Amazing Grace (featuring Samatha-Antoinette, Sarah Brown, Steve Denton, Neil Reidman & Luke Smith) – Toulouse Lautrec Jazz Club Kennington 16/12/2018

The launch show of  CrazySexyCoool’s ‘Amazing Grace’ was such a success, judged by the audience response, that the challenge will not be to improve on the standard of the opener but merely to maintain it.

From the moment Steve Denton opened the show with ‘Wade in the Water’ accompanied by Luke Smith on piano and Samantha-Antoinette and Sarah Brown on backing vocals, I felt that this was going to be a very special afternoon. By the time Steve had followed with ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ before Samantha sang ‘Go Down Moses’ and Sarah sang ‘(Sometimes I Feel Like a ) Motherless Chid’, I felt so emotional, totally blown away by the quality of the vocals. Neil Reidman was the narrator telling the story of the development of the spirituals and the evolution to gospel and blue music.

I had only ever heard ‘Motherless Child’ sung as part of Richie Havens ‘Freedom’ which always ended with frenetic guitar playing to the point where most of the strings were broken. Sarah’s version was far more controlled and transmitted the raw emotion of the song.

The high standard was maintained for throughout the two one hour sets and the artists and promoter received a richly deserved raucous standing ovation. This was my wife and I’s 99^th gig of the year, it was one of the best and it was a shame it was not the 100^th because this show and its music illustrate what I enjoy.

I had never heard of Sarah Brown until yesterday, she was sensationally good. Her version of ‘Summertime’ was fantastic, taking the standard and making it different by changing up the tempo toward the end of the show. She has a big voice, big hair and a big heart, she was instantly likeable. I knew Samantha-Antoinette from the Powerhouse Choir and Gospel Blue and my expectation of her were high, she delivered. She has a voice ideally suited to spirituals gospel and blues. I had not heard of Steve either but I was hooked from the opening bars of ‘Wade in the Water’. Neil was a good narrator and showed his vocal talent on ‘Amazing Grace’. Luke who I have seen on many occasions is a fantastic pianist.

It was great to hear the songs of such greats as Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharp. This was a fantastic show played to a packed audience, my one fear is that the demand for tickets for future shows will be so high that either lots of people will be disappointed that they can’t attend or the show will have to be moved to a bigger venue.