Joy Rose made a triumphant return to the 606 Club with two excellent sets of jazz, soul and gospel music.
My wife and I first saw Joy Rose sing as a member of Incognito in 2009. The clarity and tone of her voice and her smiling countenance were instantly apparent. This was the fifth time we had seen her perform as a soloist, but the first for two years.
Joy was accompanied by an excellent band that opened the show with an instrumental version of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’. The band members were Bobby Quigley (Guitar), Lex Cameron (Keyboard), Chris Todd (Bass) and Sam Agard (Drums). Most of Joy’s songs were arranged ‘Jazz-style’ with opportunities for the band to play solos. In the first half, there was a version of Brenda Russell’s ‘In the Thick of It’ and a two song tribute to Aretha Franklin featuring ‘Natural Woman’ and ‘I Say a Little Prayer’. I first heard ‘Natural Woman’ sung live in 1971 by Carole King and have watched countless performances of this song; Joy’s version was one of the best and was sung with power and passion. The first set closed with Joy’s own song ‘Come Back Lover’ and a beautiful version of Chaka Khan’s ‘Sweet Thing’.
The second half started with a summery feel, a jazz song featuring Sunshine and then the Jason Robello arrangement of ‘Summertime’. The next three songs threw the spotlight on others. Firstly 606 owner, Steve Rubie, accompanied Joy on flute, and then Luke Smith took over on keys and piano to accompany Joy on ‘True Love’, a song they had written together. Next Joy took a seat and the band put down their instruments as Lex Cameron showed off both his vocal and keyboard playing skills on a solo number. The performance ended with one of the first songs that Joy had written ‘Every Little Thing’ before she was called back for an encore of ‘Saving Grace’.
This was a highly enjoyable evening. Joy has a very engaging personality to complement her beautiful voice and is happy to deflect the focus of attention away from herself and onto her musicians. She is an excellent song-writer too. Any lover of good music should go to see Joy perform.
Johns London Music Reviews 