Victor
Bailey Concert Review
17th
July 2009 – Malaga, Spain.
Now and again
a chance to see a great concert comes up and this was such
an occasion.
Each year Alhaurin
de la Torre in Malaga, Spain holds El Porton Del
Jazz Festival where jazz greats perform at a moderate
cost to the public.
Included in
this year’s billboard was bass great Victor Bailey
of Weather Report fame.
We arrived at
the venue with plenty of time for some light refreshment
before the show started. Thankfully the organisers had scheduled
the show to start at 22.30, as in Spain July can get very
hot during the day.
The venue itself
is a small open air amphitheatre tucked away in the quiet
of Alhaurin de la Torre. I must say it was a comfortable
venue with great acoustics and a well set stage.
Soon enough
after a thunderous announcement over the PA, the band came
onto the stage to great applause. Victor however came on
holding a cane and was helped onto a stool by his band mates.
We later learned he’d been in some sort of an accident and
hurt his leg and one of his ten fingers. He joked the other
nine where ok though.
This didn’t
stop him from putting on a show stopping performance. Armed
with his signature edition 4-string Fender Jazz bass, Victor
went through a whole range of styles, encompassing Jazz,
Funk R&B and more.
I especially
enjoyed the smooth “Kid Logic”, an arrangement of
George Clintons “Knee Deep” and “Slipping and
Trippin” a new tune from his next album to be released
soon (inspired by his accident perhaps?).
Victor’s influences
are quite apparent in his songs, with his slow soulful numbers
reminding us of his Weather Report era and his funkier numbers
deriving influences from artists such as George Clinton.
The Victor Bailey
band was composed of the following musicians.
Victor Bailey:
Bass
David Gilmore: Guitar
Poggie Bell: Drums
Peter Horvath: Keyboards
After the show
the band took the time to meet and great anyone who so wished
and we were able to speak to the great man himself and obtain
an exclusive signed CD.
We look forward
to his new CD as long as his PC technician doesn’t wipe
his hard drive again as he explained to the audience during
the show.
By Ernest
H Slade
****************************************************
Some Links
to Explore:
Artist Site
: http://www.victorbailey.com
Venue : http://www.portondeljazz.es/
Fender Bass : http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0196800821
