Alexanders Jazz Theatre, April 29th
2004
The John O'Leary Band was warmly
welcomed back at Alexander's only five months after their previous
appearance. Once again, they wowed the audience with two terrific
sets of Chicago blues and were possibly even better than the last
time. Silvio Galasso, was playing his first gig
with the band, the
tightness of the performance was quite remarkable.
From the
opening number "Born In Chicago", the whole show was a
delight, consistently punctuated by scintillating solos from Jules
Fothergill on guitar and John O'Leary on harp, the extent of which
restricted the total number performed over the two sets to a mere
thirteen. There were also some intermittent, highly skilled cameos
from the aforementioned man from Verona (Silvio) and German drummer
Joachim Greve. In addition to they’re providing a flawless platform
behind the powerful front line.
The usual favourites were
included in the programme, including "Early In The Morning",
Howlin' Wolf's "Who's Been Talkin'?". "Rock Me baby"
and "Black Cat Bone". As an encore, the thirteenth number
of the night - unlucky for some but certainly not for those present -
was Junior Wells
"Checking On My Baby". It concluded a
master class in musicianship by four supreme artists. John
O'Leary's harp playing always projects wonderful tone and phrasing
and Jules Fothergill is undoubtly one of the hottest properties
around in the encouragingly increasing cadre of young blues
guitarists. ……...Lionel Ross