Flying

Late-night funk followed at the Jazz Bar. I may not have hung around but Rich and Amelia dropped in and a drink and a listen to the start had us grooving for the first, lengthy set. Let me say, I love funk. I love that deep groove, that repetition and excess and fluency when it’s done right. This was done seriously right by 101st Airborne led by Aki Remally out front on a very sensuous guitar. Think Prince and Jimi, all mellifluous playfulness and speedy excess and soft insinuity. I felt Aki led but the others were no slouchers. Jim on drums was all thuddy stubbornness and occasional unexpected polyrhythms. Richard on keys was tunefulness and celerity, but it’s keys and so without that lubricious voluptuousness that acoustics and strings can do. Tom on bass was just driving and phat and deeply groovy with all manner of techniques - finger-funk, thumbs, slap. The volume was loud. Aki sang once of twice and that was great if somewhat lost in the mix. We were smiling and grooving deeply and had mostly given up on talk given the volume. The dance cast of Matthew Bourne’s recreated Swan Lake (think menacing male swans with the original Tchaikovsky) was in Edinburgh on tour for the week and laughing and dancing on tables next to us. So this was deep, deep grooves with those incessant drums and simple chords of funk and the smeariest of flirtatious guitar. We could only love this deeply. Congratulations to the band and the venue and the effervescent audience even if my ears still offer a record of the night as I write this.

101st Airborne performed at the Jazz Bar, Edinburgh for a late funk session. They comprised Aki Remally (guitar, vocals), Richard Harrold (keyboard), Tom Wilkinson (bass) and Jim Drummond (drums).