Jones and Co at Christ’s

Press, 23 October 1989, Page 6

Jones and Co at Christ’s

Jones and Co at Christ’s College Auditorium, October 21, 5.45 p.m. Reviewed by Philip Norman. Scheduling a concert for a holiday week-end tea hour would seem to be an act of box-office suicide. Yet a sizable audience turned out on Saturday to hear Jones and Co, a Brisbane-based vocal sextet.

This, I suspect, was because of the favourable word-of-mouth advertising. Although this was the singers’ Christchurch debut, their reputation had flown the Tasman before them.

Expectations were met in the main. The work of Jones and Co is musically polished and spirited.

As is the fashion with vocal ensembles these days, the fare was a mix of the classics and the

pops. Representing the classics were Janequin’s striking “Le Chant des Oyseaux,” three madrigals from “The Triumphs of Oriana” (1601) and David Farquhar’s whimsical “Magpies and Other Birds.” Representing the pops were a collection of yesteryear’s hits (such as from the pen of Burt Bacharach) and traditional songs (such as “The Drunken Sailor” and “The British Grendadiers”). Fortunately, all these tunes had been refurbished by skilled arrangers. Although both classics and pops were delivered with finesse, I was drawn more to the work of Jones and Co in the lighter mode. The opening “Do you know the way to San Jose,” for example, swung with a rhyth-

mic zest that immediately captured the ear. The blend and vitality of sound achieved in the popls was a constant source of satisfaction. Of the classics, Janequin’s birdsong appealed for its vigour of delivery. The madrigals were expertly despatched but, most noticeably in the celebrational passages, were sometimes weighed down by a more studied articulation. It was good to hear Farquhar’s “Magpies” again. I would rate it amongst the finest of this New Zealand composer’s output. A quartet from Jones and Co. offered a commendably secure reading, and succeeded in capturing both the pathos of the lyrics and the good humour of the musical lines.