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Review
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| NZ Tauranga Review | 24.04.06 |
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Dutchman gets Kiwis singing gospel JAZZ FESTIVAL: BLUES SHOW Not many of the 300 or so people who filed into the Baycourt Exhibition Hall for the Montana Jazz Festival’s Blues Show would have expected to end the night singing and clapping along to a gospel song. Hans Theessink the world renowned A-list blues man wanted a bit of audience help with his performance…he wasn’t going to let everybody just sit there an enjoy it…no way. He had been told beforehand that New Zealand audiences don’t sing and they don’t usually clap along and they certainly don’t howl like dogs. His answer to this was “…if you ask them to in a foreign accent, they will”…and they did. Hans (an Austria-based Dutchman) could have done nothing else but sing and play his songs and the audience would have gone away well treated. His guitar playing was pretty much technically perfect; his voice had a (somewhere near baritone) smooth rich timbre; he alternated between six an 12 string guitars (playing them in a variety of tunings); he blew some wicked harmonica; he did the “John Lee Hooker” percussion thing with his feet…what more could we want? Nothing really but Hans wanted more for us….he wanted us to feel part of the show. He certainly didn’t need us all wailing along to make him sound good and we were pretty reluctant but he didn’t give up (even after several pathetic attempts on our part) but at one point, described our half-hearted groaning as “sounding like you’re at a funeral”. A few songs down the track and we were cracking along almost with gusto (heaven forbid, we are Kiwis after all). There were still more entertaining elements to his performance…between songs (and during) we were given some interesting blues history (Hans has had extensive personal inter-action with a string of name-droppable blues legends) then there was the humour…Hans is a funny man in a deadpan way. His hilarious description of the outfit worn by the legendary Rufus Thomas (Funky Chicken, Walkin’ the Dog) which included a fluro green top, spangly/sequined shorts and “furry boots that he bought in New Zealand” was priceless. The songs were a great mix of blues, folk, gospel and Theessink originals, all delivered with passion and verve…..with us singing choruses. Hans was joined for the encore numbers by the Self Righteous Brothers (Derek Jacombs/Nigel Masters) who had started the evening with a short but very enjoyable set. The globetrotting Hans and his lovely wife will be in Vienna next week but Hans did say he will be back but did also say that it might take a couple of years….we’ll be waiting! Mike Butler, BAY OF PLENTY TIMES (NZ) Saturday April 15.2006 |
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