Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Jeremy Sassoon’s MOJO (Unplugged)
Jeremy Sassoon
Venue: Drawing Room at Assembly Rooms
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
MOJO or Musicians of Jewish Origin takes the audience down memory lane, starting 100 years ago, right up to present day. with the music ranging from old style show tunes to present-day pop, all performed by Jeremy Sassoon on piano and vocals.
Review
Jeremy Sassoon is a consummate entertainer. With a complete command of the piano, an affable personality, a comic streak, a solid singing voice, and a talent for telling stories, he fully engages his audience for the hour-long show.
Sassoon’s beginnings saw excellence in piano and trumpet at the Royal College of Music Junior School. But instead of pursing the expected music career, he gravitated to medicine, studying in London, later going on to complete postgraduate training as a hospital psychiatrist in Manchester. Dr. Sassoon the psychiatrist became jazz artist Sassoon in 1995, returning to his music roots. He earned top spots in festivals and jazz clubs in London, the U.S. and Europe, playing trumpet and piano.
His curiosity and interest in Jewish composers brought him to the theme of this Fringe show: MOJO or Musicians of Jewish Origin. The program takes the audience down memory lane, starting 100 years ago, right up to present day.
The show is more than a lesson in music history. It is Sassoon bringing these composers and singers to life, with interesting backstories. We start with George Gershwin in the 1920s and the composers in what was known as Tin Pan Alley, where writers were highly prolific. Irving Berlin alone wrote more than 1000 songs, Jerome Kern wrote 700 songs, and Harold Arlen penned 500 tunes. We’re treated to a very rhythmic “Puttin’ on the Ritz”. Moving through the decades, styles changed with Elvis, when the focus was more on the singer than the composer. Writers in New York City were now part of the famous Brill Building, which was a “hit factory”. We get a taste of some of those tunes from legendary vocalist Nina Simone’s sultry “Feeling Good”. By the 1960s, it was the folk revolution, with trend setters like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. The bands of the 80s and 90s were again style changers. But one constant – Jewish composers. And the best selling Jewish composer of all time? You have to go to the show to find out.
Every song is played on piano in a style matching the period. With a strong walking bass line and lovely right hand jazz embellishments, he handily makes up for the lack of his full band, which he had at a previous Fringe. His broad-ranging keyboard skills take us from old-style Gershwin to Amy Winehouse, always interpreting the pieces with panache and authenticity.
As an entertainer, Sassoon knows how to work the audience. He is completely at ease entertaining strangers. Maybe the years in psychiatry gave him insight into how to charm a crowd. He definitely has that skill.
Early in the show we are invited to sing along. Sassoon has chosen mostly widely-known songs, and people truly enjoy singing those shout/echo moments in “Sweet Caroline” or a bit of Righteous Brothers.
It’s an hour of pure entertainment. You will probably find yourself nodding your head in recognition of the tunes, and singing along – with the rest of the audience. You’ll leave with a smile on your face and new insights into the tunes you have been singing for years.
