It's extraordinary to imagine that here in New Zealand we can be but two to three times removed from the greats in history.
Julie and I attended a house concert on Wednesday night featuring Nigel Gavin (Guitar) and Richard Adams (Violin).
The venue was the Trussler Residence a stylish Mediteranian styled holiday house located in a landscaped exotic palm filled garden on the scale of a miniature Holywood mansion. The house was commissioned by a couple of wealthy internationals whose love of the arts leads them to open their home to the arts community.
The performance was most enjoyable something akin to an intimate evening listening to Al Demiola and Jean Luc Ponty. I exaggerate not! these guys can really play.
In the audience was none other than the great Russ Garcia with his lovely wife Gina.
Richard introduced a number early in the performance with a story about the writer "Smile" by Charley Chaplin. Richard impishly asked Russ if he had ever worked with Charlie Chaplin. Gina replied that he had regularly done so!
Later Nigel confided to the small audience that his mother who was living for some time alone in California was wooed by Charlie for some time, though by then his attention was unwelcome. "He's just too old for me" she said.
It occurred to me then how closely interwoven our relationships are.
I was invited to accompany Richard and Nigel for several tunes on my one string bass (which I have to confess I felt quite nervous about).
The audience was made up of well dressed, conservative looking folks, middle aged to elderly. My appearance with the string drum caused some consternation among them until the first notes sounded.
My response to music I had never heard before was informed by years of improvising with Nigel in the Jews Brothers Band. It wasn't long before I had the measure of what was being played and I settled in to the rhythm.
At the end of the first set we were surrounded by members of the audience who were astonished at the instrument I was playing. Russ Garcia himself came up and commented on the intonation that was possible though he was at a loss to explain how I could accurately pitch such a primitive thing.
By the end of the concert and after 3 encores the audience went home feeling very satisfied. Before Russ and Gina left Russ came up to us and he said, "You guys make me feel like a dinosaur, you've taught me a lesson in humility" High praise indeed coming from a man who has arranged music and worked with the likes of Frank Sonatra and Ella Fitzgerald!
If you can go and see Nigel Gavin and Richard Adams wherever they may be playing.
Harmen Hielkema
