NEWS & REVIEWS ( last up-date : 15th December '09)
Far away in the swamplands of Louisiana, inside the hallowed halls of the Jack Daniels Home for Retired Blues Gods, a rumbling of discontent was heard. A rumour had reached them that the Blues was no longer to be heard in St. Albans, England as Bob Ayre their "Shades of Blues" representative had a calling to take to the road with his Dr. Shades Blues Band and spread the word.
The good people of St. Albans will surely be deprived. They may be forced out to Watford or even Hemel Hempstead to satisfy their passion for the Blues. Something had to be done!
Before you could say"Wang Dang Doodle" Mick and Jeff were summoned and given their instructions "Get that damn club re-opened, and fast!"
So there you have it, the Blues Gods have decreed that it will re-open as "Little Walters" and stay true to the ethos laid down by Bob.
A review of the first gig at Little Walters Blues Club, which featured The Stumble, received from one of the audience:-
Every now and again a gig is thrown up that will stick in the memory for a long time. Last Saturday I had the privilege of watching one of the most entertaining exponents of good time Blues music when The Stumble made the long journey south from their stronghold in Lancashire, to play at the new Little Walters Blues Club in St.Albans.
This 6 piece promised much (they get superb reviews from the big Blues magazines of the day) but delivered so much more. Normally with the Blues in pubs and clubs, bands take a little while to get into their stride, get the sound right, find a groove and feel that gets toes tapping. Not this band, they go straight for the jugular.
Opening with “The Stumble”, a Freddie King song that gave the band its name, guitarists Colin Black and Jon Spencer let off classic and improvised blues chops like they were born near the Mississippi delta and not the Lake District. Subtle uncomplicated rhythms of Boyd Tonner(Drums) and Dave Heath (Bass) make it feel like they are playing just for you. Then on comes saxophonist Simon Anthony to give even more flesh to the music. The masterstroke with this band though is getting the vocals right, so many blues bands are very adept musically but treat the vocals as almost a bonus. The Stumble has Paul Melville.
With no ego’s getting in the way and no-one trying to out do one another, this tight knit unit play off each other with a confidence and trust that is heart warming.
Pulling material from their mostly self-penned albums “ The Houngan” and “The World is Tough” the band remarkably played few covers, their own stuff really does hold its own, live.
Local resident Simon Apps comment “they must be one of the best bands I’ve seen anywhere!” typifies the reaction of the people lucky enough to see this gig.
Seeing people throw off their inhibitions and dance on the stage without a care in the world emphasises that if this music is in the right hands, anything is possible.
The set overran by half an hour but on this occasion even the theatre management didn’t care.
Apparently Little Walters Blues Club has more artists like this coming up. Happy times!
Andy and Jacquie Higgs-Howson
A Review From Blues Matters
THE STUMBLE @Little Walters Blues Club, St Albans. 03/10/09
The
Stumble don’t get down to London very often, so for Little Walters Blues Club to
tempt them down south for their inaugural
gig was a bit of a coup.
The Stumble gave a virtually sold-out venue a couple of hours of Chicago Blues magic, and managed to annoy the local council royally by playing well past the curfew, as they and the crowd were having too much fun to stop. The combination of great playing – Colin Black’s guitar and Simon Anthony’s sax playing standing out particularly – and the sheer stagecraft of Paul Melville (looking for all the world like Dr John’s disreputable half brother)
From the opening ‘The
Stumble’, which somehow morphed into the “Peter
Gunn” theme tune, the band were
absolutely on top, and when Melville coaxed a
couple of ‘ladies’ onto the stage to dance with
him on ‘Flesh & Blood’ any reservations
the crowd had – very few by that point –
were completely blown away.
I don’t think I have seen a better Chicago Blues revue in the UK for years, and they play with all the passion and balls you could ever wish for. With the end of Shades of Blues in St Albans, the area has been crying out for a new Blues club, and Little Walters seems to fit the bill. As for the Stumble, they will be welcome anytime! Good fun.
Andy Snipper--BLUES MATTERS
Tuesday 10th November 2009
'Theatre will not be replaced with cinema'
The following is an extract from an article in the Herts Advertiserwritten by Mary Brosnan
The article appeared in the October 22nd edition of the paper.
As first revealed by the Herts Advertiser, a new business plan has been proposed for the St. Albans venue which could see it being used to show films and many people have taken this as an indication that the theatrical productions are to be scrapped.
But council culture boss Cllr Melvyn Teare has promised that the revenue generated from screenings would be used to swell the coffers of the heavily-subsidised complex and secure the long-term future of the theatre.
St. Albans culture and heritage portfolio holder Cllr Teare said "The subsidy we pay the Maltings Arts Theatre is around £150,000 a year and we know that we have to look at the programming and space to see what we can offer in there to make better use of it. But I must reassure residents that we are delivering the same volume of theatre that we have delivered in the past. We will just be filling up the empty spaces in our programme with showings of films. The same mix of shows will be available but this is an additional source of entertainment which we think will please people, who will be able to nip in and see a film for a fiver on their doorstep in the city centre and still have time for a drink afterwards".
Cllr. Teare will be presenting the new business plan and format for the Maltings Arts Theatre to Cabinet next month.
The Arts Theatre is quite unique and a jewel in the crown of the areas arts venues.
At a time when so many established music venues are disappearing from the circuit it would be a disaster for both the residents of St. Albans and the surrounding areas if this intimate venue was to cease being used for live music.
Review of Matt Schofield received from one of our audience
Guitarists sometime flatter to deceive, they can impress but after a couple of songs you start thinking to yourself “so what, you can play the guitar” But every now and again one comes along who gets you thinking “ wow you really can play the guitar!”
I’m talking of course about Matt Schofield, a man who has Blues scales coursing through his veins (probably very quickly). Mrs P and I saw him at the new Little Walters Blues Club last Saturday. There has been a lot of stuff written about Schofield in the Blues magazines and I was determined to sort out the truth from the hype.
The truth is, he is magnificent on the guitar ready to step
in when Clapton and Beck call it a day (soon please). He doesn’t do suits,
flash stage wear or long monologues about what a hard life he’s had. He gets on
with it.
His material is varied and gives spots for the band to shine, particularly Johnny Henderson on that beautiful C3 Hammond organ and Allain Bawdry, the drummer who has clearly been brought up in a room above the French Quarter in New Orleans.
Schofields band are adept at slow blues, funk and even BB’s shuffle sound. There is a Rory Gallagher influence but to say he’s the same as anybody is a clear injustice.
He is unique, he’s British, I’ve seen him, I’m happy!
Pez Perry
A Review From Music-News.com
Lillian Boutte was a completely different type of artist for Little Walters Blues Club, steeped as she is in New Orleans jazz rather than their Blues fare of recent shows and the capacity crowd absolutely lapped her up.
She was backed by Denny Ilett's band and they were a perfect foil for Ms. Boutte and her sassy vocal style and huge personality got plenty of room to express themselves and turn a wet and gloomy St. Albans night into a steamy suburb of the Crescent City. The new drummer Daisy Palmer fitted in really well, Andy Crowdy was playing a stunning upright bass and Tom Pilling's keyboards and piano were pitched just right-smoky and jazzy. However, even with the estimable Mr Ilett playing some superb jazz guitar it was Lillian Boutte that the crowd were there for and she turned in a cracking performance, full of little smiles and huge grins and wonderfully expressive N'Orleans voice.
She mixed it up with numbers like the rollicking 'In For The Money' and slow Blues such as 'Cry To Me' and grooved slow and sexy on 'Please Send Me Someone To Love' but she was at her best on desperately emotional 'Louisiana 2005' a reworking of the classic about the New Orleans floods of 1928.
She did a seriously dirty version of 'Don't You Feel My Leg' and had the crowd in stitches with her version of 'You Can Take My Husband But Don't Mess With My Man' as well as a terrific 'Be Glad You Ain't Dead' which she has performed along side it's writer Dr John.
Lillian has played with some of the greats - Dr John, The Storyville Allstars and alike and she has some great history and experience - it really is a shock that she is playing to a small club crowd rather than a larger venue but the crowd at Little Walters were highly chuffed and it is a credit to Jeff and Mick that they can attract some highly rated talent to a small but first rate venue.
Andy Snipper--Music-News.Com