On Sunday July 30 a friend and I chose, out of various musical events in Rye, to join jazz fans at the Grapevine, the wine bar in Conduit Hill. The interior is intriguingly decorated and comfortable with a lovely ambience due to its low side lighting. In the corner stands the grand piano ready for wonderful pianists like Robert Reid that evening.
Louis Swann, who runs the Grapevine tries to make the space available for different events apart from music. For instance, Wednesday is quiz night. He also has wine and champagne tastings, as he loves trying new ones. If I have perhaps just one criticism, for me the drinks are a little expensive, but I am sure there are plenty of people who are used to it and indeed drinks are not cheap in other Rye venues either.
This Sunday, Robert Reid was performing on the piano with Charley Blue, a beautiful young singer with an electric violin. Robert originally studied classical music in Oxford but switched to jazz after listening to Fats Domino, Oscar Peterson and others. He was tempted to follow a musical career but chose to become a lawyer playing as a semi-pro in the evenings with his duo/trio (piano, drum, double base). His repertoire includes Latin, jazz, gospel, funk and blues. He gave us a taste of many genres, his playing was easy, melodic and very enjoyable.
Adding to this Charley was magic. She is very talented, beautiful and has a lovely personality. Her voice was able to give us a clear rendering of blues, jazz and folk and occasionally she played the violin which I loved. Robert and Charley were a great combination especially considering they had not played much together before.
Charley performed “Roll Over Beethoven” on The Voice UK 2016:Blind Auditions 2 (A singing competition program on BBC1 ) with her guitar which sounded great. You can hear her on YouTube
She got through twice but unfortunately lost at the knock out stage. She said it helped her confidence being on TV and that she was glad and surprised to get that far. On Facebook some of her fans’ messages are: “She has a most unique voice,” ” is talented, amazing”, “you rock, you are awesome and sophisticated.” I would agree, as did the audience, we all had a very enjoyable evening.
Robert, I was told, will be playing again on August 28 at the Grapevine. I believe Charley, sadly, is busy but Robert may bring another jazz singer to entertain us. It will be well worth making the effort to visit.
For further information about what else is happening at the Grapevine, please call 01797 224410.
Photo: Whats On magazine