The Edinburgh festival 2004 -- Reviews -- Music -- (J) -- 2 out of 50

(J) 2 out of 50

Rating Guide
None = Unmissable

= Unwatchable
Page number refers to the Fringe programme

Jazz Showcase (page 105)
Drams

Venue Eighty Queen Street (Venue 317)
Address Eighty Queen Street
Reviewer Shona Brodie 6 August 2004

Walking through the formal and subdued main bar and restaurant, this venue has a certain sophisticated touch of class. Taking the steps down to the cellar bar lead you into a well known Edinburgh jazz venue, where throughout the year local musicians get the opportunity to showcase some of their new compositions.

Embracing the Jazz Festival, yet with no formal connection to it, the Jazz Fringe has grown to provide a platform for local musicians to join in on Jazz Festival week across five jazz-supporting venues in the city. Organised not for profit but to bring jazz lovers even more music to enjoy, Eighty Queen Street’s Live Jazz Showcase is on across the whole of the Festival, highlighting a mix of varied musicians from across the world. Located just at the West End of Queen Street this bar/restaurant is on two levels, the top main bar, stylish and a busy after work watering hole, and down into the cellar bar for the live jazz sessions.

This particular Friday’s entertainment was all-original band Head-2-Head, entertaining the crowd with mellow, easily accessible, comfortable rhythms. Arab Strap trumpeter Allan Wylie’s guest appearance lifting it from the ordinary, dragging the laid-back audiences attention momentarily away from their drinks.

An intimate and relaxed crowd of mixed ages, all comfy and crammed into the small venue provided a really familiar, welcoming mood. Everyone seems very into it - the place, the laid back music, and it was clear that you didn’t need to know anything about jazz to enjoy the atmosphere. A very jazz-accessible night, although get down early if you want a seat, it’s clearly a popular and busy night.

Jonathan Prag: classical guitar (Page 92)
Drams

just because it's lunchtime at the cafe Royal, and you can
Music Works by Albeniz, Bach, Japanese composer Yuquijiro Yocoh and others
Musician Jonathan Prag (guitar)
Venue Cafe Royal Fringe Theatre (Venue 47)
Address 17 West Register Street
Reviewer Damon Thompson

Jonathan Prag

For about 10 years now, Jonathan Prag has been a regular performer at the Edinburgh Festival. A mostly self-taught guitarist, and a professionally trained actor, he has often played the part of a musician, and has performed in various musical productions outside of his own show.

The Cafe Royal Bar, at lunchtime, with a choice beverages and comfortable seats, provides a very relaxed atmosphere for a classical guitar solo performance. When Prag emerges wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, with his guitar tucked under one arm, it is easy to imagine that perhaps this is not a classical guitar show at all, but
something completely different.

Prag is a very versatile guitarist, and this is reflected in his choice of an eclectic programme: there are works by Albeniz, Bach and Japanese composer Yuquijiro Yocoh. It is when playing the more contemporary pieces, however, that Prag's performance really comes to life: Waldron's instrumental blues, Left Alone, is performed with a perfectly melancholic manor, and Prag injects just the right amount of energy into Rodriguez's La Cumparista - the popular tango being the biggest crowd pleaser.

When not playing, Prag speaks intelligently, and at length about the music, introducing each piece from a historical and personal perspective. This goes a long way in assisting the audience to identify with, and appreciate pieces that otherwise might not be that easily accessible.

To his credit, Prag manages to make light-hearted dismissals of the more than occasional, and rather irritating, disturbances coming from the surroundings. His concentration never seemed disturbed, although the audience's attention may well have been. (This is perhaps something for the venue to consider for future performances.)

This is a very enjoyable performance, and despite Prag's very brief encore at the end, it is all over far too quickly.

© Damon Thompson. 24 August 2004. Published on www.edinburghguide.com

Run J6-18; 20-30 August 2004 at the Cafe Royal

(J) 2 out of 50


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