Django Bates & Frankfurst Radio Big Band – Saluting Sgt Pepper, review: ‘A new perspective on the Fab Four’s seminal album’

Homage: Django Bates & Frankfurst Radio Big Band pay tribute to the Fab four
Jane Cornwell7 July 2017

The composer and multi-instrumentalist Django Bates made his name with legendary British big band Loose Tubes, whose anarchic brilliance he channels into this homage to the Beatles’ seminal Sgt Pepper album, a half-century old this year, staying true to the spirit of tunes by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr while granting them new perspective.

She’s Leaving Home, When I’m Sixty-Four and Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds have been deftly reworked in collaboration with cult Danish quartet Eggs Laid By Tigers, whose vocal harmonies are markedly un-Fab-Four-like, and the 14-piece Frankfurt Radio Big Band, interpreting Bates’s leftfield arrangements — stripped down and subtle here, psychedelic and theatrical there — with collective élan.

They play Ronnie Scott’s on September 4-9.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in