The disarming (and deceptive) simplicity of pop songs is often their most appealing quality. Any high-minded "interpretive" tinkering on the part of jazz and classical musicians can therefore often sound like a grand exercise in missing the point. The Homemade Orchestra, the jazz/modern classical hybrid formed by saxophonist Tim Whitehead and composer Colin Riley get it right most of the time, their first winning quality being an eclectic and multi-canonical approach to the pop repertoire. Peter Gabriel, Chuck Berry, Lionel Bart, Gershwin and the Human League were all up for grabs in Sheffield, and while some of the tunes became convoluted, others were revealed as treasure troves of harmonic and rhythmic possibility.
The set commenced with a scrambled take on John Lennon's Imagine, performed as a duet by Whitehead and pianist Liam Noble. The contours of the tune were barely recognizable in Noble's fractured arpeggios, but Whitehead's big-hearted saxophone perfectly captured the song's aura of spiritual righteousness. Riley then appeared to conduct his own version of Peter Gabriel's Here Comes the Flood, sung with moon-bright clarity by Kathleen Willison above an intricate web of cello, vibraphone and trip-hop inflected drum machine. Like several of the tunes that were to follow, Riley's piece contained an almost indigestible stew of textures, but the band's dynamic control and sense of space kept it all afloat.
The intimations of chaos deepened with Noble's mischievously dissonant attack on Lionel Bart's Who Will Buy, which was apparently inspired by attempts to teach piano to ham-fisted primary school children. Unfortunately, ham-fisted is probably the best word to describe the group's assault on George Michael's Careless Whisper, which retained none of its wind-swept melancholy but gained an unreasonable quantity of diminished chords and self-consciously jazzy suspensions.
Happily, there were a couple of fantastic tunes to come. Human League's Love Action worked brilliantly with its riffing synthesisers transposed to violin and cello, while Whitehead's version of the Beatles' Paperback Writer revelled in its upward spiraling vocal harmonies and intriguing sound collisions. A fearless lucky dip of a concert. Let's hope they turn their attention to the White Stripes next time around.
