Review of The Unusual Suspects in Perth Concert Hall

Nov 4 2011 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

IT’S easy to understand why The Unusual Suspects have been nominated for ‘Best Live Act’ in this year’s prestigious Scottish Trad Music Awards.

This Celtic big band were trailblazers when they made their debut in 2003, and now slimmed down to a very workable 17 members, the 2011 version of The Unusual Suspects remains a magical musical force of incredible talent and energy.

Put this fusion supergroup from the worlds of jazz and traditional/folk music into the acclaimed acoustics of Perth Concert Hall and the result is a live act of massive power and enjoyment.

Sharing the driving seat of the Unusual Suspects express train are its creators and musical directors, husband and wife team of jazz pianist David Milligan and vocalist/harpist Corrina Hewat. Combining their talents on this exciting musical journey are many names from the top of their chosen genre: including jazz musicians Colin Steele (trumpet), Phil Bancroft (saxophone) and Rick Taylor (trombone); fiddlers Patsy Reid, Anna Massie, Eilidh Shaw and Catriona Macdonald; percussion ace Donald Hay, and pipers Calum MacCrimmon, Donal Brown and Mairearad Green (also accordion).

David and Corrina certainly know how to arrange a good tune, whether it’s their own compositions – such as the intricate Lorient Suite; timeless and contemporary classics – including Dick Gaughan’s Both Sides The Tweed, Charlie McKennon’s Fiddle Frenzy and Gordon Duncan’s Pressed for Time; and compositions by other Unusual Suspects members – Calum MacCrimmon’s Under the Influence being one example.

From the opening set of their Perth gig – led by the aforementioned Pressed for Time – it was obvious last Saturday that The Unusual Suspects were in sparkling form. Each number was crisp and clear and the programme rolled along like a well-oiled machine with each musician seeming to be enjoying themselves.

Ewan Robertson was in fine voice for Cold Blow, with a fantastic trombone solo by Rick Taylor; Colin Steele’s slow trumpet danced along with Corrina Hewat’s vocals on Sae Will We Yet; and Eilidh Shaw’s Fiddle Frenzy was electrifying.

Post-interval, four young pipers from The Gordon Duncan Experience joined the ensemble for The Lorient Suite and the evening reached a typical heart-racing climax with The Big Set – the opener to The Unusual Suspects debut album, Live in Scotland.

The long-awaited follow-up album, Big Like This, is an impressively good play, but it is really as live music-makers that the full power and exhilaration of The Unusual Suspects comes thundering through.

Alison Anderson