So to cheer themselves up inside Manhattan’s Leonard Nimoy Thalia, a theater named for the actor who played Spock, the Cunninghams concocted a “Star Trek” song and played a passage from the TV series theme with a Scottish traditional flavor.
This fun-loving spirit was matched by sharp playing from the two siblings, who were the driving instrumental engine of acclaimed Scots band Silly Wizard. They perform on the premise that if they’re having a good time, the audience will, too. And they’re right.
From the opening medley of “Cathcart/Drummond Castle/Jig of Slurs/Atholl Highlanders/Apple Tree,” the crowd knew it was in good hands and company. Johnny’s bowing became almost sportive during “Jig of Slurs,” and Phil’s fingerwork on his Borsini box was fleet and expert. “Leaving Brittany” and “The Pernod Waltz,” which were written and co-written by Johnny, retained the swaying buoyancy heard on the first Relativity album 18 years ago, and Phil followed with a French Canadian tune, “Le Minuet.”
A dance-rhythm punch from the brothers’ Relativity days also surfaced in their playing of “The Hut on Staffin Island,” “Sandy MacLeod of Garafad,” “The Soft Horse Reel,” “Blackwell Court,” and “Hogties’ Reel,” all composed by Phil.
Some trademark tunes from their Silly Wizard tenure, such as the strathspey “Laird of Drumblair,” the reel “Lexy McAskill,” and “Jean’s Reel,” blazed with renewed ardor and joy, and Johnny’s “half-Scottish, half-Irish, half-Jewish” composition, “The Kosher Reel,” was performed by the pair with a tightrope balance of control and abandon.
Johnny, who can propel dance tunes as well as anyone, may excel above all at slow airs. Backed by Phil on a Yamaha acoustic piano, Johnny’s fiddling of the traditional “Hector the Hero” took the full emotional measure of the air, while his playing on “Two Is the Beginning of the End,” which he composed for Mabou Mines’ theatrical production of “Peter & Wendy,” conveyed a tender, almost aching wistfulness.
Phil also played two exquisite slow airs, each an original: “Sarah’s Song” and a brand-new, untitled piece.
It was a night full of virtuosic fiddling and accordion and piano playing, and no shortage of slagging and laughing. Said Johnny to Phil, who was testing the keys on the Yamaha piano: “Do that a few more times, and you can get a record contract with Windham Hill.” From Phil: “A penguin walks into a pub and asks the bartender, ‘Was my dad in here earlier?’ The bartender thinks for a moment, then says, ‘I don’t know. What does he look like?’ “
Choones and chuckles left the audience beaming and, yes, “beamed up.” Here’s hoping the Cunninghams come back soon and often.
McGarry at Jazz Standard
Fighting off a touch of illness with a mug of light tea and a bottle of Aquafina, vocalist Kate McGarry gave a brave and bravura performance at Manhattan’s Jazz Standard during her 7:30 show on Oct. 8.
Accompanied by Steve Cardenas on electric guitar, Gary Versace on organ, and Billy Kilson on drums, this Irish American singer hit her stride three songs into the set with Cole Porter’s “Get Out of Town.” Her sly, repeated phrasing, note bending, and crisp scatting invested the song with an extra edge, and she positively owned “Gypsy in My Soul,” at one point snarling an improvised phrase, “pick up the damn phone.”
McGarry asked for a show of hands from the Irish and Irish American members of the audience and was happy to see quite a few palms raised in the air. Accompanying herself on an Indian droning instrument known as a shruti box, she sang “Peggy Gordon,” a song popular in the Irish tradition. Unlike Sin