Mr Big Plays Jazz
Birmingham Town Hall
Reviewed by Emma Legge
'Watch and listen to the story of Mr Big as the lonely Gorilla finds a fun new life of friends and jazz music by learning to play the piano.
This unique Children’s show features live illustration by author and illustrator Ed Vere on a big screen alongside live jazz by the exhilarating and charismatic Neil Cowley Trio.
Bring a pad and pencil and learn and join in with Ed. The Neil Cowley Trio features dazzling composer, pianist Cowley who creates deeply engaging, and dynamic music. It is instrumental music that breaks down standard perceptions of the jazz genre. It’s sheer emotion and energy touches lovers of all music.
Part of the Big Fun Festival, Family Arts Festival and The Big Draw'
And that's all we knew of the show we were off to see! My 8 year old son William and his best friend Tom both have this book so were excited about seeing the author and illustrator, Ed Veer. Tom's Mum Tracy and myself both liked the idea of watching an hour or so of a 'real jazz band' so we felt sure it was going to be a winning combination, however what none of us bargained for was just how captivating, creative and entertaining it was also going to be.
Ed Veer was introduced as the 'main ingredient' of the show but I beg to differ, whilst Ed was brilliant, Neil Cowley came across as the host and really set the atmosphere of a friendly and interactive performance. The boys found it fascinating to watch the drawing appear on a ginormous screen as Ed was actually drawing it – luckily we had read the above spiel on the website for Birmingham Town Hall, so knew to take paper and pencils – both boys, in fact especially Tom who apparently NEVER draws, immediately started acting like budding artists and copied Ed's drawings brilliantly. Whilst the first few pages of the book were depicted, The Neil Cowley Trio delighted all the audience, from toddlers to OAPs, with fun, enthusiastic and lively jazz music. Within minutes toes were tapping, heads were bopping and drawing pencils were going ten to the dozen!
The show was split into two halves effectively with Neil introducing his band members, himself then Ed. Ed then gave a master class to the whole audience by getting everyone to join in the drawing of Mr Big. Luckily most people seemed to have read the website but a few hadn't and I was madly passing around spare pens and paper. The boys say that this was their favourite bit, they're treasuring the picture's they drew and it was a very informal and fun part of the performance as the band members jumped into the audience to pick their favourite drawing for Ed to show on his screen. It really did break down the barriers between performers and audience and really was a pivotal part of the show.
We then had a lively finish to the performance with the last few pages of the story, Neil acting out a scene with Rex and Ewan from his trio fantastically.
I would recommend MR BIG PLAYS JAZZ to families with children of all ages, I'd been fearful that the boys would find it childish but not at all – they were able to really appreciate the quality of the music whilst really testing their drawing abilities. I'd never been to a show like this before but wouldn't hesitate again, the Town Hall made for a fantastic setting for such a diverse show. In fact we all loved it so much, we want to see it again!
Rating: 5/5 
