Dr. House playin the Blues ..

[Blaze]

Like him or not, Hugh Laurie and his band are playin some good old jazz_blues stuff on this PBS link.. 56 min..
Tom Jones is making a short but nice performance...


http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/hugh-laurie-let-them-talk/watch-the-full-program/1194/

[progrmr]

More a fan of his playing that his singing but I do like the playing part. Also it's tough for me to see him as anything but House, although that's my issue lol!

[R_of_G]

Also it's tough for me to see him as anything but House, although that's my issue lol!

I have British friends that had a difficult time seeing him as anything other than his comedic roles with Stephen Fry (Blackadder, Jeeves & Wooster, etc). I had to convince them to watch House before they believed he could do dramatic acting convincingly.

As for his musical pursuits, I have Laurie's most recent album of mostly New Orleans blues/jazz standards. I have mixed feelings about it.

He's a gifted pianist, but I find his style a bit too classical for many of these songs. It's not unpleasant at all, just perhaps a little too polished for New Orleans music. I'd listen to him play any number of other styles of song.

Similarly with his vocals, I like the qualities of his voice but perhaps different material would suit him better.

[mapka]

Funny you should mention this today. He was on The Graham Norton Show on BBC America Saturday night. He did a Leadbelly song. I thought it was OK but would need to see him again. The engineers on that show dont do a good job mixing the bands IMHO.

[Tig]

He's a gifted pianist, but I find his style a bit too classical for many of these songs. It's not unpleasant at all, just perhaps a little too polished for New Orleans music. I'd listen to him play any number of other styles of song.


I've only listened to the 30 second samples of the album, and while that isn't enough to make a judgement, I feel about the same as what you posted. I like where he's trying to go and the material, but the end product is missing the soulful feeling and rawness that makes the original music so enjoyable.

It is hard to follow Professor Longhair and Dr. John when it comes to N.O. piano blues classics.

A recent interview explained why he recorded Swanee River... to get back at his childhood piano teacher who quickly thumbed past it in the song book, while Hugh thought it was the only song there that interested him.

[tjcurtin1]

Jeesh! How is it possible to have such a highly developed acting career AND play music that well?? It just ain't fair I tell ya!

[Bookkeeper's Son]

He's a very talented performer, but way too WASP-y to convincingly sing that stuff.