"Absolute sell-out, great concert"

"Sold Out, and wonderful music"

"Sweet Chorus, John Etheridge's first CD since the mainly-electric 1993 'Ash', is dedicated to Stephane Grappelli and features the acoustic side of his musical persona. If John had to assume Django's chair in Stephane's group, then it is Christian Garrick who is cast in the Grappelli role on this CD. In the opening track, a Grappelli composition 'La Chanson de Rue' performed here as a guitar-violin duet, it is apparent that the casting department got it right. Garrick plays with maturity and confidence, sensitiv- ity and wit - a stimulating partner for Etheridge who lays down a beautiful harmonic framework. There are two further duets and a couple of superb solo guitar interpretations (including a spell-bind- ing The Nearness of You) but the duo expands to a quartet for the remainder of the tracks with the judicious addition of bassist Malcolm Creese and guitarist Dave Kelbie. The repertoire is drawn largely from the classic Hot Club repertoire such as 'Nuages', 'Shine' and 'I Wonder Where My Baby is Tonight', but freshly interpreted with strong, improvisations from two great players."

"Etheridge was one of Stephane Grappelli's accompanists in the violinist's autumnal years, a period evoked in this lyrical collection inspired by memories of the dapper Frenchman. Just as guitarist Martin Taylor's Spirit of Django band is no carbon copy of the Hot Club quintet, so Etheridge's partners - violinist Christian Garrick, rhythm guitarist Dave Kelbie and bassist Malcolm Creese - follow their own muse. Etheridge makes inventive use of the various permutations too, reducing 'The Folks Who Live on the Hill' for instance, to a duet with Garrick and using 'The Nearness of You' and 'Isn't It Romantic' as vehicles for solo improvisation. The playing is admirably relaxed throughout. The musicians continue their voyage of discovery on their current tour."

"Delightful tribute to Stephane Grappelli from his long-time guitarist. Like the late master himself it refuses to dwell on well-worn early hits, but draws material from half a century of popular song. Violinist Christian Garrick brings off the difficult task of suggesting Grappelli's style without slavishly imitating it."

"His outings with Soft Machine still draw in the fusion fans, but the guitarist's gypsy jazz quartet - inspired but his mentor, Stéphane Grappelli - exudes elegance. The violinist Christian Garrick is a suave foil; the rhythm guitarist Dave Kelbie helps keep the engine purring. Currently on a 20th anniversary tour, the group never stick to swing standards: a Coltrane track makes the cut, too."

"This delightfully swinging collection of tracks is a fitting celebration of 20 years of Sweet Chorus, led as always by guitarist John Etheridge and featuring Christian Garrick’s versatile violin ... Etheridge, who almost unbelievably celebrated his 70th birthday last year, is one of our most versatile musicians and continues to perform in all kinds of settings."

"Imitation and influence are perhaps nowhere more an issue than in so-called “gypsy jazz”. Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and the Quintette du Hot Club de France cast a long shadow. Lots of musicians happily bounce along beneath it with no greater aim than to emulate or outdo. It’s contentious because the all-string band style is so distinctive and departures from it rarely go far. Sweet Chorus, formed by guitarist John Etheridge as a tribute to Grappelli, with whom he once assumed Reinhardt’s mantle, nuances as much as possible the difference between mimicry and impact. This best-of album – 20 tracks for 20 years – is a delight. It’s dedicated to Grappelli and is a tribute neither over-reaching nor over-reverential."

"It is difficult to believe that this excellent acoustic band has been around for twenty years. Of course, we know Etheridge from his long stints with the estimable Stephan Grappelli group and this disc, while acknowledging the overarching influence of that group, shies away from merely replicating that music. Although the record is tribute to Grappelli as well as a 20th anniversary celebration of Sweet Chorus, Etheridge is his own man with his own ideas. The session, gratefully, does not become another clone of the Hot Club’s music.
To the band’s credit, only five Reinhardt / Grappelli originals appear in the twenty track set. The session has a heavy guitar presence but Christian Garrick’s violin is to the fore. It is now almost impossible, the minute one hears a violin, not to think of the Maestro Grappelli, but Christian Garrick has made his mark quietly but strongly on the jazz scene. His tone has thickened over the past few years, is more sonorous, and his attack is formidable; he bows to no other players now (excuse the pun).
Etheridge is a motivating leader and the numbers fairly fly by. He is a consummate and very skilled player and his choice of numbers is eclectic and well considered, a mixture of superior ballads, The Folks who Live on The Hill, Small Hotel, and Manha de Carnival and cheerful up-tempos, When You’re Smiling, Seven Come Eleven plus some gems from Ellington, Kern, Richard Rodgers and Berlin Songbooks and (who would have expected) Coltrane’s Moment’s Notice, nicely realised in this version.
Etheridge, also, knows his way around a ballad with sensitive readings of Porte and Lacuna, two of his own compositions. The other members, Malcolm Creese and Andy Crowdy on basses and Dave Kelbie on rhythm guitar keep things solidly swinging.
Good to hear this sprightly group in such good form, inheriting the Hot Club legacy while, at the same time, sounding just that little bit different."

Landmark Theatre, Ilfracombe
Silver-tongued and golden-fingered, John Etheridge is a veritable musical alchemist. With his deliciously casual banter and brilliantly inventive playing, a rapt audience lapped up his tribute to Stephane Grappelli (with whom he toured in the 70's) right down to the last note of the band's very generous encore.
And just as last year, we were left wondering whether it's anatomically possible for those fingers to do what they did... The short answer is "no."
But the truth is this guitarist simultaneously plays a fast-moving bass line with a melody that flies from his strings faster still. And at the end of one exhausting piece, where sizzling solos ripped along the guitar neck over the top of his own thumping chords and picked lower range, even John himself conceded "you feel like you're accompanying yourself."
Making a gentle gibe at journalists who described him as being "ably supported" by Sweet Chorus's rhythm guitarist, Dave Kelbie, we say instead John was marvellously maintained, unerringly uplifted and brilliantly boosted by the whole quartet in a gripping and colourful musical conversation.
Exchanges between the musicians spanned romantic and raunchy episodes, through to humorous and down right silly moments - well, what else can you call the Flintstones theme tune creeping in to one number? And there were virtuoso performances from all the band members - even a spell-binding and oh-too-short solo from Dave.
Christian Garrick (heralded as today's most accomplished and expressive jazz violinist,) gave us a mesmerising performance, with riveting solos teasing audience members to the edge of their seats, while double bass player Pete Kubryk-Townsend's solo-spot shook as many solar plexus as it did heads - these shook in astonishment at the complex diversity of sounds he drew from his instrument.
What breathtaking texture, what staggering variety, what pace and spontaneity - and what fun!
More singing next time, please - we loved it!

"It is music that demands that you close your eyes and listen, for only then can the ethereal nature of what is being played stand separate from the physical reality of darting fingers and blurred plectrums."

"Earlier that evening at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, the interplay in John Etheridge's acoustic quartet, Sweet Chorus, proved even more subtle. Gorgeous stuff."