Malcolm Hammond
Hottest Seat's Big Band Tribute
Adelaide Bowling Club
Sat 17 March
season closed


I'm a sucker for the jazz and swing music of the 'thirties and 'forties, and when I see or hear the phrase 'Big Band', I think instantly of bandleaders like Harry James and Artie Shaw and artists like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. And of course, I think of the large bands or mini orchestras that dominated that era.

Hence, I did have a preconceived idea of what this show was all about. However, doubts began to surface upon arriving at the Adelaide Bowling Club green to be greeted by a barbecue but no bandstand. These doubts turned to concern, when I entered the bar - and still no bandstand. In turn concern became distress when I was ushered into another smaller bar at the south end of the club to find a keyboard, two microphones and a sound/lighting man in front of a computer. This distress became horror when Malcolm Hammond was introduced and walked in and began singing to a backing tape.

Alright, perhaps the phrase 'Tribute Show' should have alerted me and it's my fault that my preconceptions were misplaced. However, there was little tribute on show. Numbers like Bad Habits, You Can Leave Your Hat On, Speedy Gonzalez and Brown Eyed Girl have nothing to do with the era unless Michael Buble has erased its memory - God forbid!

Yes, numbers like Don't Get Around Much Anymore and Beyond The Sea qualify, but Hammond's pedestrian treatments were little more than average karaoke. A couple of 'white wined' ladies at the front swayed as did the sound man (Perhaps it was the bevies?), but the level of enthusiasm at large was muted. Furthermore, while band singers can get away with lame dancing to live instrumental solos, it's highly exposed when you're all alone on old carpet.

When Hammond announced, "We're going to have a short break and then we'll be back with The Rat Pack", this rat packed it in. I'm sorry, but my definition of Fringe allows for rawness if it's accompanied by edge. This was pure precipice.

Mal Byrne