MUSIC REVIEWThe Wally Fields Jazz Orchestra/ Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

Sep 29 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

COMPOSER, bandleader and pianist Wally Fields, another hometown boy made good, returned to Liverpool last night for a one-off concert entitled Swing Time with Gershwin.

His orchestra first played the Philharmonic Hall, to much acclaim, early in 2007 to mark the city’s 800th birthday, and it was for Capital of Culture year they returned.

An established name on the jazz scene down south, Fields has made a concerted effort to make it up to Liverpool, and his pride was obvious.

He gave credit to conductor Paul Eshelby for bringing the concert together so wonderfully with just mere hours of rehearsals (the multi-talented lot have a myriad other musical commitments).

The evening began in earnest with some classic and irresistible swing standards, including Benny Goodman’s Sing Sing Sing and Cole Porter’s Love for Sale. Then some of Fields’s own compositions took centre stage, beginning with the premiere of Born to Dream, a tribute written especially for and about Liverpool, and ending with a final movement sung excellently by tenor Elliott Goldie, borrowed from the Royal Opera House.

It was followed by his profoundly moving and intense piece Partizan, and the modest but dedicated audience hung on every note of the musical riches that kept coming.

After the interval, it was a programme of Gershwin all the way.

Fields’s vision has been to play the composer in the grittier jazz style his work was intended, saying it has been somewhat polished up over the years for classical audiences.

Sharing responsibility at the piano was James Pearson – a man who likes to keep busy, as he plays classically with Manchester’s Halle Orchestra as well as a residency at Ronnie Scotts, where he is musical director.

His competency and excellence in both genres shone through as he got to grips with the complexities of Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, and the spine-tingling finale, the third movement of Gershwin’s Concerto in F.

VICKY ANDERSON