Ayanna Witter-Johnson received an applause and a richly deserved standing ovation from a packed Omnibus Theatre audience for a great performance showcasing her new album ‘Roadrunner’.

My wife and I first saw Ayanna in January 2018 when she performed a very short set at Ronnie Scotts as part of a ‘Rebuild, Rise Up’ Hurricane Benefit event raising money to rebuild Anguilla and other Caribbean Islands. I’ve always been interested in fusions of musical genres since the days of prog rock bands playing with orchestras, so Ayanna’s fusion of classical and alternative was appealing. Since that day,  I’ve been following Ayanna’s progress.

The show started with Ayanna on stage accompanied only by her beloved cello. Her first song was Roxanne, from the album ‘Roadrunner’, which was released two days earlier. This was followed by the beautiful ‘These Four Walls’ and already Ayanna had shown her innovative and imaginative approach by firstly using her bow on her cello, then using her finger to pluck and then using her hands to beat a rhythm.

Ayanna then charted her musical journey, starting with her first live performance at the Apollo Theatre Harlem in the ‘Amateur Night Live’ competition. (Ayanna was studying at the Manhattan School of Music at the time). Ayanna reached the fourth round of the competition and won enough money to record an EP when she got home. She sang two songs from the debut EP ‘Truthfully Still’ the first of which was ‘Let Me Go’, the song she sang that night in Harlem.

Next, Ayanna performed two songs from her second EP, the first ‘Grandma’s Hands’ (A Bill Wither’s song) on which she played her cello like a guitar with her right foot on a wooden stool and the cello supported on her right knee. She put her cello down and moved to the keyboard to perform ‘Black Panther’, the title track of the second EP.

Ayanna picked up her cello again to play ‘Cry Me A River ‘ from her third EP ‘Ella, Reuben and Ay’, a tribute to Ela Fitzgerald commissioned to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Ella’s birth.

She then moved back to her latest album singing ‘Wooden Woman’; a song that evoked memories of Joni Mitchell in her early years. The first set closed with drummer Samson joining Ayanna on stage for ‘Chariot”.

For the second set, Ayanna was accompanied by her band Samson, Ed on Bass and Tania on keyboard and she sang more songs from ‘Roadrunner’, starting with the catchy title track and ending with ‘Rise Up’ another very catchy tune. Before the penultimate song Ayanna thanked many people who had made her album possible and told of the experience which had stretched her, she dedicated the song to her Mum, who on its conclusion’ ran down the aisle and kissed her daughter. I feel sure that Ayanna’s Mum was very proud of her daughter’s excellent performance.

Ayanna is an exceptional singer, song-writer, performer, cellist and improviser. It is well worth listening to her album and EP’s and should be seen performing live. She is very talented and deserves to be heard by audiences much larger than that at the Omnibus.

We will be following her musical journey.

Danny Toeman thrilled a sell-out audience with two forty -five minute sets of high octane ‘North London Soul’

‘North London Soul’ is funky soul which has a similar soulful feel to the classic Stax sound with some James Brown sounding funk.

Danny entered the stage wearing an orange cloak to the delight of the audience.

My wife and I went to see Danny sing having never heard a note of his music but having read glowing reviews of his performance.

I was hooked early in the set when he sang the funky ‘That Sinking Feeling’ which was aptly followed by ‘Rise Above’. Danny has a great soul voice with a rough edge and the occasional smooth falsetto. Much of his song introductions were tongue in cheek, making fun of himself. These had the audience laughing loudly.

Apart from during the second set opener, Danny was supported by his excellent band (The Love Explosion) consisting of: Ricky Kinrade (bass), Timur Djahit (drums), Andrew Liddell (saxophone), Sam Montero (keyboards), Lyle Moxsom (guitar), Daniel Gray (trumpet). They are a very tight unit, whilst individually being good musicians, and complimented Danny’s guitar and vocals. A special mention for Kyle who stepped in at the last minute,  but  played like a regular.

Danny has an EP from which ‘That Sinking Feeling’ and ‘Everybody Says I’m Wrong’ were taken and a new album which he hopes to release by the end of the year.

Danny plays the joker on stage but he is a serious singer whose songs (all written by Danny himself) deserve to reach a wide audience. He is certainly a performer worth seeing and will hopefully realise his enormous potential.

The Atlantic Soul Orchestra (ASO) took their sell-out Hideaway audience on a trip down memory lane with two sets of soul classics.

The songs were all either from the Motown or Stax catalogue, the two labels that dominated soul music in the sixties and seventies. The ASO arrangements were similar to the originals and gave little opportunity for members of the Orchestra to play solos. When the opportunities arose, they showed the quality of the musicians. The ASO has eight members: a male and a female vocalist, trumpet, saxophone, keyboard, guitar, bass and drums.

Interestingly, ‘Respect’ featured in both sets; the Otis Reading original version in the first set and the Aretha Franklin cover version in the second set. The music and lyrics had subtle differences in the two versions.

Throughout, the tempo was high and the music kept playing with little time between songs. The quality of the band was high with both vocalists showing they had strong voices. They performed one duet ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, whilst providing backing vocals for each other on the remaining songs.

Amongst the songs performed were Arthur Conley’s ‘Sweet Soul Music’,  Junior Walker’s ‘How Sweet It is’ (which offered the brass section the opportunity to shine), Martha Reeves and the Vandellas ‘Dancing In The Street’, Gladys Knight and The Pips ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ and James Brown’s ‘I Got You’ and ‘Papas Got A brand New Bag’

This was a nostalgic journey for the older members of the audience and showed just how good the songs still sound forty to fifty years after they were originally recorded.

All the members of the band were excellent but they were not introduced individually to the audience apart from the sax player.

This was a highly enjoyable evening of soul music at its best.

Ivy Chanel gave another strong, uplifting performance at Hideaway.

This was the fourth time my wife and I have seen Ivy perform solo and once again, she impressed with her warm personality and the strength, range and tone of her voice.
Ivy, a UK resident, is proud of her Philadelphian roots and sang a Phyllis Hyman song in honour of this. She is proud of her Native American roots and taught the audience how to say love and thank you in Cherokee and sang some verses of ‘Amazing Grace’ in another Native American language.

Ivy had written many of the songs she performed including, ‘Take Me Home’, ‘For You’, ‘Together’, ‘Carried Away’ and ‘Wind Blows’. These were all up-tempo soulful songs which were catchy and well crafted.

Once again I felt that she excelled in singing Deniece Williams,’ ‘Free’ which showed off the quality of her voice, hitting the high notes with ease.

Ivy was ably supported by her band: Luke Smith (Keys), Kofi Quarshie (percussion), Max Lauder (Drums), Louis Munro (Bass), Cam May (Guitar), Noreen Stewart and Nathan Lewis (Vocals). They gelled well as a unit, whilst displaying their individual talents.

I would recommend that you go watch Ivy perform; she is well worth seeing and deserves to play to packed audiences. She next performs on May 17th at Boisdale in Canary Wharf.

Natalie Duncan demonstrated that she is an accomplished pianist, singer and song-writer with huge potential.

My wife and I had seen Natalie perform once before in 2012 at Boisdale on a night when we sat a long way from the stage and there were too many people more interested in their drinks and their loud conversation than the music which diminished our enjoyment. The 606 offered a much better opportunity to concentrate on the music.

Natalie opened with a lengthy instrumental piece that she had written herself called ‘Infinite Streams’ which showed that she is a gifted pianist and composer. She was supported on this by her band: Alan Mian (Bass), Dave Browning (Drums) and Jake Elkan (Guitar). After playing this, she admitted to being very nervous, but it had not shown in her piano playing. She concluded her first set with two solo songs ‘When The Castle Falls’ and ‘Amber’ which highlighted her soulful voice.

The second set consisted of a number of songs: ‘Autumn’, ‘Nova’, ‘Ripples’, ‘Strange’, ‘In-Solitude’, ‘Brave’, ‘Old Rock’, ‘Atrium’, ‘Pause’, ‘Sirens’ and ‘Diamonds’. They were all self-penned and most have not been released yet. Some were performed by Natalie for the very first time. ‘Old Rock’ was the first song that Natalie wrote when she was nineteen years old and was about one of the regular customers at a pub where she worked. Natalie writes very strong melodies and the band augmented her piano playing well and was joined for the final five numbers by Alan Mian’s brothers: Ricky (Sax) and Dave (Trumpet). Some of the melodies were so sumptuous that I started to wonder how good they would sound with either a string quartet or orchestra.

Natalie’s performance was received well by her audience and she was called back for an encore of  ‘The Sky is Falling’ which was the only song I remembered from 2012.

Natalie is a richly talented artist and it is certainly worth watching her future progression.

Terri Walker celebrated her 40th Birthday in style at the Jazz Cafe.

I bought a copy of Terri Walker’s debut album ‘Untitled’ in 2003 and that year was probably the most challenging of my life. ‘Untitled’ was an important pillar that I clung onto and it helped me make it through. I have been a fan ever since. This was the fifth time that my wife and I had seen Terri perform live and she always gives a great performance.

The show opened with the first track from Terri’s 2005 album ‘L.O.V.E.’ and from this number until her encore of ‘Feel It In The Water’ (from the 2015 album ‘Entitled’), Terri was on top form. She demonstrated that she is one of the UK’s best soul singers and she knows how to keep an audience entertained.

The show featured three songs from ‘Untitled’; ‘Guess You Didn’t Love Me’, ‘Drawing Board’ (which featured two changes of drummer) and the set closer ‘Ching Ching’. There were two guests who sang duets, first Natalie Stewart who sang ‘Lose Twice’ with Terri (another song from ‘Entitled’) and then Rodney P who sang the rap version of ‘Breakout’ with Terri.

The new, still to be released, song ‘Morning Has Broken’ was one of the best performances of the night and shows that there is much more to come from Terri.

Terri showed a great deal of warmth during her performance and was visibly delighted to be sharing her birthday with family, friends and fans. Mid-way through the set she was presented with a large floral bouquet and the excellent band and backing vocalists sang Stevie Wonder’s ‘Happy Birthday’ with the help of the audience.

This was a wonderful evening and demonstrated that Terri is well worth listening to and watching perform live.

Omar Lye-Fook, the father of Neo Soul, has been in the music business for thirty-five years, but he still has a thirst to entertain and his performance sent a Hideaway audience home happy.

Omar opened with the song, ‘I Can Listen’ from his 2013 album ‘The Man’. This set the tone for the night with a series of up-tempo soul numbers featuring Omar on Lead Vocals and Moog, Lex Cameron and Brian Henry (Keyboards), Alan Simpson (Guitar), Colin McNeish Bass, Westley Joseph (Drums) and Chris Ballin (Backing Vocals). They all combined exceptionally well to provide some compelling music.

It is difficult to pick the stand-out songs, but if pushed I would choose ‘Sunshine, Omar’s tribute to the late Leon Ware ‘Gave My Heart’ and his biggest hit ‘There’s Nothing Like This’. There were no songs that weren’t performed well.

The audience was responsive but remained seated for the first set. During the second set, most were up on their feet dancing and singing choruses when prompted by Omar.
Omar pretended that ‘There is Nothing Like This’ was his closer but returned to the stage as the audience were singing along and performed four more songs.

Omar is a great performer and has inspired many young artists. His performance was an object lesson in how to keep an audience entertained.

After forty-five years, Steve Harley still enjoys performing and knows how to entertain his audience.

On April 12th 1974, I first saw Cockney Rebel perform at the Empire Pool, Wembley (now Wembley Arena). One day short of forty-three years later, Steve Harley looks older, has mellowed a little but still sings well, has retained his distinct phrasing, still writes beautiful melodies and is writes great lyrics.

I had last seen Steve perform live in 2014 at the Royal Albert Hall with Cockney Rebel and a full orchestra. This was totally different a small intimate venue and only Barry Wickens (Violin and Guitar) and James Lascelles (Keyboards) accompanying him. It worked exceptionally well.

Surprisingly (because I am not used to Steve playing covers), he opened with Bob Dylan’s ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’ which he interpreted brilliantly. Apart from the old Cockney Rebel songs like ‘Judy Teen’ and ‘Sling It’, I did not recognise his songs but from the writing style and phrasing I assumed they were all self-penned. One song ‘A Friend For Life’, he told us had been covered brilliantly by Rod Stewart.

The second set began with a tribute to Scott Walker and a rendition of ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’. Amongst the songs was one about the Amalfi Coast which managed to include Pompei, Sorrento, Napoli and Ischia in its lyrics which is not a simple task. The set concluded with magnificent versions of ‘Best Year of Our Lives’ and ‘Sebastian’ which featured stunning playing from Barry Wickens and James Lascelles supporting Steve’s guitar work, much of which was improvised. They were so good that when they played an encore of ‘Make Me Smile’ it was almost anti-climactic.

Steve told a few stories and one was about meeting Vince Clark at the Ivor Novello awards, where Steve was presenting rather than receiving a song-writing award. I cannot think of any UK song-writer better than Steve who is yet to win one of those awards.

Steve clearly still enjoys performing and is well worth going to see.

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.

Bukky Leo and Black Egypt thrilled a sell-out Pizza Express audience with their celebration of Fela Kuti’s music.

There is much to celebrate when featuring Fela’s work, the Nigerian was the pioneer of Afrobeat. His music has influenced several modern day artists. Bukky Leo was the lead vocalist and played tenor sax. Black Egypt featured trombone, baritone sax, guitar, keyboard, drums, bass and two dancers / backing vocalists.

The first set lasted fifty minutes. It opened with a brief instrumental followed by three lengthy songs which followed a similar pattern, all lasting about fifteen minutes. The up-tempo Afrobeat was laid down by bass and drums with the strong melodies featuring brass with guitar and keys. All three songs (Gentlemen, Opposite People and Confusion) opened with a five minute plus instrumental intro which the backing vocalists energetically danced to, the vocals then started, but featured more instrumental breaks. The brass players, keyboard player and guitarist all had solo opportunities and they all played exceptionally well. The dancers / backing vocalists were very good and demonstrated their versatility.

The second set featured five more songs and lasted an hour. The songs were slightly shorter,but most followed the same pattern and all were up-tempo featuring the strong Afrobeat rhythms. They all had me moving in my seat and ‘Water No Get Enemy’ had me singing along too. The songs were all Fela’s originals apart from Bukky’s own song ‘His Majesty’ dedicated to Fela Ransome-Kuti.

This was a very enjoyable show and I would certainly  return to see another featuring Fela’s music.