Dancing to recorder music? You'd better believe it. Wildes Holz had the audience bopping, head-banging, pogoing and generally gawping with amazement at the sheer fluency and showmanship of recorder-player Tobias Reisige.
The trio's unlikely versions of Billie Jean, The Final Countdown and Born to Be Wild, complete with Reisige leaping from the stage to land on his knees on the floor while soloing like a guitar god, only tell part of the story, though. Their own music is beautifully orchestrated with strong themes, brilliantly interlocking acoustic guitar and double-bass parts, lightning-quick changes of tempo and mood, heaps of energy, and masterful improvisation. Yiddish folk music, Arabian influences, touches of flamenco and tango, rockabilly slap bass, bebop and gypsy swing converge in a performance whose opening piece, a startling take on the Cantina Band theme from Star Wars, only hints at the cornucopia to come.
Reisige's fluency, imagination, articulation and expression - he plays Charlie Parker's Billie's Bounce like a cross between Parker himself and Roland Kirk - has to be heard to be believed. Tonight is the group's last Fringe appearance. Start forming a queue right now.
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