging around some extra high notes with easy confidence. She is a very inventive interpreter of a wide variety of material, performing with ease in a multiplicity of styles.

Steph used her lower register to sultry effect with a change of tone on Mad About the Boy, closer to Dinah Washington than Noel Coward, and sung over a gentle 6/8 tempo.

What a Difference a Day Makes started with just the bass accompaniment and no chords, so Steph sensibly took a moment to ensure she was in the correct key.

The band played an interesting variety of arrangements. The deceptively simple three chords of Green Onions gave James Hearn the opportunity to experiment with a mute, creating a wah-wah trumpet effect, then a somewhat jokey trombone passage from Martin Holstead. The instrumental Straight No Chaser has tricky cross-timing that challenges any band, but tonight was tight and right. A lush, multi-harmonic arrangement of Bluff Point had George Wicks counterpointing the rhythm on guitar throughout.

Chick Corea was a prolific neo-jazzer of the 70s, however Spain is atypical of his output in that era. Rob Maycock, giving his last performance with the band, captured the Iberian theme with his Fender Rhodes-sounding piano solo. The staccato phrasing was played by the whole band with the practised precision that is their hallmark, with a complex, soaring solo from Lorna Mountford, here equally proficient on flute as baritone sax.

Steph sang a lighthearted version of the fast jump-jive swinger Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens, scatting unison phrases with the band and creating a real 1940s vibe.

With The Very Thought of You, she let this great romantic classic do the work, while Carly Simon’s 1970s iconic pop song Nobody Does it Better acted as a dramatic vehicle for Steph’s powerful interpretation over the full strength of the big-band arrangement.

A fast version of I Will Survive, with lots of Gloria Gaynor overkill, was her theatrically assertive encore, with Neil Armstrong finding the highest note possible on his trumpet.