Rose Room
Perth Festival 2025
St John’s Kirk, Perth 15/05/25
Rose Room, Seonaid Aitken (violin/vocals), Jimmy Moon (double bass), Tam Gallagher (rhythm guitar), Conor Smith (solo guitar)
Rose Room is an award-winning jazz quartet specialising in the Django Reinhardt / Stéphane Grappelli ‘Gypsy Swing’ sound world of the Hot Club de France in the 1930s, but extending this vibe into other styles including French chansons. This year they celebrate their 15th Anniversary as a band. I caught their gig on the night of 25th May in Perth’s St John’s Kirk as part of this year’s Perth Festival. They are led by Fife-born virtuoso violinist, Scottish Jazz Award-winning vocalist, BBC broadcaster and Grappelli-Django Camp tutor Seonaid Aitken. Gypsy jazz’s signature ‘La Pompe’ rhythm is delivered by Danny Kyle Award-winning Tam Gallagher on rhythm guitar and Scotland’s No.1 guitar maker Jimmy Moon on double bass. The ‘newest’ member of the band (since 2020) is an exceptional talent from Glasgow’s Southside; solo guitarist Conor Smith - known for his work with popular band The Vintage Explosion. The gig was very well attended.
Without preamble, the first number had an intriguing Gypsy/Hungarian/Klezmer fusion-style intro before La Pompe asserted itself and we got the first taste of the virtuosity of the soloists. Idiomatic jazz supported by flawless classical technique shone with some thrilling double-stopped runs and characterful pizzicato. Seonaid then introduced the band and the rest of the programme as it unfolded, starting with a Charleston ‘I Saw Stars’, which she sang, with a stylish interlude from Conor and some riffs on her violin, an excerpt from a recent show for kids they had presented. A slow number up next, Benny Goodman’s ‘On the Alamo’, in an arrangement by Conor, was rhapsodic and dreamy. A Fats Waller song followed, “I’ve got a feelin’ I’m fallin’”, originally sung by Fanny Brice, the inspiration of the eponymous ‘Funny Girl’. A Nat King Cole favourite, Charles Trenet’s ‘I Wish You Love’, with a verse sung in French, was very lovely. Then we were back to authentic Grappelli with ‘Minor Swing’, putting me in mind of the theme tune from ‘Jeeves and Wooster’, with a cheeky quote from Mozart 40. A Hoagie Carmichael classic made special by Ella Fitzgerald, ‘The Nearness of You’, was absolutely gorgeous, with a guitar intro and a fabulous guitar solo interpolated. The first half concluded with ‘Limehouse Blues’, vigorous and playful, with excellent dialogue between the soloists.
The second half opened with a sweet Jack Palmer / Spencer Williams song, ‘I’ve Found a New Baby’. ‘Lady Be Good!’, the title song from the George & Ira Gershwin musical of the same name, featured a gorgeous melody and some superb ornamentation from violin and guitar. [On a personal note, the piano-accompanied solo version of “The ‘Half of it, Dearie’ Blues”, originally a duet from the same show, was my solo in Clackmannanshire Choral Society’s Spring Concert a few weeks ago]. Jazz classic song by Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly from 1928, ‘If I Had You’, featured a lovely bluesy guitar solo and some huskily voiced sul tasto playing on the violin, rising to sweetness in the upper register of the instrument before resuming the song. Perfect. Back to authentic Hot Club with ‘Swing Gitan’, doing exactly what it said on the tin. A Django composition, the song ‘Troublant Bolero’, followed with a distinctly Latin-flavoured Gypsy bossa nova vibe, with hints of Debussy and Ravel and a cheeky finish. Tam stepped forward to perform a number from their kids’ show, ‘Everybody Wants to Be a Cat’, with stylish support from Conor and elegant violin comments from Seonaid, finishing with a hot version at double tempo and a cool rallentando. A 1945 Jule Styne / Sammy Cahn big band classic popularised by Kitty Kallen with Harry James and his Orchestra, ‘It's Been a Long, Long Time’, was then sung by Seonaid after a sweetly lyrical guitar intro. The set concluded with Charles Trenet’s song ‘Ménilmontant’, an affectionate nod to the Parisian district where the jazz scene first erupted, with stunning violin and guitar solos. The enthusiastic applause won an encore: a hot version of the melody of Russian Gypsy folk song ‘Ochi Chernyi’ (Black Eyes) with super-virtuosic lines from the soloists and a cheeky quotation from Gershwin’s ‘I’ve Got Rhythm’ on Conor’s guitar. Superb.
This was my first time hearing Rose Room and it won’t be the last: I’m hooked. Highly recommended.