Antonio Forcione gave us a most masterful, joyous and beautifully presented gig on solo guitar and in duo with a drummer who wasn’t there. in the second half, he played Mancini’s “The Cool Cat”, and asked us to imagine that a fine drummer was to his right. The drummer did the intro, then accompanied Antonio. The two traded 4s. At the end when Antonio gestured to his right, we all applauded the drummer. I was sure he was using brushes and Antoni agrees, sticks would be too loud for a solo guitarist.
Let’s amplify some of those adjectives:
Masterful: Antonio is a master of the complete instrument. He uses classical fingering, plectrum, hammering, harmonics, and a wide variety of percussion effects. At times he uses them altogether.
Joyous: The music is amazing It doesn’t mean much if the performer can’t tell a story when he plays. Antonio has soul, and tells the stories.
Beautiful: Presentation is important. Antonio is fun to be with as a performer in our small space. He chatted with us about his coming to London as a young man, stories about Mandela, McCartney and others. We so enjoyed the chat and fun, and he liked the attentive audience, a feature of our club.
Searching for highlights is like finding the best diamond in a pile of them, Antonio’s “Touch Wood” was the most visual and percussive song. He made sounds from every part of the guitar, covering all of a drum kit except for the cymbals. I bet he could do those if he wanted to .
His “African Dawn’ was a tribute to Mandela. This was a great example of storytelling with music. “Alhambra” gave us the profound effect of visiting that marvellous place. He brought back the visit Roberta and I made to Alhambra and the effect it had.
I loved his take on Brubeck’s 5/4 classic, “Take Five”, and on “Come Together”. “I Heard It On The Grapevine”, made famous by Marvin Gaye, is something of an anthem for Antonio.
It was a wonderful gig and we want him back, please.
On the 26th of October, we have Vasilis Xenopoulos and Ross Stanley back, with Simsn Thorpe and Steve Brown. This superb quartet will be giving us the music of Dexter Gordon. Don’t miss it
Take care,
Dave
Brenda made a set list for me: Thank you. I hope I got the attributions right.
Tis a Joy – Antonio Forcione
Tarita – Antonio Forcione
African Dawn – Antonio Forcione
Take Five – Dave Brubeck
Touch Wood – Antonio Forcione
——————
Heartbeat – Antonio Forcione
Come Together – Lennon/McCartney
Message in a Bottle – Sting
The Cool Cat – Henry Mancini
Alhambra – Antonio Forcione
I Heard It Through The Grapevine – Whitfield/Strong
Quanta La Mera – Marti/Fernández