Carry on Doctor (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Carry on Doctor

11:33am Thursday 11th May 2006 in

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BOOGIE-WOOGIE came to the Alban Arena on Sunday, when Dr John, one of the most famous names in the genre, kept feet tapping and the crowd's hips swaying.

With his piano decorated with a skull and a rich purple cloth, his bright orange suit, his flinty features, his cane, his rhythmic shuffle onto the stage, and a voice so loaded with gravel to be almost incomprehensible, it was an evening with a strong element of baroque.

Blues and soul, which I'd always thought before were two quite different traditions of black American folk music, came together in a rich souffl of rhythm and harmony.

The audience loved the fast blues/rock efforts, driven along by the doctor's rolling left hand, but while my foot tapped along with the rest, I preferred his tinkling counter-melodies on the ballads.

Duke Ellington's Solitude was a prime example, the slow pace allowing the pianist real name Mac Rebennack space to colour in with a wonderful kaleidoscope of sound.

His guitarist and drummer were top class, and the bassist apparently also medically qualified had some terrific solos, veering the music towards the funk end of the spectrum.

I found it hard to penetrate Dr John's conversation, but I gather he blames poorly maintained flood defences for the devastation of his home city of New Orleans, and has a low opinion of George W Bush.

He also lambasted the synthetic drum machine stuff that masquerades these days as rhythm and blues and on the evidence of this richly entertaining and exhilarating performance, few have more of a right to.