STAGE/MUSIC REVIEW: The Remi Harris Project at the Huntingdon Hall, Worcester.

THIS supremely gifted musician makes his guitar sing like a bird on a wire.

Whether he is using his Selmer jazz model, archtop or electric solid, the result is the same… six strings of heavenly joy powered by a youthful exuberance so intense it makes your eyes water.

Gipsy jazz is a temperamental beast, invariably delivered by practitioners who so often play to impress rather than express. Not so with this awesomely talented performer from Bromyard, Herefordshire.

Sure, he’s got all the licks, flash-flood glissandi and peppery arpeggios that make you want to put all your Eric Clapton records in a heap and set fire to them. But Harris, with his disarming and self-effacing half smile, refuses to fall into the guitar god trap, instead infusing his work with wit and humour.

Who else would incorporate a snatch of the theme from Match of the Day into a classic such as Pennies from Heaven?

Another smart move is his choice of material, which covers anything and everything from the back catalogues. And he can certainly give the old bluesers a run for their money, delivering an angst-drenched version of Peter Green’s Need Your Love So Bad hot on the heels of Steady Rollin’ Man, a chugging boogie from circa 1969.

This eclectic approach doesn’t end there as the Beatles come under the musical microscope. Opener Can’t Buy Me Love nicely sets out the stall for an achingly beautiful Here, There and Everywhere, which soared to stratospheric heights before gently bringing us back to earth. And as if this wasn’t enough of a cerebral overload, along comes Jimi Hendrix’s The Wind Cries Mary, not so much a tune, more an out-of-body experience.

Harris is barely aged 30. I don’t know if this young man has done a deal down at the crossroads, or whether he’s from outer space… all I know is that he’s going to go very, very far indeed.

John Phillpott