BluesMix are mainstays on the South-East Blues scene as well as touring further afield ; they mentioned from the stage a recent return from a week long USA tour and two albums on release. On the night’s showing deserve to have more attention alongside the current crop of newer UK Blues names.  Their performance was the real deal full of sweat, emotion, groove, incredible musicianship. They have an authentic Blues feel but with an original twist playing plenty of original material and weaving in funk, soul and occasional tinges of jazz.

They kicked off with an original powerhouse shuffle called ‘Feel So Strong featuring a tour de force piano solo from keys player Bob Morgan and powerful, distinctive blues vocals from Rob Fleming.  The band then worked their way through another original ‘Heart and Soul’ with tasteful guitar licks aplenty from Fleming, a take on ‘Howlin For My Darlin’ by Howlin Wolf before changing gears with a funk based original song called ‘In My Mind’ where Morgan switched to highly melodic jazz tinged sax.

By this time the front of the stage was crammed with people dancing and swaying to the funky rhythms. The band was relaxed, confident and clearly enjoying playing.

Towards the end of the first set a guest joined, Pete Back on Sax and he and Morgan formed a horn section playing superb harmonized Sax lines on the catchy ‘I Got My Eye On You’ and the funk workout ‘ Do Together’. Echoes of Average White Band and Maceo Parker. After a short break the band were back for a second 1hour set playing classics such as ‘Worried About You Baby’ and a highly original take on ‘Mellow Down Easy’ with a tight Bo Diddley type rhythm from drummer Mimi Hajime, Hammond organ flourishes, and a jaw dropping Bass solo from  Costa Tancredi and which had the crowd shouting their appreciation.

They ended the night with ‘Good Times Roll’, complete with most of the audience singing along. Smiles and satisfaction all around the venue and on the stage. BluesMix are an incredibly accomplished band with broad appeal and on the basis of tonight’s performance they are up there with the best of the UK blues scene.

Alan Budden

Charlotte St Blues is upbeat yet with a chilled-out vibe, giving music centre stage, and equally using it as a pleasing background device. It’s a deceivingly large venue, sprawled over three floors, with a uniquely different feel to each … ”

Read the rest of the review on their website www.fluidfoundation.com

By Mark Harrison

In recent months, it’s become possible to talk (and indeed read) about ‘London’s burgeoning blues scene.’ This welcome development has been mostly to do with the arrival of new blues-dedicated venues. Back in June, we covered the opening of Charlotte Street Blues, a large and brand-spanking-new purpose-built blues venue smack in the centre of town. This blues venue is obviously big news for any blues enthusiast and its existence is a major boon for the London blues scene.

Personally, I’ve been there frequently, to see gigs and to play at the Wednesday jam and the Blues in London Sunday Sessions. I really like the place, and my impression is that the consensus is one of enthusiastic approval. The booking policy covers a range of top-notch artists you don’t get much chance to see (these include so far Otis Taylor, Alvin Youngblood Hart and John Mayall), the UK’s top pros (such as Ian Siegal, Matt Schofield) and a large number of London-based bands and artists taken from the large talent pool there is here in the capital. Any week, and sometimes several times a week, you can see somebody really good there.

The venue itself is extremely pleasant – smart but not too slick. The atmosphere’s excellent – the place is the right side of the cool line but a poseur-free zone. It’s all pretty upbeat and the age range of the clientele is very wide. It’s a good place to drop into on the off chance as well as to go to for particular events. It’s all pretty relaxed and if you like blues at all, or are just finding out that there is such a thing as the ‘blues scene’ and fancy checking it out, you’re likely to be impressed by the place.

I asked Sophia Natso, Artistic Director at Charlotte Street Blues for a progress report.

MH: So, how’s it been going since you opened up in June? Have things gone as you’d planned or expected?

Sophia: Since June it’s been a success. Every week our blues bar is getting more customers. It really works for us by word of mouth. People are coming to experience the atmosphere and tell their friends. It’s the best marketing in the world.

MH: Going back, what was the thinking behind the venture and who’s behind it?

Sophia: The thinking behind the venture came from Chris Maxwell, the manager. He’s a Blues lover and had the idea for opening a Blues bar in London for the young generation to experience the music.

MH: What about the people who’ve been coming through the doors, who is your blues venue attracting?

Sophia: The venue attracts a very wide mixture of people and this is great – from the young generation coming to see Ash Grunwald playing to the more mature crowd coming to see John Mayall. A lot of people come for the Blues Jam night.

MH: What sort of feedback have you been getting?

Sophia: We are getting great feed back from the artists and the customers. Everybody seems to enjoy the place.

MH: How would you assess the market for blues in London?

Sophia: Like I said before the best way to assess the market for Blues is to create a great atmosphere where people want to hang out with moderate drink prices and good food and excellent music.

MH: Has anything surprised you since you opened the venue?

Sophia: Yes, like sometimes you can’t rely on big names to fill the place and then you put on somebody like Son Of Dave and the place gets packed out.

MH: What’s been the best aspect so far?

Sophia: The best aspect has been seeing the place being alive and vibrant with a mixed crowd enjoying themselves and dancing to some of the best blues bands in London.

MH: And what’s been the most difficult aspect?

Sophia: The most difficult aspect is that you never know what is going to happen, like a band cancelling at the last minute. But it’s a great challenge.

MH: Has the recession had an impact, do you think?

Sophia: Yes of course because people are more careful in the way they spend their money, but at the same time during difficult times people want to be entertained, and we provide very good entertainment at an affordable price. There’s no better way to forget your worries than to sip a glass of Bourbon, listen to good music and have a dance.

MH: How would you assess the blues scene in London in relation to the rest of the live music scene?

Sophia: The Blues scene in London is vibrant at the moment, with a lot of creative artists and musicians. You can see at the Jam session run by Sam Hare the number of musicians that come to play.

MH: What do you think of the calibre of blues musicians in London?

Sophia: I think there are really good Blues musicians, such as Matt Schofield, Ian Siegal, Vunerable Things, Barker Band, Son Of Blues and Stephen Finn, to name just a few. London and the UK are a place where a lot of talent goes unnoticed because they have nowhere to play, but now with us they have a place where they can perform on a good stage with good sound.

MH: How do you see things going for the venue in the coming months and years?

Sophia: I think that we’re going to do well because of the concept that people can come to the venue for different purposes – listening to live music, dancing, or going to the basement to play a game of pool or just hanging around the Bourbon bar.

A glance down Charlotte Street itself, hitherto some kind of hub of the media and advertising worlds, reveals that’s what’s burgeoning in other parts of the street is the recession, with a noticeable number of ‘Office Space To Let’ signs. It’s pretty brave to start any new enterprise in the teeth of a recession, but maybe this phase of the economic cycle is good for the blues. Certainly, Charlotte Street Blues deserves to prosper, and the signs are that it will.

http://www.bluesinlondon.com/

I woke this morning to find myself bleary-eyed and croaky voiced, all signs reflecting that I’d had a good time last night at The Charlotte Street Blues Bar.

This relatively new venue in London is fast gaining a reputation as being a sure thing for a decent night out with good music and a laid back vibe.

A few months ago I was wandering around Fitzrovia, in search of a cafe called Lantana which has excellent coffee. As I made my way down Charlotte Street, I saw a large crowd of people congregated together outside on the sidewalk. They were drinking, chatting and looking quite happy and pleased with themselves in general. It looked like a fun group party and my interest was piqued. As I approached them, a flyer was shoved in my hand and I saw that the crowd were at an opening of a new venue. The Charlotte Street Blues bar. Something about the whole atmosphere was so appealing that I wanted to go in right there and then but boring life committments called, as did the lure of good coffee.

Last night I finally made it down there with some friends to watch Ash Grunwald play. Ash is a blues and roots musician from Australia. I have had numerous opportunties to see him play in the past at venues such as the Fly By Night or Mojos in Perth but never did. I’d heard he was good but his gigs had always eluded me. Now that I was halfway across the world, it seemed like the time had come.

Ash didn’t disappoint. And neither did the venue. It was such a thrill to actually go somewhere that you have high hopes for and actually have those hopes met. How rare is that. The bar was unpretentious both in style and service. The design of the place was intimate without being constrictive and the decor was just the right side of elegant, electic shoddiness. The staff were beyond attentive although I did notice that most of the men beind the bar all had beards. Is this a blues thing? Nonetheless, they actually did their jobs well which to my jaded view of customer service in London is paramount to finding a needle in a haystack. Case in point. We were having a cigarette outside when one of them came to find my friend to let him know that his burger was ready and waiting for him back at our table. Who the hell does that in London? I was shocked.

And then of course there was Ash, interspersing larrikin warmth with frenzied virtuosity and bringing with him that touch of home which is so hard to describe but so tangible a feeling. He played till 12.30am and filled the walls of that place with the distinctive, plaintive wail of blues and roots.

At the end of the day, the venue was alive and warm because of the music that filled it. But if you have to sit anywhere and drink and be with people to listen to the blues, there are worse places you could be than the Charlotte Street Blues bar. I’d recommend you go. Soon.

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Perhaps it’s the location, perhaps it’s the club’s ambience, but it draws a young, stylish and good-looking constituency to match, and often outnumber, the grizzled veterans of several decades’ blues gigs. Saturdays are the nights for major acts, some of whom have been the intriguingly undadlike John Lee Hooker Jr, zydeco princeling Dwayne Dopsie (son of Rockin’), Otis Taylor, John Mayall and Chicago blues band Mississippi Heat. The booking policy is nothing if not adventurous. The always fascinating Alvin Youngblood Hart drew a hearteningly large audience for a man not yet well enough known here.

But much of the CSB week is for British and Irish acts drawn from the up-and-coming pool, such as Simon McBride or Matt Schofield (who by now we should probably consider up-and-come) – or the entirely estimable Ian Siegal, Britain’s most talented blues vocalist, who plays a rare solo gig there on September 5. That’s tomorrow if you’re reading this on day-of-posting.

It’s early days yet and the sound balance isn’t always satisfactory. As at so many venues, the desk seems not to recognise that blues are stories, not guitar solos with incidental vocals, and that it’s the singer who should be foregrounded in the mix. It was a good night in this respect for Hooker Jr and his Waits-like narratives of urban angst; not so good for Hart’s power-trio readings of songs from the album Motivational Speaker. But if the onstage Sturm und Drang gets to be a little oppressive, you can take a breather on the narrow streetside veranda, or a fallback position in the sofa-strewn basement.

I found consolation of another kind in the upstairs bar, where you’re still within sight and earshot of the music but can plan a tasting itinerary through what must surely be London’s longest list of bourbons, eighty-some of them, from workaday Wild Turkey to the sublime (if pricey) George T. Stagg.

I can’t remember when I last heard blues in surroundings as peppy as these. Certainly not in this country. What I like about CSB is that it turns its back on the old whitewashed-cellar, room-over-the-pub aesthetic of past jazz and blues venues and presents the music with uptown style.

Future attractions include Son Of Dave (September 17), Chicago blues singer Katherine Davis (October 2) and The Yardbirds (November 11). Check this place out: there’s nothing quite like it.
By Tony Russell
visit MOJO

The stage has already played host to some legendary performers and session players like John Mayall, John Lee Hooker Jnr and, come September, Snakebone but go along any night of the week for the pure joy of discovering what a simple eight bar progression can do to your soul.

The venue hosts concerts every night and if that all-too-familiar groggy feeling lingers after sampling their 80 (yes 80) different varieties of bourbon, the venue’s Sunday afternoon brunch (all-you-can-eat soul food, a Bloody Mary and a performance from a Gospel choir) should provide the ultimate hangover cure.

For starters it helps when you’ve booked a legend for the night-coming in the shape of John Mayall and The Blues Breakers, no less, just let’s see what an impact this home grown blues shaman has had on proceedings………..

The British blues-rock scene of the 1960s and ’70s certainly has a lot to thank John Mayall for. He remains the godfather of that movement and provided the breeding ground for some of the biggest artists ever to emerge from the U.K., including Eric Clapton, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Jack Bruce, Aynsley Dunbar, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Andy Fraser (of Free), John Almond, Jon Mark, and many others.

A pretty impressive pedigree! John is a delight to watch buoyant and chirpy but free from artifice and an unassuming manner which definately wins you over. Mayall is fiercely independent and faithful to both his master (his craft) and his mistress (the blues). Plus you get the feeling he’s totally unfazed by some of his former galactico band members and totally oblivious to their global fame and stardom.

His stonking band pretty much had the crowd eating out of their hand. Thumping and solid chicago grooves courtesy of the punchy Jay Devenport whose steam roller drumming was just the ticket to keep this pristine engine spinning. Greg Rzab on bass (thanks for the pick btw!) too rolled out some classic blues b-lines and some funk thunder when the mood took him very much in the style of Larry Graham – a welcome alternative to blues shuffles etc…

Ole Johnny boy was in fine spirits too playing blues harp and keys simultaneously plus taking care of lead vocals. JM was having a ball basically. ‘Talk to your Daughter’ came over exceptionally well with a fine harp solo into the bargain and ‘You Gotta Help Me’ with it’s nod to ‘Green Onions’, saw the effervescent JM multitasking once again to devastating effect.

‘Chicago Line’ from his first record with Decca in 1964 sounded fresh and exciting as a nice jazzy vibes solo ensued. JM was firing on all cylinders as ever and forging once again his own path in such matters. ‘Blues For Lost Days’ a slow tempo ballad in the vein of ‘Stormy Monday’ was a fitting elegy to the old Flamingo club, Wardour st and the legendary nights he and many others (Georgie Fame, Desmond Dekker, Zoot Sims etc) spent there- jamming crazily throughout the night evocking old memories for some of the audience who were lucky enough to have been there and thus a part of the swinging 60’s.

The great Freddie King’s ‘Hideaway’ from the ‘Beano’ album (Clapton’s fave comic) saw guitarist Rocky Athas finally stretch out and assert his talents on this ace shuffle instrumental-some blistering licks during his solo whet our appetite and then a segue into ‘Peter Gunn’ was heavy man! Heavy! Other joyous moments were Sonny Landreth’s self penned classic ‘Congo Square’ a blues but not quite a blues! JM’s modal tinkling on piano gave it a cool jazziness and a different twist from it’s original state. So a healthy balance of covers and originals saw the great man deliver over a 2 hour set. The crowd had had their money’s worth and a new club was finding it’s feet rapidly.

There’s a nice friendly welcome from the club in the form of the door guy who, resplendent in pink suit and black trilby ushered people in a very helpful and personable way, manners are always a nice touch. I will be going back now that I’ve got my mojo working for the blues again. Go see for yourself the club has a cool vibe and the bourbon bar upstairs has real atmoshere and the food looks good too. Charlotte street has got something new and special again…….Slammin-jammin-entertainment.
Words Emrys Baird