Charles Gordon, Mike Oxnam (kbds), Ken Hewitt, Lance Liddle (ten), SUE DENT (vcl).
This was a belter! I'd heard of Sue Dent but never actually heard her. This girl is something else with a smoky sultry voice that makes your hackles rise on a ballad such as "Summertime" or "My Funny Valentine" then, just as you are wallowing in a dreamy sense of security, she delivers both barrels on some funky, down home blues. Praise the lord and pass the amunition brother this was Tina Turner meets Aretha meets B.B.King and then some. Behind Sue, and playing solid groove merchant material on 3 keyboards, Mike and Charles kept Sue in business by feeding her big fat chords as well some meaty solos. Both keyboard players used their voicings intelligently and avoided duplicating each other. At times Mike had a guitarlike fluency whilst Charles was full of soulful intensity. The only hiccup came when Charles' Korg Keyboard fell off the Yamaha piano it was resting on and landed with an expensive sounding klunk! on the floor. Hopefully the cure won't be too painful.
Ken Hewitt blew some powerful tenor choruses - he gets a great modern sound - and I chipped in with a few myself. In fact "Stormy Monday" had frantic solos all round as well as an even more frenetic vocal from Sue.
Earlier, Ken and I had worked out on "Black Orpheus" and "Canteloupe Island" - I felt good.
It's a nice intimate venue with stacks of atmosphere and the food, they tell me, is also superb.
Lance.
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