California Feetwarmers, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Rob Adams FOUR STARS
The selfie that the California Feetwarmers' trumpeter, Charles De Castro took with the Old Fruitmarket audience behind him was to prove to the folks back home that the band had played to the biggest crowd of people ever that liked them. They're clearly not used to responses like this but if you give a full-house of Glaswegians an excuse to party - and take the music to them on a walkabout so that they can almost touch it - they'll show you how they feel. And they did.
In common with representatives of many other traditions at Celtic Connections, the Feetwarmers have their roots in music that predates the gramophone, never mind electronic media. Maple Leaf Rag, coming roughly half-way into their infectiously enjoyable set, was published in 1899.
The octet plays these vintage tunes, and items of their own composing very much in similar vein, with great feeling for the genre. They're enthusiasts who have applied strong musical abilities to an older style of jazz to the extent that it's embedded. Everything sounds natural, there's no contrivance. The rhythm section of tuba, very basic drum set and washboard lays down an emphatic groove. Banjo and guitar lock in the rhythm and the superbly arranged clarinet, trombone and trumpet frontline flies exuberantly but concisely. Every song, including an utterly charming Moonlight Bay, would fit on a 78.
Jimmie Dale Gilmore's Mobile Line (France Blues), with opening act, the Bevvy Sisters joining in the swing, saw them add a more contemporary Texas roadhouse vibe to the sound of, in this case, a Sunday night fish fry so real you could almost hear the fat crackle.
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