Claude Bourbon at The Fleece, Bretforton 30/11
Claude Bourbon is an enigma, he is a classically trained musician, who fuses every conceivable genre of acoustic guitar music into a master-class of a stage performance. There are Latin, Spanish, Gypsy, Jazz and Delta Blues influences throughout, and often within one seamless stream of perfection. If I had to be critical of any weakness, to an admittedly untrained ear, it is in his vocals, not the fact that they have a distinct Gallic touch, but more that Claude’s soulful voice cannot hope to match his dexterity on his well travelled Gibson acoustic guitar.
He started with a long, distinctly Spanish sound of water babbling over a rocky shallow bed, before opening to lush rolling hills, yes you can hear all this, even me! Somewhere along the way it slipped into ‘If You Go Away’, from Flemish writer Jaques Brel and lyricist Rod McKuen, an appropriately cross channel success.
Next, a nice bit of blues, ‘Did Somebody Make A Fool Of You’, probably many times, but not this evening, it was a good call! Also rather fitting, given the extensive, European and US tour, that is finally nearing its end after 170 gigs, another exceptional song from his repertoire, ‘The Road Is Long’, just a little further, back home to Portsmouth. A softly sung, but dark folk song in ‘Twelve Red Roses’ talks of a return to a lost love, and perhaps lost soul. Back to the blues with a aptly named ‘How to Stretch It’, and for sure, it was stretched and played wonderfully, Claude’s right thumb, plucking out a solid base line on the heavy top string, as his fingers sought out the intricate train of notes below, superb and I would have been happy for it to have carried on beyond this marathon stretch. I did not check my watch, its not the first thing you consider! But, I know by past reports, it can be 15 minutes long, and that’s not ‘stretching’ imagination, no part of the guitar is ignored, even flexing the body to bend those notes. JJ Cale was slipped in with ‘A Drifters Life’, before Claude needed to ease his fingers and take a short break.
What came next I find hard to describe, an almost endless amalgam of different influences, melting into each other as we moved from classical openings, across a whole continent of cultural roots, from the Balearic’s to the Balkans, and then across to the Mississippi Delta, and shoehorned into all that was music that would not have been amiss in the courts of emperors and kings.In all of that, I must give mention to a beautiful rendition of Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’, there are of course, many interpretations out there, but this is up with there with the best. Its not easy to begin to describe the breadth or mastery of the music you will hear if fortunate to catch one of Claude’s gigs, he sort of finished ‘Sitting On A Cliff’, but of course its not that simple, its a sort of sensory experience, those of you who have seen him will know. Do look out for a return, you will be richer for the experience.
Words & Photos Graham Munn