The latest Border Concert in this season's series was staged at Backus Auditorium last Sunday evening and it turned out to be one of the most memorable performances in years. Eastern Ontario's award-winning Fitzgerald family brought the house down with a high energy display of fiddling and step dancing.
In a show aptly titled Everything Fitz, the family band presented a rollicking two-hour performance combining country, bluegrass, gospel, old-time fiddle tunes and jazz improvisations, all played with remarkable precision and brilliant clarity.
Backed by parents Pam and Paddy on piano and bass guitar, and eldest brother Pat on drums, siblings Julie, Kerry and Tom performed the group's own arrangements of many well-know pieces in beautiful three-part harmony. You Raise Me Up, La Vie en Rose and Louis Armstrong's memorable What a Wonderful World were so silky smooth, there were surely many shivers running up and down many spines in the audience.
The Fitzgeralds paid tribute to Texas swing music with a tune called Yearning Just For You, bringing back memories of the days when this unique harmony was so popular. And 17-year-old Tom displayed his virtuosity on the mandolin with a beautiful number entitled An Angel Forever.
A highlight of the show was the old favorite Turkey in the Straw, performed as a novelty number in which the fiddlers played their instruments upside-down, left-handed or even the fiddle of their neighbor on stage. Julie topped it off by playing two fiddles in harmony simultaneously, a remarkably difficult musical feat.
Later in the show, Julie and Tom gave an impressive display of their talents in jazz improvisation in a marvelous rendition of Gershwin's Lady Be Good that would have done Stephane Grappelli proud.
As emcee and proud father, Paddy injected liberal doses of self-deprecating humor and wit throughout the evening. The light-hearted atmosphere was further enhanced by the group's musical antics in several numbers. Halfway through the perennial favorite, The Orange Blossom Special, the tune mysteriously morphed into the Beatles' Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, which was soon followed by some remarkable sound effects featuring a cow, an ambulance, a police siren and a diesel train (complete with Doppler effect).
All four siblings left no doubt as to why they have been awarded championships in the art of step dancing. The precision and intricacy of their footwork was breathtaking and the complex choreography left many in the audience shaking their heads in amazement.
The Fitzgeralds succeeded in captivating the Border Concert audience with their enthusiasm, warmth and stunning abilities as musicians and dancers. They were given a rousing, well-earned standing ovation at the conclusion of the show.
