Dinner with Cole Porter was held at Valona & Crolla. It is a luxurious restaurant to indulge in a three course meal and it felt like the perfect way to enjoy jazz.
Greeting dinner guests on arrival was a sharply-dressed jazz trio which oozed cool, demonstrating superb talent on their individual instruments. While the first course was being served out, the music was handed over to local accordion virtuoso David Vernon who created a great ambience for the meal. As the main courses arrived there was an interval. Following the main course Philip Contini and his Be Happy Band took to the stage in style.
Instead of trying to recreate an evening with Cole Porter, the band presented the story of the composer’s life and played his songs as a tribute. The setlist was arranged chronologically. It began at the very beginning of his life and showed Cole as a child prodigy who began learning the violin and piano aged three, arranging his first song at the age of six. Philip Contini also made sure to remind us that Cole Porter was no ordinary talent: his music reflected his vision and he wrote both his lyrics and his music single-handedly. Highlights of these arrangements as played by the tribute act were the hit tracks ‘Let’s Do It’ and ‘I Get A Kick’.
Philip Contini and his Be Happy Band did great justice to Porter and played the arrangements superbly. The lead singer had the hardest part to play. Porter was not only one of the greatest entertainers of his day but also an ingenious composer. Unfortunately, Contini didn’t have the striking stage presence or voice which might have been expected from a Cole Porter tribute act. On this occasion it was not Contini’s band which shone, but Porter’s music.
