A True Jive Pluckers preview

My preview of the Regina Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming Pops concert with the True Jive Pluckers is in today’s LeaderPost. An excerpt:

Everything the True Jive Pluckers play is based on swing music of the late 1930s — but everything they play isn’t 1930s swing music.

For the Regina Symphony Orchestra pops concert Saturday, violinist Eduard Minevich, guitarist Jack Semple and bassist Stephen McLellan will be offering an eclectic collection of jazz, classical, gypsy, Klezmer and blues.

“There really isn’t anything that we miss,” says McLellan.

The eclecticism rises naturally from the three players’ very different backgrounds. Minevich and McLellan are both classically trained, but Minevich loves jazz, gypsy, Klezmer and tango, and McLellan started out playing rock, rhythm-and-blues and jazz. Semple, of course, is a blues guitar virtuoso.

Yet they don’t ignore the classical repertoire, including works by composers like Mozart, Sarasate, Tchaikovsky. One piece borrows from Dvorak.

“That’s part of the joy of the group,” says McLellan. “We could play pop or whatever, but there’s a lot more teeth to it than that.”