Wayne Hernandez’s tribute to Marvin Gaye showed that Marvin’s music still sounds fresh and current and will live forever more.
My wife and I have seen Wayne perform many times, but this is only the second time we have seen his Marvin show. I first became aware of Marvin’s music when I heard him sing ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ with Tammi Terrell, so it was fitting that this gig was held on the 74th anniversary of Tammi’s birth (sadly it is 49 years since she joined the celestial choir).
Unusually for Pizza Express, Wayne played one lengthy set (about one hundred minutes) rather than two shorter ones. This worked well with the audience.
The show opened with ‘Pride and Joy’, a song recorded early in Marvin’s career. Wayne has a great voice and it is ideally suited to sing Marvin covers. The band: Michael Brown (Guitar), Perry Melius (Drums), Emlyn Allarde (Keyboard) and Wayne Nunes (Bass) were able to recreate that distinctive Motown sound. The band played well as a unit and true to Motown tradition, they had little opportunity to play solos. Wayne had two of the UK’s finest backing vocalists Sam White and Vicky Akintola alongside him and they excelled, complimenting his vocals.
The set covered many of Marvin’s biggest hits including ‘How Sweet It Is’, ‘What’s Going On’, ‘Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology)’ and ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’. The highlights for me were ‘You’re All I Need To Get By’ on which he sang a duet with Sam White and ‘Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing’, on which he sang with Vicky Akintola. (Both from originally recorded with Tammi Terrell on the ‘You’re All I Need’ Album). On the former song the audience were encouraged to join in with the chorus and their response was as impressive as any I’ve heard this year.
The show closed with an encore of ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ with Vicky and Sam sharing the female vocals.
The show was very well received, was highly enjoyable and is recommended.
Johns London Music Reviews 