You saxy thing: Ray Gelato and his Giants Orchestra play at the Millfield Arts Centre next week
Swing Italiano, Millfield Arts Centre, Silver Street, Edmonton, Saturday March 29, 8pm
Since forming in 1994, Ray Gelato and his Giants Orchestra have performed for the Queen, opened for Robbie Williams at The Royal Albert Hall, played at Bryan Adams' birthday party and at Paul McCartney's
wedding.
They have played at jazz festivals and concerts all over the world, and are regulars at London clubs such as Ronnie Scott's, in Soho. Last year, they were voted best UK small group of the year at the Ronnie Scott's awards, and their song Mambo Gelato was used in the trailer for the film No Reservations, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Some will be most familiar with the band through their version of the classic Renato Carosone song Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano, which was featured in a Levi's TV advert in 1998.
Gelato, 46, grew up in Ladbroke Grove listening to Dean Martin and Bill Haley records brought over by his father, a US airman who got married and stayed in London after coming over in the Fifties.
After taking up the tenor
saxophone at the age of 17, he began a career influenced by the sounds of bandleader Louis Jordan and
"King of the Swingers" Louis Prima, as well as saxophone greats
like Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young.
Gelato and the Giants Orchestra have sometimes been described as populist, playing crowd-pleasing numbers and blowing a fresh breeze through the musty academic halls of jazz.
advertisement
Although Gelato agrees his music is accessible, he stresses he and his band are trained musicians playing high-quality pieces.
"Sadly, jazz lost its audience in the Fifties and Sixties by getting a little too academic. There's more of a concert atmosphere, whereas when jazz started it was happening in clubs and dives. I'm trying to bring back the happiness of jazz a bit.
"But that doesn't mean behind what we do isn't a study and an academia."
Tickets cost £15.50 (concessions £14.50) and are available from the box office on 020 8807 6680.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
