Clare and I went to the Michael Buble concert tonight at the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto.
Michael is a terriffic showman – fabulous voice, charismatic presence. He gave a great performance. Highly recommended.
His band was great too, in every respect except the drums (caveat: I’m a drummer of sorts). I’ve seen his band on DVD with another drummer and it was fantastically tight and crisp – working with the brass accents on the big band showcase tunes and swinging to set your foot tapping. I was really looking forward to hearing a really tight Jazz groove.
Unfortunately, they brought a blues shuffle drummer to a Jazz gig. That’s not to say he was bad. He shone brilliantly on shuffle hits “How Sweet It Is” and “This Thing Called Love” as well as any straight time stuff, but he swung like a sack of concrete – I never once felt the urge to tap my foot and that’s rare for me – and hardly a rimshot to be heard in support of the brass accents. Yes there were some good fills and standalone accents, but not a lot of accents coincidental to a running groove. Also, the kit was tuned and miked for rock/blues – you can’t play jazz standards how I expect to hear them without a recognisable crisp ride cymbal. I couldn’t hear the bell of the ride cymbal on the latin tunes either, even though he was using it. It’s too bad because it distracted me from the rest of the show.
I still recommend that you see the show. Unless you’re a pedantic wannabe Jazz drummer you’ll never notice, and Michael Buble’s remarkable talent is worth the price of entry.