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On Stage 8.15pm
KING PLEASURE & THE BISCUIT BOYS
Dazzling musicianship, riveting stage performances, more
than 50 TV appearances (including, somewhat bizarrely, five episodes of
Teletubbies) and 75 radio broadcasts have established them as the Kings of
Swing.
What does the title ‘King Pleasure’ evoke? In this context
it suggests eating, drinking, spending money, chasing chicks, having a good
time, overdoing it more than somewhat and explaining the events of the night
before to the judge on the morning after. All apt topics for song and celebration,
especially in these grim times. So much pop music nowadays is full of anger and
violence on the one hand, and slack-jawed stupidity on the other, and so much
contemporary jazz is excessively earnest and glum, that we are in urgent need
of music that comes with a cheer-up guarantee. That is exactly what King
Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys unfailingly deliver.
Sounds easy when put like that, but it isn’t - not to do it
properly at any rate. Any bunch of fools can don zoot suits and pointy shoes
that you could climb a chain-link fence in. It doesn’t take a lot to learn a
few riffs and strike a few poses. But to create the kind of easy swing you hear
on The Wrong Door, the precision and attack of Big Girl, the blend in Bring It
On Baby takes talent, focus and a lot of working together. And when you
experience it live you discover what a real show can be - wholehearted,
full-on, exhausting and unforgettable.
But what kind of music is it? Well, if you’ll kindly lay
aside that list of runners and riders once more, I’ll attempt a brief
historical sketch. Ahem! When the great Swing Era ended, in the mid - 1940s, it
broke apart and the various bits started growing into styles of their own. One
of these dance-hall rhythm and blues, as performed by such names as Lucky
Millinder, Buddy Johnson and Louis Jordan, at places like Harlem’s Savoy
Ballroom. This, I think, is the root of the Biscuit Boys’ style, although their
own distinctive approach has by now developed quite a long way from there.