By Jim Gilchrist
Published: 9/8/2011

Possibly the best musical £4 worth you’ll find on the Fringe, Los Angeles pianist Louis Durra’s lunchtime spot at The Jazz Bar finds him gelling nicely with local sidemen Brian Shiels on double bass and Chris Wallace on drums.

The initial impression, this first gig, was that the three of them were getting to know each other and having an infectiously enjoyable time in the process.

They slid into motion easefully and were soon cruising nicely over strolling bass, Durra proving an articulate and melodic player, occasionally accompanying himself on wordless vocals and ranging from familiar standards to some interesting covers well beyond the usual jazz repertoire.

He generated a ringing take on Belle and Sebastian’s “If You’re Feeling Sinister”, for instance, and the old Tears For Fears hit “Mad World”, which particularly suited Durra’s lyrical conversion job.

Back in more familiar jazz territory, Wallace’s brushwork propelled the trio through a bossa shuffle while they worked up a Ramsey Lewis-like strut in Durra’s own “Line For Sam”. Another number, “Darn That Dream”, was led by Shiels’ fluid bass work, Durra’s laid-back piano ruminating gently in the background.

It was a rewardingly creative hour’s work, and it will be interesting to see how their sound has evolved at the end of their three-week run.

Reviewed by Rob Adams, 15 Aug 2011

Amid all the Fringe’s hoopla and self-promotion something quietly wonderful is happening in a Chambers Street cellar bar.

Californian pianist Louis Durra arrived in Edinburgh with the scantest of reputations, and isn’t the sort of performer to collar you on the street and demand you come to see him. In fact, even once you’re there, he’s not about to start waving flags and inviting you to watch him jump through burning hoops.

What he does do is take the jazz piano trio into a superbly subtle space where he can surprise and delight, in a musical conversation with his local rhythm team, Brian Shiels (bass) and Chris Wallace (drums). Durra’s improvisations unfold with magnificent elegance and his choice of material, including Belle and Sebastian and Bob Dylan songs as well as jazz standards and his own compositions, seems specifically designed for seduction.

Shiels’s feature on “Darn That Dream” simply sang and his solo on Durra’s loping “Line for Sam” – all double-stopping and sliding blue notes – was sheer class, as was Dylan’s “Tangled up in Blue” re-imagined as the love child of Ramsey Lewis and Thelonious Monk. Performances until August 27.

Just mixed a song for a singer-songwriter –  piano and vocal.   This time I tried a stereo width plug-in on the piano to  send the piano a bit more to the sides.  Narrowed the reverb return which was mostly the vocal.  Made everything vocal come up the middle – it was a good thing –

a little more separation between piano and voice.   As usual, used volume curves on voice to

duck breaths.  On this track I added an expander because there was a little noise on the track (his headphones were loud) and it helped. I ran it at -8db.  Did a mix then realized that the beginning was softer than the rest of the tune.  Funny that a piano intro often wants to be louder than the piano is once the vocals are in.  Piano sound was not the best – I need to do a day of experimenting with someone helping, recording piano with different mic placements…