Daniel Gervais Trio, Friday night at Frank Venables Theatre

A good time had by all

Making his third appearance in Oliver for the South Okanagan Concert Society, popular fiddler Daniel Gervais once again brought us all his usual ingredients for an outstanding performance: virtuosity, spontaneity, charm, and lots of fresh takes on familiar old tunes. He and his partners, guitarist Clinton Pelletier and bassist Keith Rempel have a knack for breathing new life into timeless classics such as “Orange Blossom Special”, “Devil Went Down to Georgia”, “Let it Snow”, and “La Vie en Rose”. Throw in some high octane Bach preludes , “The Alabama Jubilee”, some Chet Atkins style guitar solos, delightful humour throughout, and “voila”.

We had a highly entertaining program with something for just about everyone. All those off the cuff Christmas carols! Those “intricate” bass solos by Keith—maybe you had to be there! My personal favourite was the trio’s  take on the piece written by Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer about the herd of woolly mammoths (“mammii”) chased by sabre-toothed tigers. Blue grass–new grass, taken into the stratosphere: a “hairy piece” indeed!

Beyond the obvious virtuosity and good programming something else made this evening so enjoyable. Other performers take note:  you don’t have to be loud , you don’t need piles of equipment– you just need to have fun, play the music that matters to you, and be really, really good.

Next up: the Concert Society is bringing in the Capilano University Singers- all 45 of them – on February 5, 2016.

Mark your  calendars.