FESTIVAL
err/to"
V CABARET '
The Steel thing
Mark Steel trots into the ('ity Cafe.
. l HITLIS j
i Klan Morrison recommends I j the shows you go into when g T it's still light and come out ' i of when darkness has
jdescended.
: I A Dybbuk For Two People The man who was Krishna in Peter Brook‘s
dressed in his jogging gear. sweat pouring off him and downs a glass of orange juice in seconds. (‘ity Cafe? Jogging gear'.’ Orange juice'.’ Surely this is no way for Britain’s funniest member ofthe Socialist Workers’
3 magnificent .lfalmb/iuruiu ; brings to Edinburgh a play ; inspired by Yiddish folk
7 stories from pre-war
i Russia.
.‘l Dyhlmk For Two
Anyway. we sit down in Edinburgh's
.Steel as the conversation
, strange not to respond so quickly.
" People (I-ringe) Bruce .llyer's. .‘l ssenibly Rooms (Venued‘) 22!) 4349. until
i 5/ Aug (nol2i). 27). 8pm. l
' [7.50 ea. 5)) (£5. 5!) £0.50). i
Party to behave'.’
OK. so the (‘ity (‘afe was my idea. and Steel regains credibility points by carrying a copy of'l‘homas Paine’s The Rights ofMan. but I never asked him to run up Arthur’s Seat.
trendiest of bars only to fall into the company of three self-confessed alcoholics (not that they were required to confess. you understand). ‘lt's nice to be nice.‘ interrupts alcoholic number one. ‘Yeah. it is nice to be nice.‘ agrees
degenerates into the inevitable round ofmoney-cadging.
This is back in July. and by the evening. Steel has already worked the incident into his hilarious Counting l louse set. his native (‘ockney accent effortlessly slipping into the idiosyncratic slur of the Edinburgh drunk. Modest to the last. Steel insists that he would find it '
‘It depends on what happens.‘ he continues. ‘You can't improvise
j I Kith and Kin (‘ombincd about the wallpaper very much. Last
l
i
rock and folk roots make for a manic hoedown evening from one of Scotland’s best young hands.
Li W and Loud (Fringe) Kit/1 and K in. I’ringe ( 'luh
War. Steel promises a new set of less topical material and songs - pub piano pastiches — for his Fringe set. ‘You‘vc got to talk about things that people are thinking about.‘ he says. ‘I could do a thirty-minute lecture on the Socialist Workers’ Party. but it wouldn't be very entertaining. (‘ulture and politics are linked. but they‘re not the same thing. 'l'hat‘s why Ben Elton irritates me. He thinks if you get up and make a political point that is political comedy.‘ (Mark Fisher)
I Mark Steel (Fringe) (iilded Balloon Theatre (Venue 38) 226 2151.21—31 Aug. 9pm. £5 (£4).
night it was quite chaotic and some of the lads in this office leaving party were well pissed up. and I really enjoyed it because you had to 1 improvise. Also there‘s the place. it‘s Edinburgh and I can do the accent or * whatever. I feel quite let down il’l i see a performer and they‘re not ' there. They‘re doing their act. but they could be anywhere.‘
Having gone through an overtly political patch in response to Mrs Thatcher‘s resignation. the Birmingham Six case and the (iulf
. . . . . slug. 9pm. £5.50 (£4.50). ‘lt s a frame of mind. he argues. ‘Sometimes I see comedians and I think they must be bloody useless socially; they take no account of the situation. The place could start burning down and aliens would land and they‘d carry on doing the same set.
family comedy. it ain't. Birmingham comedian who isn't Jasper (‘arrott say s some naughty but lextremely funny things at ithc l’lcasance.
l Frank Skinner ( Fringe)
i l’ieusunee (l’enue 33) 550 :6650, unril 3/ xi ug (no! E29). 9pm. [a £6.50
habit, although it vas not until 1973 that he emerged on the world jazz
Granz's already stellar cast, working both as leader and with the big names ~v oi the stable, notably Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. His approach has always been subtle and low-key, but he is venerated by his fellow guitarists for an astonishing technical lacility, and by audiences for thetasle with which he applies if. He , has evolved a style of playing which ! transfers a linger-picking style to the I The Trench Kiss speed and intricacies of jazz harmony, ('“tm‘diimj‘r‘hl” Smith .‘ and is one of the few guitarists in jazz (lClly'e‘rs it llric‘ contcdy 1: who makes solo concerts like this one a .; regular pan 0' his repermire' (Kenny liuropean graveyards of i Mathleson) World War One: ; Hit’ 'l‘rene/i Kiss (Hinge) Ineirlenml Theatre. l
lists a long and distinguished roster of stars with whom the guitarist has worked (including some at the West Coast veterans of the Lighthouse All-Stars, who follow his set at 10.45pm in the Queen’s Hall), and goes on to announce that ‘Mr Pass is now available for Concert Hall Performances, College and University Performances, and Symphony Pops Concerts.’
If that is an accurate enough indication of where Pass now stands— viz, solidly in the centre of the jazz mainstream — it was not always that way. In the early stages of his career, Pass lell into heavy drug use, and spent 3 many years in and out of either prison or hospital. Indeed, he first attracted attention as a player in 1961 on an album produced by the inmates of
treatment with an all-female cast taking the central roles.
Three Men In A Boa!
( I’ringe) Performance “((71er ( 'o. ( ‘u/(on ( 'enlre (Venue/19) on] 912/. anti/31 xl ug (no! Suns). 8pm, [5 ([4).
, firs [5.50). no " scene as a fully-fledged star, with the E g» ,' ’ release of his debut album on Norman g The publicity IeailetthatguitaristJoe " 0 Gran“ Pablo me" me aptlym'ed (J'.Th'e°,'fej‘.'"”9a‘ Pass‘s agents distribute to promoters £2 . V'""°s°- Pass became a “9‘” Sla’ '" I Cfixllilrm‘c£2313”,M
‘ ‘5 '- i ‘ m ‘ "- ‘
Synanon, a self-help centre tor drug addicts. Eventually, though, Pass kicked his
Joe Pass
Joe Pass (Fringe) Edinburgh International Jazz Festival, Queen's Hall (Venue 72) 668 2019,19Aug, 8pm, £6—£8.
I’leus’unee ( li'enue 3.?) 556 005/). until 25 A ug. 8. / 0pm. [6. 25 to. 75
I (15.25 1.5. 75).
(l'enue2) 226 5257. [8 24
I Frank Skinner (‘lcan-cut f
TIME CHECK
V
8-10pm Getting tired.
already? Pull
yourself together and take it easy with some cabaret, or a spot of
classical music.
The List lb~ 22 August 199147