Musical harmony on stage

Jazzy evening

An easy evening as Bangaloreans had expected, the Black Dog Guitar Evenings held at a City hotel recently night gave the people yet another reason to chill out.

Featuring four talented guitarists specialising in various genres — Frank Wingold (jazz), Eric Vaarzon Morel (flamenco), Dave Goodman (blues) and Dylan Fowler (finger-picking) —  the concert turned out to be a fantastic one. Though it started extremely late, the guests weren’t complaining as this gave them more time to enjoy their beverages.

Catching up with each other were many socialites, who were dressed in their best Indian and Western wear. First on stage were Dylan Fowler and Eric Vaarzon Morel playing a tune together. Dylan, who specialises in Welsh tunes and Eric, who is known for flamenco, created a magical harmony on stage. Clapping and tapping during the melody, the two had everyone cheering.

 Post this performance, it was time for Dylan to go solo. Starting with a beautiful ballad from Scotland called Black Is the Colour (Of My True Love's Hair), he swiftly progressed to a dance theme.

Eric went solo next and played a few Spanish tunes. The first piece that he played was all about solitary while the second tune was a bit more peppy.

“I wrote it for my wife but since she is back in Europe, this is dedicated to all the ladies present here,” he laughed.  The next turn was that of Frank Wingold, a professor in jazz as described by the emcee. “In jazz, we have ragas too. But they are called as standards and I will be playing one of them for you,” he said as he started playing a beautiful ballad.

Frank then played a slow tune with a funny name — Mr A Is Busy Today, dedicated to his son Anton. He also played a Miles Davis’ classic called Joshua.  Finally, Dave Goodman took the stage and did a fantastic, upbeat piece called Tiger By The Tail. He even joked about it saying, “A tiger’s tail is too strong to be held and too powerful to even let go off.

And this song is about my ex-wife!” Then he played a piece by Jimmy Reed called Insurance. After this, Dave Goodman and Frank Wingold played a piece together post which, the four musicians played a quartet. This quartet formed the grand finale of the show.    

Avinash, a music-lover present at the event with his family, thoroughly enjoyed the show.
“It was really nice and I enjoyed the fast music played by Dave Goodman. The quartet towards the end was totally rocking too. Music is about many people and the last piece was a good assortment of music.”