Review: Theo Parrish Live at The Ritz

Photo: Theo Parrish // Credit: Alba Rupérez

When you get wind that one Theo Parrish is coming to town, it’s just not something you really want to miss out on, especially when it’s announced as a special live show.

At the Ritz as a part of a short UK tour, the Detroit based deep house producer and celestial selector was flanked by his hand-picked ensemble. They were: Amp Fiddler (keys), Dumminie Deporres (electric guitar), Akwasi Mensa (bass), Myele Manzanza (drums) and Ideeya (vocals). The collective, assembled from all across the globe, laid down stripped back jazz, soul and funk versions of their conductor’s repertoire, boldly swerving between funky rhythms and impulsive classic house sounds.

2014 is the first time Parrish has played with a live band for over a decade and for the evening they were also joined by a gaggle of flapping, baggy trousered dancers. All donning bucket hats, they buzzed about in front of the band, bringing the recent video for single “Footwork” to life (above).

Working in pure rhythmic cohesion, those with the instruments treated the room to a stripped back and invariably upbeat set which rose and fell with crescendoing keys and layered synths.

There were smooth, jazzy guitars and of course a whole load of soul from Ideeyah. Greeted by chants of “Theo, Theo, Theo”, maestro Parrish commanded the performance from the centre. His voice was rather lost in the cacophony around him, but it was nice to hear him having a joke before playing the spectacular “Going Through Changes” (below).

Parrish, a regular on the nightclub scene in the city, had never performed here before in the live arena, and the night after his sold out Barbican show in the capital, the legend from the motor city ensured there was not a still pair of legs in the house. His organic yet machine-based dance music fluctuated between being buoyant and at times, a deliberately measured tempo.

The deep and powerful drops of acid jazz during “Walkin Thru The Sky” (below) were deftly delivered by Amp Fiddler, whilst the levels and the different elements carefully composed by Parrish were laid bare in the British city that was early to adopt house music from the American underground.

There was plenty of improvisation and the odd solo on the guitar which breezed gently about the place. We were treated to a rapturous drum solo before an interpretation of 2002 cut “Solitary Flight”, and then the brilliant latest single “Footwork” and its almost instructional lyrics of “let me see your footwork”. Not that they’re needed with the sounds that had roused the crowd beforehand. 

There was a one track encore to end the night in which the band revisited both old and new tracks, getting the mix just right. Parrish is a man who, despite practising his art for over 20 years, continues to experiment. He defies definition, and refuses to just exist, always keeping that distinct and signature ‘future soul’ sounding fresh. Head here for more on Theo Parrish.