An enjoyable night of music in a packed 606 club, one of London’s best small venues.
I knew very little about The Coalminers, apart from the fact that they played New Orleans funk, when I arrived. They played two long sets of funk laced with touches of rock ‘n roll, country, jazz and blues; embracing songs by amongst others Alan Toussaint, Hank Williams, Carole King, Fats Domino and Dusty Springfield. Rob Updegraff playing a Fender Telecaster that looked older than him and perhaps as old as me and Ben Somers playing a well used sax provided the heart of the funk sound ably supported by Arthur Lea on piano, Spencer Brown on bass and stand- in drummer John Lees (not the BJH man)! The vocals were provided by Somers, Tommy Hare and Sumudu.
Hare arrived with a massive reputation and this six foot six giant did not live up to my expectations. In the first set I found his vocal barely audible, it was slightly stronger in the second set but still not nearly as strong as the other vocalists, I’m not sure why this was. Sumudu was superb, as the proud owner of her excellent 2011 album ‘Waiting For You’ , I had high expectations of her too and she delivered. She may be small in stature but she has a strong clear voice. I particular liked her version of ‘ Natural Woman’ which was more reminiscent of Carole King’s original rather than the iconic Aretha cover, her version of Dusty Springfields ‘ Son of a Preacher Man’ was excellent too. Ben Somers vocals were strong too.
The performance ended at 12:30 a.m. which meant that half the audience had already left, this denied the band the ovation they deserved.
Johns London Music Reviews 