Ed Babar, marvellous Marvin Muoneké and Alex Webb at Soho basement spot Flamingo Club in London last night.
The celebrated Flamingo of the 1950s and 60s began in Leicester Square before moving to Wardour Street. It was famous for its all-nighters and bringing black American music to a London public hungry for new sounds.
This new spot with that illustrious name is located near Carnaby Street, the area that lay at the heart of the Swinging Sixties.
The entrance to the Kingly Court venue – the tiny space is found in the basement
Marvin Muoneké hadn’t played here before. I came along for a second helping after hearing pianist Alex Webb – known for his work with the Copasetics, China Moses, Ineza and Jo Harrop – with the Weston-super-Mare singer last month at Cadogan Hall. That was my gig of the year so far.
The setting was different. Once again the pair were joined by a bassist, although on the earlier occasion the group also included saxophone and drums.
Beforehand I wondered if the trio would work without a drummer. Would the venue be any good in terms of atmosphere? Would they play any Johnny Hartman type material. And as I hadn’t heard Battersea bassist Ed Babar before quizzed myself about whether he would fit in. I’ll give the answers later but first a summary of what happened at the club which used to be known as the Nightjar.
Everything was going to be copasetic: Alex Webb in The Flamingo
As Marvin was held up by a delayed train the early part of the evening was a series of duets which allowed the bassist and pianist to limber up. Tunes included Monk’s ‘Rhythm-A-Ning’ and Duke Ellington’s ‘In a Sentimental Mood.’
Marvin took to the stage with a trumpet in his hand and often interspersed his vocals with trad jazz Satchmo like rough and ready instrumental breaks on it. He can also do vocalese, in a kind of Jon Hendricks manner very well. I’d have liked even more of that. Later he sat at the spare drum kit and played Tom Jobim’s ‘One Note Samba’ with his hands for fun in the “Latin” section of the show.
His own tunes included ‘The Young Man with the Old Soul’ – joking when he’s older he might be the old man with the young soul and best of all was the table-for-one ballad ‘Angel’, previously a marlbank Track of the Week.
I liked the treatment of the Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh song ‘Witchcraft’ and Steve Allen’s ‘This Could Be the Start of Something Big’ which Mark Murphy recorded in the late 1950s.
If wondering what the answers were to my beforehand questions I wondered if the trio would work without a drummer – yes, and there even was a little drumming but that was just a party piece for fun; would the venue be any good in terms of atmosphere – again yes, it is a gem of a spot and the staff were kind. The sound is decent. And as more people came in – mostly young women of the Laufey-loving TikTok generation – felt very appealing in a classic way where people aren’t just bums on seats but living, breathing individuals. And yes they did play some Johnny Hartman type material because ‘You Are Too Beautiful’ was lovingly sung. Babar, although he had a few intonation issues before the singer came on, fitted right in.
‘I’m your big and brave and handsome Romeo’ – Ira Gershwin
Marvin has a bass baritone voice and can go very deep as he demonstrated a few times. The bassist had a C-extension on his instrument so used this too when he needed to plunge. ‘Angel’ in the style of Gregory Porter was the best thing in the first set. Other things I liked included a reading of Sammy Cahn’s ‘(Love Is) The Tender Trap’ and treatment of the Gershwins’ 30s song ‘I’ve Got a Crush on You’ that Frank Sinatra sang in the 40s. Other good things included the marvellous one’s own ‘Play It Cool’ and the Nat & Satchmo medley Marvin said he “concocted some years ago” that affixed ‘Nature Boy’ onto ‘What a Wonderful World’. The latter prompted someone in the audience to loudly sing along. Slightly behind the beat the contribution nevertheless enhanced the gaiety of the mood prompting laughs. Charming with the audience and blessed with a remarkable bass-baritone voice, Muoneké looks like a natural. I suspect it will become a recurring theme in these pages that I keep going back to hear him.
Photos: marlbank
