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THE IDEA for this record came up after a gig at the Glamour Bar (the posh bar co-located with the M on the Bund
restaurant-with-a-view), where we performed three nights back in
February, with a repertoire combining French songs and jazz ballads.
We
recorded live the performance for the second and third nights, and we
were quite pleased with the way we played and with the reactions of the
audience. It was especially groovy on the last evening, when we finally
got our musical act together, in front of a room packed with many friends and probably the whole jazz-loving French community in Shanghai.
Unfortunately
the sound balance of the recording was not as good as expected, with
the bass almost lost in the background. clinking noises of glasses and
forks (M on the Bund is a restaurant, after all !), loud conversations and occasional laughters.
So
we decided to record again in the quiet environment of our rehearsal
studio (a.k.a. the basement of Paul's house at Sunridge Villas). But
how to re-create the excitement of the live performance, not to mention
the roaring applause at the end of each song ?
Easy
! Just invite all our friends over, and make this a live studio
recording. And here we are, by a wonderful late spring evening, singing
and playing our favourite songs for our friends.
We
explained them the whole concept before starting the concert, but one
can notice that the audience is more intimidated than us at the
beginning, and the clapping is rather shy on the first few songs. After
a while though, it starts to rock, and by the time we get to "All Blues" and "Route 66", the two very bluesy closing tunes, the groove is quite cool ! |
