Neil Hunter (keyboards, vocals); Dave Dunston (tenor sax); Terry O'Hern (trombone); Dave Dryden (guitar); Mick Hutchinson (bass); Lloyd Howell (drums)
A Friday night at Newcastle Jazz Co-op HQ. Not a jazz gig, but a blues-soul, rhythm and blues blowout featuring an all-star band. Six musicians who have been around the block more than a few times, along the way picking up any number of fans, it came as little surprise that the Railway Street venue was packed long before the advertised eight o'clock start.
You Upset Me, Baby, as sung by BB King. That'll do for starters! The Blue Kings are a six piece band, but the focal point, inevitably, was Neil Hunter. The man has 'presence', a big voice, not to mention a geet* big Santa Claus beard. Playing keyboards on this evening's gig, Hunter sang on each and every number.
Pouring Water on a Drowning Man, as sung by James Carr, I'm Your Puppet, one of three Dan Penn (and Spooner Oldham) numbers in the set, Albert Collins' If You Love Me, Hunter and co didn't let up all night.
Introductions were brief, drummer Lloyd Howell counting them in, feature solos for the excellent, no nonsense Dave Dryden (guitar) and Dave Dunston (tenor sax), the Blue Kings were on top form. The Guinness was going down on stage, the temperature rising. Unchain My Heart, Why Don't You Try Me? (Dryden's slide guitar, à la Ry Cooder), yes, Hunter and the boys were on top form.
The King is Gone, the Blue Kings' homage to BB King, opened the second set. And so it was, more of the same with Hunter crediting the songwriters and/or the musicians who had hits with the many familiar numbers in the set. Bobby Bland's Yolanda, Roscoe Gordon's Just a Little Bit, Luther Allison's There Comes a Time, the band's love of the material was abundantly clear.
The Soul Brothers Six had a hit with Some Kind of Wonderful. The Blue Kings played it - the horns Dave Dunston and Terry O'Hern (trombone) punching above their weight, Mel London's Messin' with the Kid (Junior Wells' version), then to close it out, Robert Parker's Barefootin'. Fantastic! The Railway Street audience wanted more, they wouldn't let them go. Everyday I Have the Blues, a canny encore, a canny night.
* 'geet' = 'great'. Russell
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