Julian Smith
The Church on the Green, Redditch
MY goodness, this concert was a treat.
Julian Smith may have fans around the world but for many in the audience like myself, he was a blank canvas.
Well it’s in glorious technicolour now and packed full of music delights and images.
Who’d have thought we’d have heard the sultry sound of Besame Mucho in St Stephen’s Church?
Or, for that matter, Rise, the brilliant Herb Alpert’s venture into jazz-funk?
Or Bob Marley’s Redemption Song?
The soprano saxophonist played them all backed by a percussionist, keyboard player and guitarist plus two soloists, Nicole Powell and the excellent Judy Blu who not only sang the Sade hit Smooth Operator twice, but also Besame Mucho.
In between there were movie themes – we started with The Godfather moved on to The Mission and included Titanic, complete with newsreels of the launch of the ‘unsinkable’ cruise liner.
There was Ravel’s Bolero with Torvill and Dean on screen, There’s A Place For Us from Smith’s appearance on Britain’s Got Talent, as well as Glenn Miller’s Midnight Serenade plus many more.
As well as being an exceptional player, Smith showed himself to be quite the raconteur, with tales of his rise through the music ranks and beyond, winning more than a few laughs.
And he wasn’t alone in lighting up the night.
The evening had got off to an exceptional start with Redditch Has Talent winner 2017 Ben Adams.
Ben opened the show with a superb rendition of the Etta James classic At Last before the stage was filled by the young members of The Elite Choir in their first ever public performance.
A new choir from the Choirs Connected stable they were excellent and added a truly festive air to proceedings.
The gig was billed as a Christmas Chillout, a fund-raiser for repairs to St Stephen’s Church.
It may have been freezing outside, and a tad cool in, but the warmth of feeling was palpable.
Events closed, after we’d all sung the Louise Armstrong hit What A Wonderful World, with Rose Royce’s Wishing On A Star.
A perfect end to a perfect evening.
Ross Crawford
Denis Moore, who helped organise the event said: “We’d very much like to thank our sponsors Bristol Street Motors, Sainsburys, Ringtons Tea & Coffee, Hughes Electrical, The Music Shop, The Redditch Standard, The Word Bookshop, Dan Whitfield our compere and Peter Denscombe.”
