Joe Jammer’s All-Star Chicago Blues Revue
Sunday 21st June 2015
Half Moon, Putney, London, United Kingdom
On the evening of Father’s Day in the UK, Sargeant Senior and I went to see his friend Joe Jammer perform a collection of blues songs with a live band and guest vocalists. Not that long ago the world lost the legend that is B.B. King and Joe decided to ask the audience to ‘wear blue for B.B.’ which was a very respectful gesture and we complied. The lineup tonight included U S bass player John Scott, fiery harmonica player Tommy Brundage and nineteen year old Russell Gills on the drums who is an incredible player. They started with an instrumental as Joe played his customised Fender Telecaster.
He joked about when he met B.B. King and asked him ‘How long’s the tour?’ B.B.’s reply was ‘Oh about twenty seven years now!’ One thing Joe explained to me after the show was although the blues is sad, it doesn’t have to be all the time. They made sure that as much of the blues was covered with songs by B.B. King, Muddy Waters, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bob Dylan, Roscoe Gordon, Jimi Hendrix, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, Robert Cray, Albert Collins, Otis Rush, Bobby Womack (a stunning performer and I was fortunate enough to see one of his last UK shows. An absolute musical legend) and Robert Johnson to name a few.
In addition to the live band, Joe Jammer had a group of guest vocalists and musicians who took turns onstage to accompany him. The first guest Ken Morland was the spitting image of a young Roger Daltrey and his voice blended really well as Joe gave space to all of his guests and musicians. (Interestingly Joe Jammer used to be a roadie/guitar tech for The Who and Jimi Hendrix when he was younger along with Led Zeppelin. His musical history and knowledge is fascinating.) Joe played guitar behind his head, with his teeth and you could tell this guy had spent years honing his craft to get to this multi-talented stage in his career.
Vocalist Lamb Lamont was stunning especially on ‘Smoking Gun’ and ‘No More Dogging’ which was knowingly dedicated to those who had traveled up to the gig from Surrey! One of the guests was slide trombonist Peter Lamont who was especially effective ‘Rainy Day Women’ which also had svelte singer Emily Capell aboard. This is a fast moving show with plenty of humour from a most generous bandleader whose dynamic guitar and slide playing sparkled throughout the set.
Glenn Sargeant
Joe Jammer will be returning to The Half Moon Putney on 27th September for a special birthday show. For more information visit: www.joejammer.com
