Christian McBride & Renee Fleming, Wigmore Hall, London (GB) - Dec 9, 2016

This concert was the last of a series curated by Christian McBride (double bass) and in it he was joined by the well-known soprano Renee Fleming and both Bretton Brown and Gabriel Latchin on piano, replacing Julian Joseph who was unwell. Brown played classical, Latchin jazz. The set was a mixture of classical (eg Handel, Offenbach) and jazz (mainly Ellington). The performance was pretty much impeccable and received very well by the audience who probably were mostly established fans. However, it lacked spontaneity even in the jazz numbers and, to this ear, seemed too deliberate and rather precious. The exception to this was the impressive playing of Latchin.