Keb’ Mo’ gave an outstanding performance to the delight of his Union Chapel audience.

This was the third time that my wife and I had seen Keb’ perform. Keb’ performed alone playing acoustic guitars and harmonica which I found both refreshing and exciting because I grew to love live music by watching singers  perform with just a guitar for accompaniment.

Keb’ opened the show with ‘Rita’ and immediately established a great rapport with the audience and this created a memorable atmosphere. Keb’ has a wonderful laid back persona, he comes across as a very humble man and the sort of person who is fun to be around.  His second song was ‘Tell Everybody I Know’ from his 1994 self-titled album. He then played ‘I Remember You’ from his latest album ‘Oklahoma’. For the rest of the show he sang songs from across his recording career and slipped in a cover of Otis reading’s ‘Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay’.

Many of the audience were on their feet applauding after Keb’ had ended his set with ‘Hand It Over’. Not surprisingly he returned for an encore and firstly he bowed to the audience’s request and sang ‘Every Morning’ and followed it with ‘She Just Wants To Dance’ before closing with ‘City Boy’.

This show was hugely entertaining. If you enjoy the Blues and have never seen Keb’ perform, then I recommend that you go and see him.

 

 

This was a successful launch of a new monthly series of shows in Holborn on the final Sunday of each month.

The show was in a similar format to the Gospel Blues series that played at the same venue last year. Daniel Thomas and the Jason Thomson (JT) Band, who had been regulars at that show, were the organisers of this show.

Daniel started the show with an improvised song telling the audience all about the show before singing ‘Lovely Day’. He shared lead vocals with Beverley Skeete and Faye Simpson throughout, each taking turns in leading and singing backing vocals for each other. All are exceptional vocalists in their own right and their voices blended well. The band played well individually and as a unit and complimented the vocalists.

The first set was of a good standard but in the second set I felt that the whole show was raised to a higher level with an excellent version of ‘Grandma’s Hands’ by Daniel, followed by a terrific version of Sam Smith’s ‘Dancing with A Stranger’ by Beverley and then a stunning ‘Amazing Grace’ by Faye. Those songs brought back memories of Gospel Blues at its best. The audience were fired up and the Band increased the tempo and had many of the audience up dancing until the end.
This show demonstrated that Soul Sunday is going to be highly successful, grab tickets whilst you can.

The Flo Collectives’s tribute to Nile Rodgers thrilled a packed Hideaway audience.
Florelie Escano brought her band (guitar, bass, trumpet, saxaphone, keyboard, drums and percussion) to Hideaway and they performed two sets of music with a Nile Rodgers theme. The band was a very tight funky unit who laid down the trademark Nile Rodgers vibe. Florelie shared lead vocals with the excellent Ebonie G.

Across the sets they featured all of the best known Nile Rodgers songs including ‘Everybody Dance’, ‘I Want Your Love’ and ‘Le Freak’. They performed both of the songs Nile wrote for Sister Sledge ‘He’s The Greatest Dancer’ and ‘We Are Family’ together with the song he wrote for Diana Ross ‘I’m Coming Out’ and the one he produced for her ‘Upside Down’.

Many of the audience were dancing to the disco beat and it was no surprise that the band were called back for an encore.

The Flo Collective is a great band and if you enjoy disco music, you should go to see them perform. Ebonie is a singer and song-writer and it would be worthwhile having a listen to her music too because she has a soulful voice. Credit must go to Florelie for putting the great band and the show together.

Fifty – three years after forming the Drells, Archie Bell showed that he still has the ability to thrill an audience.
This is the first time that either my wife or I have seen Archie perform. He was supported by a four piece band (guitar, bass, keyboard and drums) and the UK Drells (three backing singers).
The Drells sang three songs to warm up the audience featuring songs made famous by Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye and Earth, Wind and Fire. Archie then took the stage opening with ‘Let’s Groove ‘. Archive’s voice may not be quite as strong as it was fifty years ago but he still has stage presence and knows how to work an audience. ‘I Bet You Can’, ‘There’s Gonna Be A Showdown’, Hard Not To Call You’ and ‘ ‘Tighten Up’ followed before the break.
The second set started with three more songs from The UK Drells before Archie returned with ‘Soul City Walk’. Archie was keen to show his dance moves to the delight of the audience. ‘Don’t Let Your Love Get You Down’, ‘Where Would You Go’ and ‘Strategy’ followed before Archie closed with ‘Tighten Up’. He returned for an encore before leaving the cheering audience.
This maybe Archie’s farewell tour, but he vowed to return to London suggesting that there is more to come from Archie.

The Eagles showed that, forty-eight years after they were formed, they can still provide first class entertainment.
They played for well over two hours, covering nearly all of their best loved songs. The current line-up is Don Henley (the only original member), Joe Walsh, Timothy B Schmidt, Vince Gill, Deacon Frey (The late Glenn Grey’s son) and Steuart Smith. One of their strengths is that the lead vocals and the song-writing are spread across the band,but it probably contributed to the tension that led to their split in 1980 which lasted for fourteen years.
The show opened with ‘Seven Bridges Road’ and then ‘Take it Easy’ and ended two hours later with ‘Life In The Fast Lane’. On the way, they featured most of their hits and Vince Gill’s ‘ Don’t Let Our Love Keep Slippin’ Away’, Joe Walsh’s ‘ Life’s Been Good’ and Don Henley’s ‘ Boys Of Summer ‘. Three encores followed featuring ‘ Hotel California ‘, ‘Ricky Mountain Way’ and Desperado, then finally ‘Best Of My Love ‘
My wife and I were seated in the upper tier, a long way from the stage and to the band and the venues’ credit we felt fully engaged unlike recent visits to the O2 when we have been closer but have not felt as engaged.

This night was a resounding success and demonstrated that there are still lots to come from this band.

Lex Cameron gave a performance that thrilled a packed 606 Club audience.

Over the last ten years my wife and I have had the pleasure of seeing Lex perform countless times, mainly as keyboard player for other singers in small venues across London. This was the second time we have seen him sing as the main performer and we hope it will not be the last.

Lex put together a fantastic band, Italian guitar player John Luca, bass player John Michael McKensie, drummer Richard Bailey and backing vocalist Susan Allotey. Lex played keyboards and took the lead vocal. Together they were an exceptional unit.

Lex opened with two of his own songs ‘Free’ and ‘Forever and Ever’ which warmed the audience up for an evening of soulful funk. The audience were magnificent, they joined in the choruses when asked, singing loudly and in tune. They were so good that Lex said that they were the best 606 Club audience he had performed for (he said he played at the venue seventeen times in the last year). We have been to the 606 more than seventy times and cannot remember a better audience. The atmosphere was friendly, noisy in response to the songs and at the end, even with the house lights up, shouted loudly for more and were rewarded with an encore of Earth Wind and Fire’s ‘September’

Lex gave his band members many opportunities to show their huge talents and they responded with some outstanding solos. Susan Allotey’s voice complimented Lex’s voice perfectly and when she sang Deniece Williams’ ‘ Free; one wondered why she is not headlining her own shows.

Lex has recently had a number two hit in Japan ‘Come On Up For A,While’ which was very well received. One hopes that soon Lex will have a hit in the UK; he deserves all the success he has. He is well worth listening to and watching.

This show was the third in a series of Judi Jackson ‘s monthly shows as Musician-In-Residence

My wife and I had first seen Judi perform in Cafe Society Swing at the Royal Theatre Stratford where she sang and acted inpressively.

The setting for the show was the Thames Foyer. The stage was in a gazebo with a marble floor. There were tables in front of the stage and a few at the sides and behind. The thin metal bars encasing the gazebo made it look like a giant birdcage.

Judi Jackson opened her first set with the African American spiritual ‘Sinnerman’ which was most famously recorded by Nina Simone. This was a stunning version which enabled Judi to display her full vocal ability, her voice has an extensive range coupled with subtlety and, at times, power. The songs for the remainder of the evening, I felt, were less vocally challenging but Judi was still able to impress and was not afraid to improvise and make old standards her own.

Most of the songs , if not all, were probably written before Judi was born and were played and sung in a jazz style. They included ‘It Had to be You’, ‘Feeling Good’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’ with an infusion of ‘Lovely Day’.

The acoustics in the room were not brilliant, Judi and her band, featuring keybord, bass and drums sounded good but we both struggled to hear what Judi said, so as a result did not catch the band’s names.

Judi is a performer not just a singer, she made good use of the stage and the birdcage props and engaged with her band members and her audience.

Judi Jackson is a very talented lady with a bright future. I feel that she is only just starting out, she will conquer many vocal and performance challenges in future years.

Tahirah Memory’s performance was heart-warming. It pleased a highly appreciative audience.

My wife and I first saw Tahirah perform when she was last in London on June 15th 2017 and was sharing the spotlight with Jarrod Lawson. It had been a challenging trip for her, as whilst she was, here her father had died.

Tahirah has a beautifully soulful voice with a rich honey like tone which is soothing on the ear. She was supported by a band that worked exceptionally well together: Jarrod Lawson on keyboard, Dylan Sundstrom (bass) and Richard Lawrence (drums). Their travel plans had been disrupted. Their flight was cancelled after a six hour delay and Tahirah, Richard, Dylan’s and Tahirah’s daughter managed to get the last four seats on another flight which arrived the day before, but Jarrod had arrived just after midday on the day of the concert. This did not affect his performance.

The show started with ‘Pride’, the title track from her debut album. All the songs were self-penned and were from that album and her recently released sophomore album ‘Asha’. She played two hour long sets. Most of the songs were slow tempo with a jazz feel to them. The highlight was an emotional rendition of ‘ Lovely Bones’, a song written about her Dad soon after he had passed away. Another highlight was the duet with Jarrod ‘In Love With Love’, during which their voices gelled superbly in sweet harmony.
This was a strong performance warmly applauded by the audience. This audience was one of the best I’ve been a member of; one could have heard a pin drop on stage.

Tahirah Memory is highly recommended to any true music lover. Catch her live if you can before she returns to Portland, Oregon, if not listen to her albums.

This was the first show of Nell’s 2019 UK tour and was played to a sell-out audience.

I grew up during the golden era of the singer-song-writer, listening to and watching the likes of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, Melanie, Buffy Sainte-Marie, James Taylor, Harry Chapin, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Springsteen and Don McLean. If Nell Bryden had been born in that era she would have become a global superstar and would not be playing in small intimate venues such as Pizza Express in Maidstone because her best songs sit comfortably alongside those of the listed artists.

Nell has a beautiful voice which is technically strong, probably due to the influence of her mother who was a classical soprano.  Her lyrics show that she has the wonderful ability to put her thoughts into beautiful words; her melodies are strong and memorable.

The Show started with a stripped back version of the Smokey Robinson classic, ‘Tracks of My Tears’ which features on Nell’s latest album ‘Living Room Sessions’. Nell then told us that she had stepped away from music for a while to write her first novel ‘Little Wing’ and how this had inspired her to write a soundtrack to the book. She then played ‘Eyebrows Wild As The City’ from her EP ‘Soundtrack to Little Wing Part 1’.

The remainder of the show featured songs from throughout Nell’s musical career. The highlights for me were ‘Wolves’ from the ‘Wayfarer’ album, ‘City Rose’ from ‘Bloom’, ‘Building and Treetops’ (the song that kick started my interest in Nell’s music) from ‘Shake The Tree’ and her new single ‘Smoke in My Heart’ another song from her latest EP.

The show ended with my all-time favourite Nell song ‘Sirens’, song written following the tragedy of 9/11 proclaiming that ‘Love Will Survive’ the tragedy. It is a very emotional song which is optimistic in its outlook.  Nell returned to play an encore and finished with Elvis Presley’s ‘That’s All Right’.

The audience had a large contingent of over-sixties and whilst appreciating the music were not very loud in their applause. The performance was worthy of a far more raucous reception.

Nell Bryden is a highly talented performer who shows a warmth toward her audience, she has a bright future ahead of her.

Shalamar rolled back the years to the delight of a sell-out Churchill Theatre audience.

Shalamar started out in 1977, it took me 42 years to go see them perform live but their music still sounds current. The line-up of vocalists for this show was Jeffrey Daniel, who joined the band in 1977, Howard Hewett a member since 1979 and Carolyn Griffey who has been in the band since 2001.

The singers were supported by two backing vocalists and a five piece band (two keyboards, guitar, bass and drums), who all performed well. The set included songs from across the band’s history, from 1978’s ‘Take That To The Bank’ to 2017’s ‘The Real Thing’. All the big hits were included ‘Friends’, ‘I Want Your Love’, ‘I Can Make You Feel Good’, ‘There It Is’ and the closing song of the night, ‘A Night To Remember’.

Jeffrey Daniel, the man who once worked as Michael Jackson’s choreographer, showed that he is still a top class dancer. He and Howard Hewett both demonstrated that they still have great vocal ranges from falsetto down. Carolyn Griffey has not lost her vocal ability either. The performance was high energy and had the audience on their feet for much of the time.

This was a night to remember for all die-hard Shalamar fans and other music lovers.