Have you ever heard of song roulette? Neither had I - until I saw “All The Rage” performed by two of Perth’s jazz icons: Jessie Gordon and Mark Turner.
Held at the perfectly acoustic Ellington’s, this high-energy one-hour interactive cabaret show captivated the audience’s attention from the get-go.
The premise is for the duo to ask the audience to randomly pick a number between 1 and 120. The audience “roulette wheel” is spun, and the corresponding number on their playlist is sung. Simple really, until you question how does one actually remember the words and music to 120 songs?
It got even harder when a Portuguese number was chosen- but Gordon belted out the song with her usual aplomb.
You can easily imagine their music being played in a bar in New York or London.
Sitting in the perfect jazz venue of the Ellington, and listening to Gordon and Turner sing with such style and skill - it was clear that the audience was being treated to a world-class show. Not bad for little old Perth!
“All The Rage” was the first number. It opened the show as essentially these local musicians have to promote their latest releases. It was a cracker of an original and Gordon’s angelic voice reverberated around the venue- the audience was hooked! In fact, all of the original songs included were fabulous - and I would have loved to have heard more.
After Gordon explained the rules of the night, the numbers were shouted out like a manic bingo game.
Mark Turner was on acoustic and electric guitar with saxophone close at hand. The gorgeous Jessie Gordon was purely on vocals although a ukulele did make an appearance at one point, and she even got on the drum kit to play Brittany Spears's “Oops!…I Did It Again” to a hilarious ovation from the sold-out crowd.
What separates these types of cabaret performances is both artists’ ability to banter with each other and their adoring audience. The stories they tell and the ad-lib jokes turn a night of music into a magical and truly memorable experience.
Freakishly, one of the first songs they wrote collaboratively was about humble baked goods at my local cafe in Maylands. They managed to make double entendres of the words of said pastry to evoke sexual deviance. The audience ate it up ( pun intended).
There were plenty of songs on their enormous playlist that had metaphorical meaning. It seems to lend to Gordon’s almost theatrical voice. Turner is the perfect support because not only does he play a mean guitar, but he can harmonise like an entire choir.
This duet is talented beyond imagination. As I left the venue a member of the audience was outside on the footpath audibly talking to himself saying “How do you top that?” I would have to agree with his assessment.