Missing Friday nights at the Southgate Club listening to the great bands playing at St Harmonica's? Well, we can't do anything about the lockdown, but we can do our best to recreate St Harmonica's in the comfort of your own home. So pour yourself a glass of beer, move the furniture aside to make yourself a dance floor, click on the first of the music videos below and start a text conversation with some of the people you usually meet up with at the club.Gary Moore - Jumpin' At Shadows
Had to start with a tribute to the late Peter Green. This is from the late Gary Moore playing the late Duster Bennett’s sublime Jumping at Shadows at Montreux. I could provide a whole playlist of covers of this song but Peter Green and Gary Moore did it the best and Gary Moore covered it out of his respect for Peter Green, his biggest influence. The whole of Gary Moore’s ‘Blues for Greeny’ album is well worth listening to; one of his finest albums.
Frankie Connolly Band - Many Rivers to Cross/Albatross
John Crowther included this clip of Frankie Connolly at the club in the first week of these playlists. This is not a Peter Green tribute but the way Frankie morphs from Many Rivers to Cross into Albatross and back is done with such touch and feel that it deserves watching again.
B.B. King, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi - Rock Me Baby
I last saw BB King on his 80th Birthday tour at Wembley with Gary Moore supporting, had backstage ‘access all area’s passes that night. Not long before lockdown we saw Tedeschi Trucks Band at the same venue. This is a nice jam involving BB King with Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi
Chicken Shack - See See Baby
Chicken Shack were the first British Blues Band that I ever saw live at the College of St Mark & St John when it was located in the Kings Road in Chelsea. This footage is around the same time, 1968, when Christine Perefect was with the band. Still going strong, Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack still cut the mustard.
Alexis Korner And Steve Marriott - Get Off Of My Cloud
I started listening to and learning about the Blues on Sunday evenings listening to Mike Raven’s Blues Round at 7.00pm on Radio 1 from 1967. Alexis Korner used to feature. I thought his version of “Got My Mojo Workin’ was an original, but then my education continued. This is Alexis Korner with Steve Marriott from 1975.
Cyril Davies All Stars & Long John Baldry - See see Rider
Two greats of the early British R&B scene, Cyril Davies with Long John Baldry performing See See Rider from 1963. Chrissie Thomas is pretty sure she was at this performance. Cyril Davies was a terrific harmonica player who sadly died in January 1964. Long John Baldry continued the band as the Hoochie Coochie Men.
Alan Glenn & Gordon Smith - Country Line Special
Alan Glenn is no stranger to St Harmonica’s Blues Club. This is a lovely tribute to Cyril Davies played along with Gordon Smith on guitar. Look forward to being able to book these guys when we can open up again.
Joanna Connor Band - Walkin' Blues
Joanna Connor’s amazing version of Walking Blues recorded at Jim Carty’s BBQ in Massachusetts in 2014. Now pick your jaw up off the floor. I want these guys at our next barbeque.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers with Gary Moore - So Many Roads
The playlist started with Gary Moore and ends with him guesting with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. This is in Montreux, but I saw this combination live on stage in Brighton. It doesn’t get much better.