BLUEPRINT REVIEW
Axe and Cleaver, Boston 3.11.99

Lincolnshire's oldest Blues club has brought many fine acts for the people of Boston & the surrounding area to enjoy, yet despite the quality of performers, many of whom appear at top blues venues across Britain & also in Europe, audiences are often disappointing, perhaps due to sport on TV, work the following day, apathy or just a lack of awareness of the quality of music that can be heard at the club.

All is not gloom though, certain musicians have won many fans in the area, for their excellent musicianship & superb live performances. One who stands out is Howard Smith, whose past performances with The Razors & more latterly The Snake River Hornets surely were partly responsible for the larger than normal audience (despite football being on ITV), who turned up to see the debut making BluesMove at the Axe last week.

Howard has recently teamed up with three other fine musicians two of whom are based in the Leicester area where Howard comes from. Its some 4 years since keyboard player Julian Grudgings & bassist Graham Lacey have appeared at the club with The Mick Pini Band, whilst the more observant of the audience may have recalled Michael Hellier drumming for Wamma Jamma at the Axe! They have now combined their own remarkable talents in a band that looks sure to become favourites with audiences the length & breadth of the country.

Last Wednesday's gig at the Axe was just their fourth live appearance together, already the band is positively tight. Interestingly its the first time than guitarist & lead vocalist Howard has worked in a band with a keyboard player, & in Julian BluesMove have an excellent player whose fine work complements Howard's guitar work. Currently the band's set consists primarily of blues covers, yet perhaps one of the finest moments of the evening came in Howard's self written & magnificent song 'Slow Train', coming from Howard's time with the Hornets, as the first chords of Howard's slide guitar rang out, a cheer of recognition came from the audience. This was followed by another of Howard's songs 'Diplomat' also from his Hornets period. Julian keyboard work was an important feature of the evening's music, going from the delicate piano on 'Five Long Years' to the full blooded Hammond Organ sound on their thrilling interpretation of Keb Mo's 'Dangerous Mood'.

Freddie King's 'Burglar' brought the first set to a fine close, with luscious lacings of organ from Julian. There's plenty of guitar work to enjoy on songs such as Sonny Boy's 'Get Some Insurance' notable too for some precise drum work from Michael Hellier, whilst Graham's bass work provided an excellent anchor for the songs swinging rhythm. For the BB King song 'Woke Up This Morning' Julian took over the lead vocals. Another of the songs that Howard has featured in his live performances since his Razors days has been 'Take Me To The River'. Over the last few years this classic has become standard fare for covers bands, & like 'Mustang Sally' has lost some of its sparkle, yet Howard with his passion filled vocals, coupled with the band's funky reworking made this one of the highlights of the evening.

Aptly the band closed with a well deserved encore, Lucky Peterson's 'Good Thing Is About To Run Out'. To ensure a good thing doesn't run out, make sure you're in the audience on Wednesday nights at Boston Blues Club, cause one thing's for sure you guaranteed some top class music.

Tom & Ali Beaumont

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