Movin’ Melvin Brown presents Me and Otis. Image via Fringe World 2017.
At the Perth Town Hall – not usually a venue for soul music – the band is playing and a woman in a slinky red dress suddenly appears on stage near the velvet curtains, she suggests that the Movin’ Melvin Brown show has started; this is much more low key than anticipated. Melvin Brown opened for Harry Connick Junior on his Australian tour and has appeared alongside Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and James Brown and has toured internationally singing, tap dancing and entertaining. This Fringe World 2017 show has high expectations for jivin’ and singin’ along and suddenly Brown arrives on stage tap dancing for the first song, arrayed in a very bright silver plunging pant suit. Think alfoil without the creases! It turns out that spectacular costume changes are a big part of this show, and Brown does invite audience participation with clapping, singing along and encouraging us to get up and dance.
Born in Ohio USA, and singing in church and gospel since the age of five, Brown is high energy and very comfortable in front of his audience. Working over the years finessing his blues artists range (we heard some Wilson Pickett at this concert), Brown has chosen to explore Otis Redding’s music interspersing vignettes from Redding’s life around the songs. Redding, considered one of the greatest singers in American popular music and called ‘The King of Soul’, died in a plane crash at 26, and had a posthumous number one hit with his infamous Sitting on the Dock of the Bay on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts selling 4 million copies worldwide when it was released in 1968. He performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and influenced many other musicians.
Brown – probably well past most people’s retirement age – impressed with his phenomenal energy particularly with his dancing. His deep staccato laugh punctuates many of the stories and feels quite ironic, but his beaming smile throughout belies that. He taught himself tap dancing in the early 1980s to make himself more attractive to the festival circuit and has toured Europe, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. In the early 80s he also made a grand appearance at the Oprah Winfrey birthday party for Maya Angelou and appeared in several movies, including with Willie Nelson.
The classic Otis Redding songs were there: ‘Try a Little Tenderness’, ‘Shake’, These Arms of Mine’ and of course ‘Sitting on the Dock of the Bay’ performed with a genuine blues sound but not always getting the high notes which was a disappointment. Blues singing relies on intense emotions in sometime restricted repetitious lyrics and Brown provides the emotional intensity but his vocal range was more limited; whether that was a one off on the night we were there, or a more systematic issue was unclear. As his many accolades include Best Blues Artist (LA American Radios Award), Best International Act and nominee Star of the Festival (Brighton Festival), Audience’s Choice Award (Vancouver) and Most Outstanding Performer (New York Festival). One of the most memorable songs from the evening was the Temptations ‘My Girl’ (written by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White) which Brown sung with soulful sweetness.
The band was consistently professional and made up of Thierryno Gangou on keyboards, Wayne Slater on bass guitar and Tyler Michie on drums showing high energy and tight playing with lots of visual engagement with each other and Brown to ensure there were matching tempos. Francesca Sansalon was a visual accompaniment in her red dress to Brown’s various costume changes as well as competently performing as back-up singer.
A lingering feel for his ‘Change This World’ project (initiated in the late 70s) to support the homeless, the elderly and children infiltrated right at the end as he exhorted us to do good and be kind, so there was a slight sense of a revivalist church meeting at the conclusion as he came off stage shimmying through the clapping audience in his electric satin orange tails; always unfailingly entertaining. The audience lapped up Movin Melvin Brown’s singing, dancing and great music overall; you cannot leave this concert without being in awe of this man’s energy.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Moving Melvin Brown presents Me and Otis
Written and Directed by Katy Warner
Singer and tap dancer Melvin Brown
Band Thierryno Gangou, piano, Wayne Slater, bass guitar, Tyler Michie, drums, Francesca Sansalon, backup singer.
Perth Town Hall, Fringe at Cathedral Square, FringeWorld 2017 at 7.30pm. 2nd – 8th February 2017.
Royal Croquet Club, Adelaide Fringe Festival 2017 at 2.00pm and 4.00pm. 19th, 25th – 26th February, 13th and 19th March 2017.
