Blues In Britain  Vol. 1  Issue 35

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


.....the new name for the john o'leary band