Gig - Piers Clarke & Mike Piggott

Mike Piggot and Piers Clark play early jazz music. Mike plays violin, Piers plays guitar. They are very successful in their field: Humphrey Lyttleton has twice opened his show with numbers from their album, which has been received with fine reviews. Mike, in particular, has a long and chequered career and has played and recorded with the likes of Ralph McTell and Phil Collins. What jazzy sounds he can’t get out of a violin haven’t yet been invented. His hero and mentor is Stephan Grapelli. “Stephan, who played a lot with the great Django Reinhart, was the most famous jazz violinist of al time,” he says. “He played with Reinhart in the 30’s and 40’s. The pair were both Europeans - Reinhart was gypsy, Grapelli was Parisian, so they put a different slant on the sort of jazz music that had been coming out of the States since the 20’s.”

Grapelli and Reinhart, in turn, were influenced by American violin/guitar duo Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang. “We’re going back to the roots of jazz now,” says Mike. “One of the instruments Piers plays is an original L5 Gibson from that era, just like the one Eddie Lang used to play.” Chances are they will be joined by 83-year-old singer Renee Ansell (as seen in a recent Argus double page spread). The pair have played in the Lansdown before. “I love it because there’s a mixed audience, and a lot of youngsters. I love getting this sort of music across to people who will never have heard it before.” AL