Roy Ayers | With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Gregory Porter – Harrogate International Centre – Saturday 11th July 2015 July 11, 2015

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:45 pm
Tags: Aaron James, Blackbyrds, Chip Crawford, Donald Byrd, Emanuel Harrold, Gil Scott-Heron, Gregory Porter, Harrogate International Centre, Harrogate International Festival, Liquid Spirit, Marvin Gaye, Mike Garson, Norman Connors, Roy Ayers, Yosuke Sato

The delectable Catwoman and I took ourselves off to see the supremely talented Gregory Porter in Harrogate on Saturday night. Without a doubt he is an incredibly talented singer. If you see him as ‘just’ a jazz singer then you need to think again, yes he is very much in the jazz field but this guy also oozes soul and he can sing gospel and blues. His band is incredible and could easily work as an instrumental band in their own right. But when you add Mr Porter’s voice to the magical sounds the band produce you have a perfect mix.

Until tonight I had only really heard the songs from his ‘Liquid Spirit’ album. I hadn’t appreciated that this was his third album! Gregory is also a very talented songwriter. My particular favourites are “Liquid Spirit”, “Water Under Bridges”, “Hey Laura”, “Free” and “Wolfcry”. The pianist Chip Crawford is an incredible pianist and his playing reminded me at times of Mike Garson. In the extended intro to “Wolfcry” Chip slotted in a piece from ‘Peter And The Wolf’ and the ‘Star Wars Theme‘. Ithink my favourite song of the whole show was “1960 What?” from his first album ‘Water’

Listening to Gregory and his band I was reminded of my days of being a soul boy and heavily into jazz funk in the late 70s. His vocals have a hint of Marvin Gaye about them and the overall sound of Mr Porter and his band was for me reminiscent of Roy Ayers, Norman Connors, the Blackbyrds and especially Gil Scott Heron. I will definitely see Gregory Porter again if the opportunity arises. On top of his immense talent he comes across as a very gracious and humble man. He clearly has great respect for his band; Chip Crawford (piano), Aaron James (double bass), Emanuel Harrold (drums) and Yosuke Sato (Sax). I think the feel-good-factor injected from this gig will stay with me for quite a while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRMucEH03NE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNDKlCv-bv4

As often happens I will end this post with a public service announcement. It is probably obvious, but none of the pictures or videos in this post were taken or filmed by me!

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“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! You’re wearing out your shoes” September 6, 2012

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 9:59 pm
Tags: Bill Adamson, Black Bob, Bobby Vee, David Carline, Del Shannon, Great North Run, Iron Maiden, Jo Jo Gunne, Kate Bush, Lindisfarne, Memphis Minnie, Memphis Minnie and Black Bob, Newcastle, Nick Cooper, Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney & Wings, Roy Ayers, Run To The Hills, Save The Children, Simon Downs, Slade, Sly and the Family Stone, South Shields, Spencer Davis Group, Stuart O'Hara, Tami Lynn, Wings

Is this the first time I have sent any kind of begging letter on my blog? Probably not. But here it is anyway. I will be running the great North Run from Newcastle to South Shields on Sunday September 16th this year, barely a week and a half away! Why am I doing this? Firstly because my boss and good friend, Mr Nick Cooper ‘press ganged’ me and three others (Stuart O’Hara, Simon Downs and David Carline) into taking part. So the St John’s Ambulance volunteers along the route could have a busy day! Secondly we will be raising money for the Save The Children charity which I’m sure you will agree is an excellent cause!

So onto the begging part now. we have a target of £1,500 to raise and so far we are at £969 or 64% of target. So any donation that you can make, whatever size, would be very much appreciated. As is usual for these things we do have a ‘Just Giving’ page to make it easier to support us. Click here to get access to it.

Of course this is a music blog so I can’t end with no music can I? So here are thirteen (one for each mile of the run) running related songs for you to listen to while you donate!

1 “Running Away” – Sly and the Family Stone