While The Priory rocked to Turin Brakes and the Castle & Ball thundered to Ray Harris’ fusion of funk, soul, latin, jazz, The Doors and everything else that forces you on to the dance floor, Marlborough Rising’s theming of venues allowed the music to complement the surroundings in every case. St Peter’s offered an intimate setting for the audience to embrace the jazz and blues sounds of Pete Gage and Jim Blair, whilst St Mary’s enabled Tina May to bring the music of Edith Piaf to life in the grandeur of Marlborough’s classic church which dates back way beyond the middle ages.
Sue Round was in the St Mary’s audience to hear Tina May sing Piaf:
St Mary’s Church was transformed into a little piece of France and the world of Edith Piaf as Tina May and her band took to the stage on Saturday evening September 8.
The rags to riches story of Piaf born 1915, daughter of an acrobat and who became a street singer, was told through her songs. Tina May’s mellow and poignant performance gave voice to some of Piaf’s most famous songs : ‘L’hymne à l’amour’, ‘La vie en rose’, ‘Milord’ and of course, ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’.
Frequently moving from French to English lyrics in one song, Tina explained how the triumph of the human spirit could be found in Piaf’s songs. “She knew about tragedy and how harsh life was but you have to dust yourself off and keep on going.”
Joining Tina were a trio of hugely talented jazz musicians, Nikki Iles on piano, Karen Street on accordion, Julie Wilkington on double bass.
This was Tina and her band’s first performance in Marlborough. It was David Dudley who persuaded them to take part in Marlborough Rising. David Dudley told marlborough.news, “We are very honoured to have Tina here.”
“Piaf,”said Tina, “conquered the American public with her utter sincerity when she sang”. In a similar manner Tina captured her Marlborough audience.”
If you missed Tina and her band their performance schedule can be found here – http://www.tinamay.com/maydates.htm
Below is a long gallery of pics from all of the Saturday evening performances. Scroll down right to the bottom of the page to see all the thumbnails, click on any to enlarge, and if higher quality copies of any pics are wanted e-mail info@marlboroughnewsonline.co.uk
See also other Marlborough Rising coverage:
Friday
Saturday – emerging talent
Marlborough Is rising: Friday’s opening fills the town with music
