Five Men No Dog – Salsa Café November 23

Dave Jones (vocals), Peter Drake (sax/vocals), Simon Stephenson (guitar), Andy Booth (percussion), Jonny Drake (electric d.bass)

(Review by Kath Jobes).

Five Men No Dog were billed as playing a mix of original and classic songs that draws on jazz, blues, folk and swing and ‘sister’ we were not disappointed!  

The first set commenced with St Celie’s Blues from the film, The Colour Purple and then we swiftly took the A Train down to Sugar Hill with pleasant solos from the sax and guitar.  Ain’t Misbehavin’ set away with a mellow saxophone and led onto a bright version of  All of Me. 

We had just settled down into ‘Jazz Lounge music mode’ when out of the hat came a Peter Drake original - You Shot Me Down and suddenly I felt that the band had got into their stride… Confidence growing Dave Jones went on to Fly Me to the Moon with enthusiastic solos from Sax and Guitar before a segue into a vivacious I Will Survive.  The tone was then knocked back as Simon Stephenson played a colla voce My Funny Valentine… beautifully executed by Dave Jones.

The Latin beat of the percussionist Andy Booth inspired the gentle groove of another Peter Drake Original, Don’t Give up that Dream and then moved into a vamp with the young Jonny Drake on bass to introduce the ‘seasonally inappropriate’ Summertime. Apparently Jonny did so well in his recent GCSE’s that his dad bought him an electric double bass… methinks there was method in his madness as he needed a bass player… so his present was dual purpose…. In the six months he has been playing bass Jonny seems to have really got a good grasp of this instrument and can only get better… I have to say that an electric double bass appears to be a walk in the park compared with the vigorous workout it seems to be on an acoustic bass… but I digress… back to the set… 

The next tune - Happiness, was written by Crispin Holland and certainly brought a happy feel to the place… moving on to a song clearly rooted in folk music, Van Diemen’s Land - another Peter Drake original.   The Tracks of My Tears moved me - with sensitive percussion from Booth, and the set came to an end with an inspired Love is Like a Foreign Land.  

We came Zorbing into the second set and I have to say I was a little distracted by the table conversation during I Want You. However, my attention  was soon brought back to the band during the lively original - Love Says Hello with an animated section of rhythmic clapping  by the bass and sax player to accompany the percussionist.

The mood then switched back to folk roots as we bobbed down the River of Salt to a livelier Tears Dry/Aint no Mountain.  The next section of songs showed the versatility of Peter Drake’s song writing, as a poignant number – Old led nicely into Glenn Miller is Missing and Running for You.  The next tune – Django and Florine had a gypsy music feel and was inspired by Django Reinhardt. Pete Drake then joined Dave Jones to harmonise during Do You Remember? And this vocal duo implemented a nice rhythmic A capella section during Your Wild One.  The finale of this varied and enjoyable evening of music was Down So Long.

Kath J.

Post Script:  Comments from friends were: - they thought this group of musicians were nicely balanced, the percussion complemented their style, a full drum kit would have disturbed their equilibrium, and the band really came into their own when they were performing original numbers… I agree and I would certainly recommend that if you get the opportunity to see Five Men No Dog perform that you make an effort to do so… nice one fellas!