Last night Mr S and I went to see a jazz concert by The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. It was pretty superb and a real treat.

The orchestra was truly brilliant. The unfortunate lack of enthusiasm in the audience reflected more the fact that this was the first time a jazz band has played here (at least for the past six years) and a lot of the audience didn’t know the music, than an actual dissatisfaction. When the band played Quincy Jones’ Soul Bossa Nova (Austin Powers theme tune) the applause ratcheted up.

It was quite amazing hearing Ellington’s Caravan while sitting in the Cairo Opera House. It was probably more incredible the previous evening when the concert had been held at the pyramids. Sometimes I find that Western interpretations of Middle Eastern culture, particularly the romanticism of camels and Bedouin, doesn’t sit well in the Middle Eastern context because it is almost stereotyped, but having just been to the desert on Friday, in my opinion Caravan is pretty fantastic.

It was interesting, however, to see the juxtaposition of American and Egyptian culture. In fact, it was more of a mingling, as the event was opened by the US Ambassador..in Arabic, which surprised more than a few audience members.

The band was accompanied at different times by a singer and two dancers. The male dancer was excellent and it turned out the female was too, but only in contemporary/jazz. There was a real discord however, between the female dancer and the audience. It didn’t help that her performance wasn’t up to scratch on most of her numbers, but the root of the problem was her hair: she didn’t have any. Pop her into a culture where women take great pride in their coiffure, whether it’s covered in public or not, spend hours at the salon whenever possible, where it is probably the symbol of womanhood and she lost her femininity. The audience didn’t warm to her at all and the applause for the dancers was rather muted when both of them were together.

The real jewel for me was leader David Baker. Twice during the performance when the singer was out, he wandered back stage right and hung at the side of the orchestra. For all his genius, he walks with a slight awkwardness. He must have been aware that he was on stage, but he seemed lost in the music at these two points and swayed gently from side to side as though he was both enveloped by and oozing the music. One of the best feelings in the world is dancing with someone who the music flows through and I would have given almost anything to get on stage and sway with him.

If you get a chance to see these guys play, jump at it. Their bios give a hint at their greatness.

Image from program cover i.e. it’s not my artwork - obviously!