On March 14th a group of us went to a wonderful venue, Burnett’s Hill Chapel near Martletwy (inland Pembrokeshire, the old coal mining district to the east of the Cleddau). A warm welcome, and a wonderful acoustic! Performing were the Tim Kliphuis Trio who gave such an imaginative rendition of Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition, and then a run of Grapelli-inspired tunes: some well known, but you mightn’t call them standards because of how each was fired with life. And afterwards, a drink at Cresswell Quay: what a great evening!
Six hands –
Two for the bass’s steady pace;
Two, tapdance picking and sleightly strumming
Those guitar strings;
Two pirouetting the violin
Through note steps jazzed nearly to
The melody’s escape velocity.
Six hands only,
But skill enough to lift
This chapel and its packed pews,
Transporting all
Anywhere their music’s imagination dictates,
Such the strength of those interwoven chords…
Forgotten, not existing for now,
The world we’re from.
© Christopher Jessop 2024
