The Legend of Barney Thomson

Barney Thomson is a Glasgow barber.  A dull man leading a dull little life, and content to do so.  He is at the beck and call of his monstrous mother and has no real friends, just a job he enjoys.  Until events turn against him and Barney, quite accidentally, becomes a serial killer.  How can he dispose of the bodies and keep himself out of the clutches of the police?

Cue Cemolina, the aforementioned mother, to come to her son's rescue.  Sort of.  Along the way the barber learns things about his past, and his mum, that he'd rather not know.  Meanwhile the police are as incompetent at their job as Barney is at being a murderer.  Who manages to foul up the least?

Robert Carlyle, in his directorial debut, takes on the title role, and is perfect as the social misfit who was confused enough by life before he found himself an unintended criminal.  He has the look of a man who knows he'll be found out eventually, even when he hasn't done anything.

But the real star is Emma Thompson, heavily aged and looking as rough and tough as any Govan wifey, as the mother from hell.  She plays this, for her very different, character with obvious glee and great comic timing.

The subplots involving the police are the weakest element of the film, verging too close to caricature at times, and descending into farce towards the end.  Ray Winstone is unconvincing as the Londoner on the Glasgow force with the less than plausible backstory.  Ashley Jensen doesn't quite nail the laughs, and only Tom Courtney shines for the boys in blue.

Despite these flaws Barney Thomson is great fun and had the audience laughing out loud.  Mostly at Thompson who is truly wonderful.  Far from perfect, but very, very funny.

Oh, and do hang around to watch the credits rolling.  There are few outtakes to finish off with.

Aidan O'Rourke, Spiegeltent, George Square

A gig of two contrasting sets.

Support came from Sarah Hayes, best known as a member of Admiral Fallow, here performing solo, just voice and keyboard.  While her playing is beautifully fluid, the arrangements were kept simply to allow the vocals to shine through.  Hayes has a charming warmth to her voice, and great clarity of expression.  Important when the lyrics are so crucial to the performance.  A mix of traditional ballads and contemporary songs, the emphasis was on story telling and there were a few dark tales in the set.

I liked Sarah's introductions to each song, providing context for the stories and reasons why her own interest had been sparked.  It's a nice way to create an intimacy with her audience and adds to the richness of the individual pieces.

Aidan O'Rourke, famed as a member of the magnificent trio Lau, builds his pictures using sounds, not words.  The opening number was a solo piece, just him, fiddle and sampling box.  Building up a carefully cadenced stack from his strings he proceeded to create an atmospheric acoustic wall that echoed and faded and grew around us.

Which set the tone for the rest of the evening.  Joined on stage by the excellent Graeme Stephen on guitar and John Blease on drums, together they played some very recent O'Rourke compositions, plus one which he'd had commissioned for last year's Commonwealth Games.  The latter was probably the only point in the set that could be said to have anything conventionally recognisable as melody and rhythm.

The newer numbers are all about creating soundscapes, building up a density of noises over which sudden riffs appear, surprising directions are taken, unpredictable beats occur.  There were times when each member of the trio appeared to be working to a different score, only for them to come back together and the individual departures made sense again.  It's about as far removed from pop music as you could imagine and all the better for it.

In counterpoint to the intensity of the music, O'Rourke's gentle demeanor introduced something of his thinking when he'd been composing, and provided a decently amusing tale from his recent experiences.  Just an ordinary guy, but a remarkable music creator.

Bearded Gypsy Band, Spiegeltent, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

Four young Australians who started with an apology.  They weren't a jazz or blues band, they didn't play gypsy swing and they didn't sport much in the way of beards.  Yet what, at first, sounded like a fairly conventional rock band turned out to be anything but.

Whilst most of their material was self penned they also covered an American country song and a Django Reinhardt jazz standard.  There are a wide range of influences in their music and they clearly have eclectic tastes.  Fronted by a whirling, shoeless fiddle player, there were strong jazz traits in many of the arrangements, the guitarist delivered some fine solos on both acoustic and electric axes, and the solos from an androgynous bass player, and a drummer who looked like she was having a whale of time, would have drawn applause in many jazz clubs.  And kudos to the guitarist for serving up a complex bit of finger picking despite a broken string, impressive stuff.

A largely up tempo set, there was one beautifully melodic slow piece, but even the rockiest of numbers brought surprises, with frequently changing pace and some clever percussion.  And how often do you hear a rock song that breaks off for a bit of pizzicato violin?  The balance is heavily in favour of instrumental work, with the vocals, shared among the three guys, being more competent than inspired.  That's incidental really, for what I left remembering was the energy and imagination of a band that is clearly going to keep developing and improving.  I hope they're back in Edinburgh next year.

Here's a clip of them in one of their jazzier moments.

Bevvy Sisters, Tron Kirk, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

A bit of banjo, a bit of uke, and some very tasty guitar work.  But the Bevvy Sisters are really about the voices.  Over ninety per cent of which delivers some soaring solos, heavenly harmonies and bouncy backing vocals.  And the remaining percentage?  Some pretty decent patter.

The Bevvies feature Heather Macleod, Gina Rae and Cera Impala belting out the songs, and the bass voice of guitarist David Donnelly adding real depth to the mix, the four tones combining beautifully.  Together they bring a wide range of influences and leads to a constantly surprising choice of songs.  From Stevie Wonder to spirituals to Patsy Kline, there's a constant delight in the twists being applied.  If the sweetness of the sound ever fools you into thinking you're listening to a reincarnated Andrews Sisters, then a few seconds later there will be a counterpunch that reminds that there's much more to this band than sweetness, whether that be vocal fireworks, that awesome bass voice or just something daft.

The Bevvy Sisters are a thing of beauty.

Moishe's Bagel, Spiegeltent, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

A five piece band on fiddle, piano, accordion, bass and percussion, playing a mish mash of musical styles.  There's flavours of Eastern Europe and the Middle East, influences from Russia and North Africa, high quality jazz solos and even a bit of a Geordie folk tune.  The results of this mixture are heart stoppingly astonishing.

Quite unlike anything I've seen before, this is a band playing with awareness, intricacy, collaboration, imagination, fascination and passion.  Melody and tempo are constantly changing throughout numbers, each piece a new mood, a new story.  The musicianship is as good as you'll see, and it always feels like they are prepared to take risks to procure the end result.  The fiddler is flamboyant, full of fervour and feeling, there was a stunning passage of jazz piano and an amazing bass solo.  But my eyes were constantly drawn back to the percussionist, who added so much to the complexity of the overall sound.

Although their styles differ greatly, the density of the arrangements and readiness to head off in different directions frequently reminded me of the mighty Lau - and from me there is no higher praise.  Moishe's Bagel have a new fan.  Here's a bit of what they deliver.

Rose Room, Spiegeltent, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

A gypsy swing band based on the oft-imitated model of the Hot Club de France.  A solid guitar and bass rhythm section, a top class lead guitarist and occasional vocals, and wonderful Seonaid Aitken on fiddle and lead vocal.  Seonaid is an incredibly talented musician performing across classical, folk and jazz genres, and this was the first time I'd had the chance to see her leading her own band.

Mixing thirties standards with their own compositions the band delivers a top quality exposition on the art of gypsy jazz.  The instrumental solos are luminously imaginative and often of dizzying speed, whilst the interplay between the two lead instruments was at times delightful.  My favourite moment featured a pizzicato exchange between fiddle and guitar in which it became increasingly difficult to determine where one ended and the other began.

On top of this Aitken sings with a voice of surprising purity, a wide range matched by perfect articulation (even, it seemed, in French).

If you have any love at all for the music of the great Grappelli and Reinhardt then Rose Room will not disappoint.  Here's a bit of what they can do.  Sublime.

Footnote to festival organisers.  Put the start and finish times for ALL gigs into the programme.  If your customers want to pack a few gigs inTO an evening they need this information to avoid becoming double booked....

King Louis and the Primas, Spiegeltent, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

A tribute band of sorts?  The blurb said this was an act dedicated to the music of Louis Prima, but that wasn't really the case.  No trumpeter for a start!  Nevertheless this is a band showcasing the mainstream jazz of the era when Prima was in his prime, the nineteen forties and fifties, and as such offers predictable and kinda comforting fare.

So we got jazz standards like Fever and That Ol' Black Magic, songs that are both old fashioned and perennial.  Musically the band is highly competent, if largely uninspired.  But there were some decent solos, especially from piano and harmonica (played by the wonderful Fraser Spiers, a man we've seen before playing with the late and incomparably great Tam White).  The three front men, who played sax, trombone and that harmonica, took turns to deliver lead vocals.  It was a shame that the singer who took on the role most frequently was also the poorest of the three voices.

But enough carping.  This was more for fun than serious music, and that's what we got.  The band got the audience involved in the singing and clapping along and the tunes were infectiously foot tapping.  An enjoyable hour that did what it said on the tin.

Orkestra del Sol, Spiegeltent, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

A nine piece Edinburgh band with a wide range of musical influences and a strong emphasis on everyone having a good time.  The Festival programme says they mix 'ska, porro, calypso, klezmer and funk'. And maybe they do, but as I had to look up a couple of those I'm not the person to say yay or nay.  However I did spot a bit of classical influence in there, some real old Dixieland jazz and a bit of swing.  In other words, OdS have developed a distinctively OdS style.

What they've also developed is truly great live act.  In an eclectic mix of black and red costumes they make use of the entire stage with choreographed movement and sequences of physical comedy.  Ever seen a man pull an iced biscuit from his sousaphone and have a swift snack?

The music is joyous, raucous, infectious and frequently unpredictable.  A mixture of brass, reed, accordion, fiddle and percussion, everyone is given their chance to deliver solos and demonstrate their talents, a fine bit of trad jazz trumpet being one highlight, and some amazing sounds from the aforementioned sousaphone shone out.  The fiddler doubles as lead vocalist on the few songs, as well as becoming lead clown and master of ceremonies.

Led on by the onstage antics, the crowd were encouraged to sing and dance and just generally have the best time they possibly could.  If there was the odd moment when the standard of the music slipped a bit this could be easily forgiven for the sheer joy and fun and energy the performance punched out.  It often reminded me of a de-folkified Bellowhead, but with a far greater sense of theatricality.

If you want a music experience that leaves you feeling just a little bit more alive then Orkestra del Sol is as fine a choice as you could find.

Stefan Grossman, Spiegeltent, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

Considering the high quality of the music on offer, and the amusing content of the tales which accompanied it, this was a curiously flat occasion, lacking any real passion or excitement.

Grossman has a sky high reputation as one of the world's great blues guitarists, as well as being an accomplished music teacher.  From the off he acknowledged the portion of his audience who were to study his technique and see what they could learn for their own playing - and that most of these would be men in their sixties and seventies!  He then proceeded to, affectionately, take the piss out of them for the remainder of the gig.

He talks to the audience a lot, even over his own playing at times, in a quiet, calm, chatty style that draws you in.  Stories from his own musical past, illustrations of the varying guitar styles he was exposed to in early life, and frequent explanations of what he was doing and why.  The latter mostly aimed at the nerds of course, but put across in simple enough terms that even a musical ignoramus like me could follow most of it.

It was impossible not to be impressed with the technical ability of Grossman's playing.  To get bass, rhythm and melody simultaneously from just those six strings, and to make it look so easy, is a mark of musical genius.  And although his singing voice lacks range, he delivers lyrics in a conversational style that is very distinctive.  But the music was just a bit too one-tempo throughout, apart from an excellent sixties medley as the final number, and for the ordinary punter it could sometimes get a bit dull.  I saw a few yawns around the room.  Grossman is more of a musician's musician than an entertainer.

One for the afficianados.

Mike Whellans, Tron Kirk, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

I wonder what it's like to realise that you have vastly superior physical coordination skills to those of other human beings?  That's not something I'll ever know, but I'm guessing it must have dawned on Mike Whellans at some time or other.  The phrase 'one man band' paints pictures of clown-like characters with cymbals strapped to their knees and a cacophony of sound.  But this man is the real thing, delivering a great sound and an incredible visual experience.  Even several hours after the event I still find it hard to believe what I saw.

The right foot hammering out a rhythm on bass drum, the left working a hi-hat, hands on the guitar, mouth blowing harmonica and belting out vocals.  Whellans is truly, as the publicity blurb says, a one man blues band of startling quality.  His voice might not be especially distinctive, but it has enough grit in it to be an effective blues vehicle.  While his harmonica playing is top notch and full of imagination.

Mike plays drums with dance bands and produced a magnificent tribute to some of his favourite jazz drummers.  With only a harmonica, a microphone and some unbelievable vocal dexterity.  Quite where he managed to breath during this number was hard to spot.

The music is linked by the skills of a natural raconteur and the audience were given plenty of laughs to enjoy.  For a couple of numbers Whellans was joined on stage by an old friend playing electric mandolin and he added some fine solos on top of the complexity being laid down by the man of many parts, as well as leading the audience in providing some backing vocals.

It would be easy to have listened to, and watched, Whellans for at least twice as long as the hour we got.  Genial, admirable and superbly accomplished, if you get the chance to see him do grab it.  And get close up to the stage, just to be able to watch the technique and energy of the man at work.  He's 71 now, but looks to have many, many years of performing still ahead of him.

We emerged from the Kirk with one thought in our heads.

Wow.  Just wow.

Here's a sample of what he can do.

Bandakadabra, Spiegeltent, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

Zany is an adjective that seems to have fallen into disuse, but is also the best word to describe the band we went to see today.  Bandakadabra are an eight piece outfit from Turin playing swing type jazz.  Trumpet, alto sax, trombone, tuba and two tenor sax, plus a couple of percussionists with snare and bass drums, and cymbals.

Unusually, they line up the drummers up centre front and the others in a semi circle behind them.  Perhaps because they are both highly entertaining to watch, and that the wee man with the big drum does most of the talking.

Entertaining is the key here, and these guys are as much showmen and comedians as they are musicians.  From the first moments they build up a strong rapport with the crowd had a packed Spiegeltent with them throughout.  Facial expressions, body language, mime, play acting, a broad range of physical comedy techniques are deployed both between and during numbers.  And their posing for photographs routine, which drags in audience members, is hilarious.  Towards the end they have us singing, and up on our feet dancing (even me....).  Fun is the key to a Bandakadabra gig.

Whilst the musicianship is of a very good standard, the mix of material majors on the upbeat, and there were some excellent solos, I left without buying the proffered CD.  For all that the playing is tight and the interplay effective, the arrangements aren't sufficiently memorable or musically imaginative to make me feel that this was something I'd want to play again and again.

But as a live act?  Unmissable.