![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/bill-callahan-review-ecstatic-spiritual-jazz-from-the-post-millennial-leonard-cohen/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/TELEMMGLPICT000314903404_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq-cVLixJZjJiTSS6NRQsYH1eE4VELs_h1OWoYU3s5Kzg.jpeg&description=On a rare UK visit, the "post-millennial Leonard Cohen' delivered 140 minutes of spiritual jazz in a show no less challenging or rewarding than those currently on offer from that other rarefied singing wordsmith, Bob Dylan. Unlike those two 1960s legends, Callahan made some goofy concessions to stagecraft, launching off on surreal monologues which lit up a rapt Camden Roundhouse, offering much-needed light relief from his music's brooding, exploratory intensity. At one point, rather like comedian Eddie Izzard in full flight, he riffed on the theme of body hair, concluding, 'My wife said, 'You have face of Brad Pitt'' – he paused with faultless comic timing– ''you should also have the nostrils of Brad Pitt!' So, I've been walking the streets of London looking for tweezers – believe me, it'll be quite a homecoming!' At another, he claimed that an insect buzzing around in the spotlights was part of his touring ensemble, 'a very expensive hologram', fresh from its own six-month residency in Las Vegas. If Callahan sparingly gave good bantz, it didn't detract from the profound seriousness of his songs. The majority were drawn from his two most recent albums, 2020's ironically entitled Gold Record (after all, he's very much a cult hero), and last month's ecstatically reviewed Reality. Where, in the studio, Callahan's smooth baritone takes centre stage, with muted arrangements shaped around his acoustic, lyric-driven meanderings, his live shows have always been quietly improvisational. Drawing on the brass embellishments of Reality, however, here he was backed by the powerful saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi, his ever-inventive guitarist Matt Kinsey, and esteemed Australian drummer, Jim White, from the Dirty Three, whose flamboyant, windmill-armed style propelled Callahan's compositions in fluctuating, unabashedly jazzy new directions. While their skronky extremes may've unsettled some, the packed house hung on the existentially preoccupied singer's every word. He has explain){kind=link}
The artist formerly known as Smog had the audience hanging on every word at the Roundhouse in Camden
On a rare UK visit, the “post-millennial Leonard Cohen” delivered 140 minutes of spiritual jazz in a show no less challenging or rewarding than those currently on offer from that other rarefied singing wordsmith, Bob Dylan.
Unlike those two 1960s legends, Callahan made some goofy concessions to stagecraft, launching off on surreal monologues which lit up a rapt Camden Roundhouse, offering much-needed light relief from his music’s brooding, exploratory intensity.
At one point, rather like comedian Eddie Izzard in full flight, he riffed on the theme of body hair, concluding, “My wife said, ‘You have face of Brad Pitt'” – he paused with faultless comic timing– “‘you should also have the nostrils of Brad Pitt!’ So, I’ve been walking the streets of London looking for tweezers – believe me, it’ll be quite a homecoming!”
At another, he claimed that an insect buzzing around in the spotlights was part of his touring ensemble, “a very expensive hologram”, fresh from its own six-month residency in Las Vegas.