Gerry R & the E-Types play Booker T & the MGs @ Hoochie Coochie - August 30

Gerry Richardson (organ/vocals); Garry Linsley (alto); Rod Sinclair (guitar); Adam Sinclair (drums).

(Review by Lance).

Back in the day (late '60s/early '70s) when Booker T and the MGs were the Stax house band as well as driving around the charts in their own name I'd have balked at describing their music as jazz. Soul/funk? yes, but jazz? no way! How times have changed and, upon reflection, a lot of that music was jazzier than some of the stuff being labelled as jazz today!

Certainly, last night's gig by Gerry R and the E-Types could be classified in any of the above genres but, at the end of the day as the Duke of Ellingtonia famously said, "only 2 types of music - good and bad'. This performance was, without doubt, in the former category.

Not an out and out lipservice tribute including, as it did, some of Gerry's own compositions such as the always crowd-pleasing African Sunset with its stunning drum solo, but the Memphis groove was never far away.

In the absence of bassist Neil Harland, gigging somewhere in Europe, Garry Linsley stood in on alto and near-stripped the paint from the ceiling with solo after solo whilst Gerry himself indicated that there can be few more soulful organists around today. He was on form, the forehand smashes, the walking basslines on a par with any of the greats and, of course, the occasional vocal - the icing on the cake.

In the previous post, Russell commented in glowing terms of the number of guitar heroes heard over the past week. Well, Rod Sinclair is another one for that ever increasing list. The Telecaster was on fire, may it never be extinguished. And while Uncle Rod was burning, young Adam was fanning the flames.

By the time we got to Soul Limbo the beat was too much for one of the BSH team who took to the floor, soon to be surrounded by other hip-shaking terpsichoreans. This is the way it used to be and, I'm pleased to note, still is given the right conditions and the right music.

Last night we had both.
Photos.
Lance. 
Knock on Wood; Soul Shadows; Red Beans & Rice; Every Thing I Do Is Gonna Be Funky (backing vocals by The Sinclairs); African Sunset; Memphis Underground; Groovy Baby; Money's Getting Cheaper; Cissy Strut; Amazing Grace (tribute to Aretha); Walkin' the Dog; Billie Holiday & John Coltrane; Soul Limbo; Green Onions etc.