Willy Zygier and DeborahConway @ Basement, Sydney

Mon 21st Jun, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Arriving early to see Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier perform tracks from their latest album Half Man, Half Woman was a good idea, just not quite early enough.

With all the best seats in the house taken by the dinner-show patrons the bar stool seats and standing area was filling fast. Squeezing myself into a seat and settling in to watch I realized that it was actually a cozy venue, not in any sinister way, but rather a very intimate way to listen to some of the best blues/roots/folk/jazz music I have heard live in a long time.

With the dinning floor’s tables already occupied with people enjoying what looked to be a lovely pre concert dinner, the mood was already jovial. At the back towards the bar there were just as many people enjoying a quiet drink or two before the show.

When the lights dimmed to the typical ambience that is expected with jazz (dark and moody reds, blues and greens) Billy Zygeir took to the stage, guitar in hand and opened the concert with a solo before a word was spoken. He then introduced Deborah Conway, who the crowd welcomed with an enormous applause.

The first set introduced their new album, Half Man Half Woman, with just Willy and Deborah playing a duet for their first song. To a second round of huge applause Shannon Birchall and Tony Floyd joined them onstage (double bass and percussion respectively).

Throughout the performance, Conway enlightened the crowd with amusing anecdotes from how the songs on the album (and previous albums) came about. Her dry sense of humor had the crowd laughing when she introduced Take Pity on The Beast. Certainly for me this was the most outstanding song of the night. An eight minute blues ‘n’ grass roots song that commented on us as humans and how each human differs, from a slightly comical view.

The second set played a lot of older music, mainly from the album String Of Pearls the most memorable being It’s Only the Beginning it had all the audience singing along and received a massive applause. It was good to see that although this was the release of the new album, she still delighted her fans with renditions of her most famous of all songs.

There was hardly a whisper to be heard from the crowd during any of the songs. A rare delight at concerts these days, and I put it down to how intently the crowd was listening.

The concert ended as most jazz concerts do… with an encore. And what an encore it was, out of nowhere James Valentine was introduced as a special guest for the last couple of songs. Whipping out his saxophone he joined the foursome in what only can be described as a breathtaking short set of jazz delights. Transporting us back to a time when it was the done thing to acknowledge other talents in the crowd, even giving u a fantastic little solo to boot.

Check out the photos from the gig here