Rhythm Kings

I've said this before but George Recile is a drumming genius... which makes him the perfect percussionist for accompanying the musical genius of Bob Dylan.

I had the privilege of seeing them both – and the rest of Dylan's remarkable band – in Cardiff last night, with the master's voice and songs and piano-playing all in great shape.

Apparently when Dylan aficionado the late John Gibbens gave a talk on Bob's poetry, he used to start off by playing a Dylan instrumental.

That might sound odd but, on reflection, it's not at all odd. Because you can hear the essence of Dylan in every strum of his guitar and every note of his harmonica. And the key to everything he does – the words he chooses, the way he sings them, the way he plays piano or harmonica, the way he moves, even the way he stands – is rhythm.

Dylan is not just rock'n'roll's Nobel laureate... he is also the King of Rhythm.

And it's no wonder that George Recile finds in Dylan's music the most wonderful variety of drum patterns, fills and grooves. With George one side of the stage and Bob the other, it really is difficult to know which to watch. Either way, they're locked in tight... in rhythm.

It Was Fifty Years Ago But Hey...

It was fifty years ago today... but can we please forget it now? Sgt Pepper was an iconoclastic album. But, let's be honest, it wasn't as good as Revolver... or maybe even Rubber Soul... or even the White Album.

Every which way one turns there is Sgt Pepperami. There's an event in Brighton promising to play music from bands influenced by Sgt Pepper.... including Pink Floyd, Cream, the Doors and the Grateful Dead. Pink Floyd? Cream? The Doors? The Grateful Dead? The idea that these bands were influence by Sgt Pepper could only exist in the minds of those who weren't there in the Sixties.

None of these bands showed or needed any influence from Sgt Pepper... unless it was to go way beyond what the Beatles were doing.

Sgt Pepper seems to be being celebrated by people who have no idea what it was like to hear Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds for the first time in 1967. And if they weren't there, they'll never know...

And it's reasonably easy to predict what John Lennon would have said about celebrating Sgt Pepper fifty years on, isn't it?

Hard Time, Soft Time

There had been a bad few days and suddenly there was a very good one.

My offer to help my drumming mentor, the great John Marshall, with his gear at a Soft Machine rehearsal meant that I ended up sitting in a studio with John playing drums to my left, and John Etheridge playing guitar and Theo Travis playing sax to my right. And straight across from me was the formidable bass of Roy Babbington.

I've seen the Softs live many times, but sitting in the midst of them, and particularly getting that bass right up in the mix and in my face was a rare treat. And the playing of all four musicians was particularly uplifting and bordering on the spiritual – for me, at least, because I had had two days of stress and misery (not worth going into the details here).

Music really does have the power to heal, particularly when played by masters of their craft at this high level. 

If you're going to the Softs' upcoming gigs in the UK, you are in for something very special.

John Marshall (top right) and Roy Babbington (bottom right)

Boxing Clever

Sunday 9 April 2017

I've long been fascinated by cajons – which seem to be little more than expensive wooden boxes. But I've never thought you could do that much with them in terms of rivalling a drum kit.

I had to think again after seeing percussionist Demi Garcia playing cajon with flamenco guitar whizz Ramon Ruiz at the excellent gipsy jazz venue Le Quecumbar in London.

Demi is simply a drumming genius and he not only played full on and in perfect unison with Ruiz's guitar improvisation and the footsteps of dancer Araceli Garcia but he also never played one unnecessary stroke.

On top of this he is totally modest – which makes him even more endearing. When Ruiz asked him to tell the audience something about himself, he said: 'My name is Demi – that's it.' His drumming told everything else.

From Dire Straits To Dire Straits

I remember seeing my first CD. It was on a visit to Eindhoven in the Netherlands in the early 1980s. Philips was based nearby and was getting people to try out its revolutionary new product.

The CD in question was by Dire Straits. And the selling point of the new technology was that the disc was indestructible, was easy to store in large quantities, and gave the very best sound reproduction.

Time has proved all of those claims to be far from correct.

I've continued to buy CDs, though. And my favourite place to buy them has been the little Music Memorabilia shop in Alfriston, East Sussex, which has stocked an eccentric collection of great albums covering everything from music hall and comedy to a huge range of pop, blues and jazz.

But not any more. The shelves at Music Memorabilia are slowly emptying as the manufacturers cease to make CDs – and people cease to buy them.

The CD is now truly in dire straits... And I feel as though I've been there at its birth and its death.

In Very Good Company

It was sad to hear a few days ago of the passing away of James Cotton – a name synonymous with the blues harmonica. Cotton wailed with the greats – Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters – and played on countless recordings and gigs.

Playing the blues harp is as much about raw emotion as it is about technique. I occasionally get the chance to put down my sticks and play harmonica with Russ Payne and Unison Bends, and much as I love the drums, I always leap at a chance to try to emulate the likes of masters such as Cotton, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Paul Jones and Bob Dylan.

It was also quite a big kick to find that a track from our new album, 'Liquor and Iron', was going to get big exposure from being on the playlist at Digital Blues this week – alongside a couple of tracks by James Cotton. Now that is a real musical honour...

Winwood Ho

At a time when most rock legends from the Sixties seem to be scarily older than you think – or in many cases, more scarily, dead – one of them still seems remarkably young.

Steve Winwood is still touring and is due in London in July. And though you might think he should be in his seventies by now, he's actually a mere 68.

That makes it more than 50 years since I first saw him on stage – when he was 16 or 17. He was already a veteran performer then, and fronting the Spencer Davis Group.

A precocious guitarist as well as keyboard player, he has had so many incarnations. But his finest hour was with the sadly short-lived Blind Faith, in which the Creamy musical virtuosity of Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker was harnessed to the truly lyrical songwriting and singing of Winwood.

I was fortunate enough to see Winwood and Blind Faith at Hyde Park. And despite all his brilliant work since that time, it is the Blind Faith album that seems perfectly to capture the Winwood essence.