Kenny Keppel

Keppel’s clarinet and Scholes’s walking bass engaged in nimble pointillistic and improvisatory exchanges, navigating their way through and around a thick weave of polyrhythms from Rich’s drum kit.

Clarinettist Kenny Keppel chartered this virtuosic marathon with panache and musical flair. This piece was another tour de force for the outstanding Kenny Keppel, who portrayed the delightfully vulgar protagonist of the title with charm and flair. Mandeno’s clarinet writing is very accomplished and Keppel takes the entire work in his stride. Keppel won the audience over right from the outset, from his flagrantly mischievous entrance to the taunting backstage echoes of his final strains. Keppel demonstrates the same commitment to sound and character that made his performance of the Scholes so endearing. His every movement totally embodied his dramatic persona, somehow managing to be simultaneously mischievous, malicious, adorable, crude, seductive, brutish and lively with a physicality that matched both his own sound and also Mandeno’s varied musical colours.