The Voodoo
Rooms is packed again for tonight’s gig.
If it keeps going like this, the Edinburgh Blues Club is going to need a
bigger venue. Due to circumstances
beyond my control I’m late arriving, so I’m only just in time to catch the last
song from Lights Out By Nine. Sorry to
have missed you gents, but I can say that you cooked up a storm on ‘Digging On
James Brown’, and I liked the sound of the horns!
Gerry
Jablonski and the Electric Band kick off the second half of the night with
‘Higher They Climb’, launch pad for an eclectic set that dots around slow
blues, R&B, blues rock and here and there straightahead hard rock. Bandleader Gerry Jablonski on guitar and
vocals is an energetic little guy, prone to sudden charges across the stage to
wig out in the far corner, and abracadabra gesticulations as he plays guitar. But he’s at his best when he reins himself in
for bluesier moments, such as his slide intro, redolent of Micky Moody, on the
stomping ‘Ain’t Gonna Work No More’, and the Gary Moore-ish slowie ‘Blues Gonna
Bring You Down’. The latter, taken from
their out-any-day-now new album, also features a wild harp solo from Pete
Narojczyk that draws spontaneous cheers from the crowd.
The
interplay between Jablonski and Narojczyk is one of the strengths in the band’s
approach, and something of a unique selling point. But it also has to be said that the harmonica
player is a magnetic performer in his own right, bristling with such intensity
that he grabs your attention throughout.
Imagine the Russell Crowe character from LA Confidential taking some
time off from beating up suspects and lusting after Kim Basinger to let off
some steam by blowing some harp in a downtown bar, and you might start to get
the picture!Rhythm section Lewis Fraser on drums, and Grigor Leslie on bass, underpin the front men with subtlety and feeling. Leslie in particular brings some roll to the rock, as it were, while Fraser adds some nice harmonies for good measure. They’re a band who write good material too, such as the funky ‘The Dance’ and the good time set closer ‘Slave To The Rhythm’. If they can focus their writing even more on their strengths, there could be a whole lot more potential for Gerry Jablonski and the Electric Band to mine.
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