Gig Review
Red Jackson
Saturday, 16 May 2009:
A very enjoyable performance from this very professional trio, whose very strong empathy was apparent throughout the evening. Red Jackson are: Phil Mills – guitars, harp, vocals; Charles ‘Chicken King’ Schultz, drums; and Teej Osborne, stand-up bass. They brought a nice mixture of light and shade to the show with styles ranging from ballads, Chicago blues and RnB to rock & roll.
Phil started the first set with a solo version of “Cry Me A River”, very sweet and gentle. Muddy Water's “Cat Fish Blues” had a rock solid riff and was superb! Their treatment of Robert Johnson’s “Come On In My Kitchen” was well modulated and the slide was excellent. Quite a few bands seem to like to play Bill Wither's “Ain’t No Sunshine” and these guys played it beautifully. One of Phil’s compositions, “Weeping Willow” is a good country blues - a great jig along with super drumming and bass playing. Then a tremendous version of T Bone Walker's “Stormy Monday” - slow, very intense, and an inventive guitar solo which was very fluid. The set finished with a rollicking rendition of Muddy's “Rolling and Tumbling”.
Note: Click thumbnail to view full artist image.
Photo credit: Paul Martin.
... continued
Phil Mills started the second set with a solo version of Mr. Johnson's “Terraplane Blues”, very well played with nice slide technique. He followed that with a harp piece that was very fast paced, called “Morning Train”. The band kept up the scorching pace with a cracking version of Gene Vincent’s “Race With The Devil”! One of my top ten favourite blues numbers came next, Howling Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning”, with that distinctive riff just rolled along, really good stuff. Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight” got a lovely R&B treatment. Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train” was an absolute belter, which briefly segued into “Baby Please Don’t Go”; fabulous! Interestingly, Mr. Schultz has a very minimal kit, but his technique with both the brushes and the sticks was impeccable. Likewise Teej has a good feel and it was fascinating watching his fingers move around the bass strings. Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home” was a slow soulful blues, all the notes slotted nicely into place. A really tight outfit, focussed on the job in hand, all made for a thoroughly good Bluesnight and for the encore Red Jackson gave a barnstorming version of John Lee Hooker's “Boogie Chillen”!
Now that's the way to round off a great Bluesnight!
Review by: Lewis A Harris.
© Bluesnights. The Dorset Blues Society.
16 May 2009.
