Fred Wesley and the New JB Horns @ Hoochie Coochie October 19.

Fred Wesley (tmb/vcl); Gary Winter (tpt); Philip Whack (ten); Barney McAll (keys); Reggie Ward (gtr); Dwayne Dolphin (bs); Bruce Cox (dms).

(Review by Lance).

This was a gig! wall to wall punters digging the soulful funky jazz of this, with the exception of Australian born McAll, all-American combo. And what a coup for Hoochie! The only UK date and then Zurich, Paris, Milan, Austria, Berlin and Brno.

In my younger days, I twice ran the Great North Run and cycled 100+ miles on innumerable occasions yet never ever have I felt so exhausted or perspired so much as I did tonight! Not that I was dancing, there was little room for other than a few hip twitches - I thought I'd hit lucky when an adjacent pair of hips and mine made repeated contact - sadly it was another guy!

This band was positively electric both as a unit and solo-wise. James Brown may have left us but his music lives on with these guys. Winter on trumpet must have learned his craft at Cape Canaveral - the stratosphere was merely a few stations down the line for him! Philip Whack, didn't catch his surname but David Gray did (see comment), on tenor blew great, straight down the middle bebop tenor - Hank Mobley, Joe Henderson - Philip had listened. Bruce Cox can play - talk about an understatement! and he proved it with a solo that pleased everyone judging by the volume of applause.

McAll on keys was relatively low profile but he laid down the chord patterns for lift-off. On guitar, Reggie Ward certainly did lift-off on more than one occasion and Dwayne Dolphin was the bass guitarist every band dreams of having - no frills just always there.

Wesley himself didn't play a lot of trombone but when he did, the smooth sound and the rapid phrases indicated a man who knew his way around the horn. His ambience with the audience and the vocals added to the occasion.

Apart from the music, there was the inevitable James Brown hokum with audience participation in the form of hand clapping, singing along with band vocals and the general concept that jazz can be fun.

We, including a significant contingent of local musicians, certainly had some fun tonight.
Photos.
Lance.
PS: Don't forget Strictly Smokin' Big Band this Sunday 5pm at Hoochie.