Twenty four hours earlier TJ Johnson entertained a full house up the road in Newcastle at the Lit & Phil. Here at St Augustine's Parish Centre he did it all again, this time over the course of two sets. TJ's amiability scores heavily with audiences. With or without a written set list, his choice of material was stitched together with a casual, not to say informative, commentary. The weather cooperated (ie there wasn't a deluge!) and the good folk of Darlington turned out in good number on Larchfield Street.
Jazz, blues, folk, country, TJ dipped into his extensive repertoire of tunes, mixing it up. From N'Awlins to St Louis (St Louis Blues) to the country roads of Americana, Fats Waller (Your Feet's Too Big), Dr John, Ray Charles, On the Road Again with Willie Nelson, a marvellous Georgia, our man knows how to gauge - and work - a room. The blues shouters Jimmy Witherspoon, Big Joe Turner (Pete Johnson the sometimes forgotten composer of many enduring numbers) and more, to GASbook gems, TJ/Sinatra flying to the moon...
Sketching his career to date, from a fifteen year old TJ playing a pub piano (Saturday afternoons at the now demolished Three Tuns in Stockport) to, a year or so later, touring across Europe with Maxie Collie's Rhythm Aces to leading his own band, recording albums, gigging here, there and everywhere, a thirty five year career shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, concluding this Darlington engagement, TJ jumped in the motor, to head home in time to play a gig the next day (Sunday) in Colchester. On the Road Again, that's TJ Johnson.
Russell
Russell
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