Dance for the King, Darlington Arts Centre
2:40pm Friday 10th April 2009
BY HIS own admission, Middlesbrough- born musician Paul Donnelly finds words hard but that hardly matters when you can make an instrument sing in such an expressive way as he does.
Dance for the King takes its title from one of the many songs in this travelogue of a concert, in which composer guitarist Donnelly shows how, on journeys around the world, he has absorbed traditional exotic styles and used them to produce tunes with a contemporary feel.
Backed by a three-man ensemble on percussion, bass and guitar, and with the appearance of a dancer for several pieces, he moved with apparent effortlessness through different tempos and tunes across several genres.
A revision of this apparent effortlessness was called for in the second half, when he swapped his faithful old acoustic guitar for an electric one and gave a virtuoso account of dramatic finger tapping with the right hand while the left extracted a complicated melody on the strings.
Amanda Gregory, dancing barefoot in the first half, injected a narrative element, expressing youthful exuberance in a fast-paced opening number, suggestive of wind in- the-hair, open road freedom, while in the following song, her movements took her down to floor level in a more languorous and reflective interpretation. Her Dance for the King and flamenco foot tapping in heels were equally elegant and eloquent.
There was professional backing from Mick Wright on guitar, brilliant hand-drumming from Bill Pamplin, and rich toned rhythmic support by Neil Harland on bass.
The numbers were put together with a nice awareness of mood change, but overall the concert offered a cheery feel-good factor that was very welcome in these downbeat times. Pru Farrier
Dance for the King, Saltburn Community Theatre, 14th September 2007
Taken from Guy Donegan-Cross for Talk of the Town magazine
There are nights when the desire of a band to take an audience to a unique place, and the will of the crowd to be led there, come together in a special experience of harmony. When that happens the music gains a life of its own as players and listeners find the wall between them taken down. Live music, on a good night, can have that kind of power the power to make life seem richer and deeper.
In a sold out house in Saltburn Paul Donnelly and the "Dance for the King" band delivered one such moment. If the debut of these original pieces created any nervousness among the band it didnt show, as from the opening notes they steered a confident course between tight musical structure and improvisation.
From swirlingly intense salsa rhythms, evoking hot nights in Spanish villages, to ice cool moments of stillness, each note reverberating in the air, the music never fell into the ordinary. Donnelly and his band (Mick Wright on rhythm guitar, Neil Harland on double bass, and Paul Smith on percussion) dont so much play their instruments as have a relationship with them. They are jazz musicians in the finest sense able to sit back and let the music do the work not dominating, but co-operating. Not performing, so much as sharing their joy in playing with the audience.
Donnelly, as composer and lead player, skilfully holds the rudder, whether creating the sense of a full scale orchestra emanating from his guitar in a striking solo piece, or weaving a musical path in and around his band. Occasional banter with the audience amuses and includes everyone, but not at the expense of the flow of the performance.
The music on its own would be enough, but alongside the passionate and sensual improvised dancing of Carly McAvoy, it manages to create a kind of transportation of the senses. McAvoy's performance is one moment triumph, the next moment tease. You are the king, and this performance is for you.
You leave the theatre after two hours feeling as if you have been allowed a privileged insight into a world where sound, colour, life and joy have been allowed to spread wings. Youve been coaxed into life, youve been soothed, youve been smiled upon. "Dance for the King" is a royal variety performance. Guy Donegan-Cross