Sunday night @ the Globe: Dale Storr - Feb. 5

(© S.Herrick)

Dale Storr (piano)

After the recent spate of sold-out gigs at the Globe last night's comparatively poor turnout was somewhat disappointing. I guess the final episode of Happy Valley won the day.

Nevertheless, at least it wasn't one of those occasions where the band outnumbered the audience and those who did manage to tear themselves away from the telly enjoyed it although, in truth, it was a game of two halves.

In the first the set the piano was loud - jarringly loud - all but overpowering the affable pianist's vocals. However, as the set progressed an acceptable balance was reached and by intermission time Storr's Jambalaya had me wondering if they had any crawfish pie flavoured crisps behind the bar.

The second set was better and, in his depiction of the sounds of New Orleans which included numbers by, among others, Dr John, Fats Domino, Professor Longhair and James Booker, even a virtual native New Yorker like me was, at least temporarily, transported from the Big Apple to the Big Easy.

Each number was preceded with some background information about the song and the artist before the Sheffield based piano man played and sang the music and the songs from way down yonder. His rolling bass lines and tremulous treble trills sounding as authentic as those played by the musicians who inspired him. 

Despite the unpromising start, it had been an enjoyable evening of music from New Orleans and the sentimental side of me couldn't help recalling that, some 50 or so years ago, a couple of 100 yards down the road was the former site of Newcastle's legendary New Orleans Jazz Club*. It seemed a happy coincidence. Lance

*I often wondered if there was a Newcastle Club in New Orleans!