The crowd was wildly enthusiastic but, sadly, very small at last night’s terrific show by singer-songwriters Elliott Murphy and Jann Klose at the Fairfield Theatre Company.
I was pulled out of my comfort zone when I was asked to host a Q&A with the two artists in between their sets, but couldn’t resist the offer from Jann and Elliott’s delightful manager-publicist Anne Leighton (who is a reader of this blog).
It was a fun experience for me to question Elliott about his long and fascinating career in music that has included stops along the way as an extra in Federico Fellini’s 1972 extravaganza, “Roma,” and forays into novel writing (he also contributed the liner notes to an early album by the legendary Velvet Underground).
Klose is in the early stages of his career, so it was interesting to hear where the two friends stand on various musical matters (I don’t think Elliott is as big a fan of ABBA as Jann is!)
Murphy has carved out a great life and career as a semi-expatriate musician in Paris with his wife — their son is a student at SUNY Purchase — where Elliott and his French band, The Normandy All-Stars), average 100 shows a year.
Elliott’s band is phenomenal — guitarist Olivier Durand (above, with Elliott), drummer Alan Fatras, and bass player Laurent Pardo.
I was depressed by the small turn-out for such a potent bill but Elliott amiably brushed off my comments before the show, saying he has performed for almost every size and shape of audience in his 40 years in the business. He hasn’t played in the U.S. much in recent years but hopes to re-build his audience here with semi-regular return visits.
Murphy and Klose gave no signs of distress at the size of the house in their high-energy sets that made me very happy to have been asked to attend. Their professionalism — and that of the stellar musicians who played with them — was inspiring.
Joe's View
With Joe Meyers, entertainment writer
You, Jann and Elliott & the folks who worked at the venue, plus the audience really did make this a very memorable night. Plus the night–including your Q&A session brought back some memories for me and–it appears–the audience.
Do you remember when Elliott mentioned loving Dion’s oldies? And then one of the gents in the audience mentioned Dion’s “Bronx in Blue” album to Elliott. I could see Jann quivering with excitement as I gave him that album after he recorded REVERIE. Jann loves Dion’s blues recordings, I really love Dion’s folk era recordings, and Elliott is gonzo over Dion’s oldies (to be fair, I love most of Dion’s albums).
There were lots of things about that night that were amazing. Thank you, Joe.