Summer: 2015

Jazz à Vienne: From pop to jazz, the many facets of a fascinating Sting...

According to his birth certificate, filed in the municipal records of Wallsend, near Newcastle, Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner will be celebrating his sixty-fourth birthday this coming October. This is undoubtedly true. Yet, the man who spent an hour and a half on the stage of Vienna's ancient theater this Wednesday, July 8th, under the name Sting, hardly seems to fit the image one has of a sixty-year-old, even a fit one. Admittedly, he now sports a face obscured by an enormous Canadian lumberjack beard, but apart from that detail, his physique, musculature, overall appearance, and the energy he exudes are typically those of a well-maintained forty-year-old.

Sting, meaning "The Sting" in English, gave his audience exactly what they came for. He was treated to standards from his Police days, with "Message in a Bottle," "Walking on the Moon," "So Lonely," "Doo Doo Doo, Dah Dah Dah," and "Roxanne" (what an ovation!) sprinkled throughout the concert, as well as the essential tracks from his second period, most notably the song that will undoubtedly remain his masterpiece, "Englishman in New York." With the notable presence of saxophonist Branford Marsalis, this track, in fact, foreshadowed the jazzy Sting we know today, as early as 1987.

For those wondering what an artist like Sting could possibly be doing at a jazz festival, the answer lies in his performance. Alongside the brilliant pop of The Police era from 1978 to 1983, and following the romantic ballads of subsequent decades, Sting fully embraced jazz. His performance in Vienna, playing bass like the best in the genre, captivated not only the "Stingmaniacs" but also the jazz aficionados present in the ancient Roman theater.

Sting's backing band included a guitarist, a drummer (almost a dead ringer for Stewart Copeland, who played bass for The Police!), a backing vocalist, a violinist, and a pianist. All exceptional. A small ensemble, but extraordinary in its musical quality. The interplay between Sting's bass and the pianist's violin or keyboard will not be forgotten. Nor could the image of the bassist surrounded by the violin and guitar, a trio in perfect musical harmony, be forgotten, as the audience was captivated by the powerful sound and the sheer joy of playing together that these exceptional musicians radiated. In an hour and a half, they retraced Sting's nearly forty-year career. Sting himself, with his characteristic class and a touch of his original rebellious streak, recaptured the enthusiasm of youth with "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," and the emotion of a solitary singer with the deeply moving "Fragile." Another highlight of the evening was his performance of "Desert Rose," which he recorded with Cheb Mami. Sting, arms outstretched to his audience, singing this magnificent song in Arabic, punctuated by "Yalla," is an unforgettable moment.

Sting was there, the peroxide-blond post-adolescent from The Police, but also Sting, the romantic, tormented, and disillusioned gentleman of "Englishman," and Sting the activist, with his tousled hair or bald head... and finally, another Sting present that evening in Vienne, the mature, bearded, and muscular man, marked by age but certainly not by old age, having come through classical music, workers' songs, and now fully embracing jazz. They were all there in this mythical place, this Roman Theatre of Vienne, one after the other and sometimes mingling, multiple facets of an artist unlike any other who has yet to finish forging his own path.

(c) Franceinfo

(c) France TVINFO by Jean-Francois Lixon