Gerry Richardson (Hammond SK - 1/vcl); Adam Sinclair (dms).
(Review by Lance/photos courtesy of Mike Tilley).
I haven't heard all the Saturday night duo sessions at the Jazz Café but this one must be up there with the best.
We realised it would be different when Gerry recited Stanley Holloway's monologue Albert and the Lion as part of his soundcheck - a sad tale and enough to put anyone off taking their child to the zoo (although not other people's children!)
I'm Comin' Home Baby had the room rocking from bar one. This was really something and, suddenly, Wild Bill Davis didn't seem that wild and Brother Jack McDuff but a lesser member of the Order of Hammond Heroes. Isn't She Lovely, Stevie Wonder's epic hit kept the pot boiling whilst Mose Allison's Everybody's Cryin' Mercy featured the first vocal of the evening. The audience weren't crying Mercy they wanted more and they got it with a Steve Kuhn number done as a samba followed by Joe Sample's Soul Shadows and a couple of originals by Gerry; African Sunset and All About McGriff (in tribute to Jimmy McGriff).
Time for a break.There was a buzz around the room - perhaps the open door had drawn a few passing punters in from the Party City that Newcastle becomes on weekends.
It was party time here too as the dynamic duo opened up with Ode to Billy Joe and, trust me, if he'd heard this version, Billy Joe McCallister wouldn't have jumped off no Tallahatchie Bridge - unless, of course, he was a wannabee jazz organist!
And so the night rolled on, Mercy Mercy Mercy; Just Squeeze Me; I Think I'll Lay Waste to Myself Tonight; Down at the Chicken Shack and, finally, Gil Scott-Heron's Lady Day and John Coltrane. Maybe there'll be a sequel - Gerry Richardson and Adam Sinclair. The latter was an integral part of the duo driving things along; sympathetic, inventive, forceful, laid back whatever was demanded was delivered.
In the confines of The Caff the SK1 bore comparision with big brother B3 and where was the Leslie Speaker hidden!?
Memorable.
Lance.
PS: Earlier we spoke of Le Tour, Gerry being a keen cyclist. Tonight, his pedal power would, if it had been transferred to his bike, have seen him dropping both Chris Froome and Quintana on L'Alpe d' Huez!
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