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The Daniel Smith Blues Band[Blues]
| The world's greatest Dutch-Indonesian-Anglo-Scottish blues and boogie-woogie piano player makes his debut in St Albans with his virtuoso band of down-home talent. Influences include Memphis Slim, Otis Spann and Jools Holland, which combine to create uniquely refreshing jazz-blues grooves. | |
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 Spellbinding Maltings Arts Theatre, St Albans on Sat 21st Jul 07 | |
   Humour provided the keynote for the Daniel Smith Blues Band at The Maltings.
Had Daniel Smith not been the king of the keyboards, he would still have won a few hearts with his sardonic, dry sense of humour - and his hunky dark good looks didn't go unnoticed either by my female companions.
It made a refreshing change to have a keyboard player at the centre of the action instead of the inevitable guitarist. Not that democratic Dan hogged the attention. I've never seen such a generous frontman making sure his players got their fair share of the limelight.
Even drummer Pete Miles scored a 10-minute drum solo. It's a long time since I've seen that but then it's rare to find a drummer of this calibre who can capture people's attention with a flick of a stick.
After leaving the stage to the drums, Daniel came back on holding a fire extinguisher which caused a chuckle but, just as we wondered if this was a hint to wind it up, he held it up horizontally for Pete to play.
This band look at each other, "talk" to each other in a non-verbal way and appreciate each other in the way that true professionals acknowledge each others' skills.
What struck me was that we had no flim-flam. No-one was glammed up or striking poses. The window-dressing was superfluous because these guys can play.
Lead guitarist Jon 'T-Bone' Taylor, hunched over his instrument in such a contorted, loving way you could almost see him suffering for his art, made me think of a chef slaving over a hot stove but he certainly cooked up a storm.
Bass player George Pearson - in true deadpan bass-player style - kept in the background but blossomed when he sang a couple of numbers. I almost think he is a better blues singer than Daniel.
But when you play boogie-woogie like Dan the man you don't need a strong vocal ability. I felt he was at his happiest on the instrumental numbers. Don't get me wrong - the man can sing but it's carried by his powerful playing. Just running one hand lightly across a few keys he could create a whole range of sound so fluent, so rich that you could only marvel at his control. As the evening drew to a close he treated us to a rendering of bottleneck piano playing - something I had never seen before.
Another first on the night included a well-deserved standing ovation at the end. Move over Jools Holland - a new king of the keyboards reigns.
Once again, Bob Ayre, who puts on these storming blues sessions under his "Shades of Blues" umbrella, has brought something spellbindingly wonderful to St Albans.
We owe him a debt of thanks.
Mary Brosnan, Herts Advertiser Press Review | |
| A music fan, Thu 26th Jul 07 | |
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| Page last updated 19 April 07, gig/event details last updated 19 April 07. |
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| Page first created on Lemonrock 19 April 07. |  |
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