The Revelator Band: Hebden Bridge Blues Festival 2014

The Revelator Band: Hebden Bridge Blues Festival 2014

A smart shuffle in the rain to one of the Free Juke Joints where The Hat met up with a familiar face, another hatted star, Captain Barnaby Neale, the exotic, charismatic and (when in character) slightly barking mad front man of The Revelator Band. He told me, tongue firmly in cheek, to make sure I used the word 'slick' if I was writing about them.

Well....er... Playing in a bar that was bursting out on to the pavement, this Band gives 200% in performance Fire and Energy. Led by the leaping bouncing Barnaby, they cracked through their set, throwing in guitar changes, harp changes, dancing, waste bin drumming and a quick squeeze box solo or two. The local audience, of course, responded with vigour to 'Hell-Hull/Hole and Halifax' and shouted for countless encores.

This band is stuffed to the brim with talent, they really enjoy themselves and they really know how to slickly (geddit?) Beat Up The Blues. Hugely entertaining as always. See Them. Book Them. Now.

Dan Burnett: Hebden Bridge Blues Festival 2014

Dan Burnett: Hebden Bridge Blues Festival 2014

Dan Burnett was a tour de force and his gentle and charming stage style had the audience locked in – indeed at one point he quite accurately expressed delight at playing to 'a listening audience'. This is a distinguished talent and it was good to hear rock solid left hand alternated with slow wistful originals and he really uses the whole of the keyboard.

Dan has played alongside many of the greats but is only now about to produce a solo CD 'Storyville' which you should get your hands on. I do hope he includes “You're gonna shine one day” which was a moving and eloquent self-penned piece worthy of Randy Newman. Solo blues keyboards are alive, well and in talented hands.

Tom Attah & The Bad Man Clan - Hebden Bridge Blues Festival 2014

If you thought that you knew all about the wonderful and charismatic Tom Attah, that cheerful geezer from Leeds who does brilliant solo guitar and travels the world with tales of Son House and Bam Bam the dancer – then think again.

Tom was back at Hebden, but this time he brought The Bad Man Clan with him.
The electric stage room was packed, with no place to swing a Hat and, like moths to the Clan's flame, they were drawn in by the dynamic sound coming from this crew. They roared, they stomped, they sang all the words to 'Born under a Bad Sign' and 'Mojo Workin' and they punched the daylights out of what little air was left in the room. Tom started at 100 miles an hour and didn't slow. With another fine guitarist and a harp alongside, as well as the back two, Tom and The Clan cooked a storm and delivered the kind of set, with encores, that festivals were invented for. Melting Hot.

Dale Storr: Live at the 2014 Hebden Bridge Piano Festival

In accord with The Hat's almost one-man campaign to get more exposure for the great contemporary blues and jazz keyboard players, I recently took myself off to Hebden Bridge to listen to Dale Storr playing at the 2014 Hebden Bridge Piano Festival. Unlike the main stages where Debussy, Bach, Chopin and Mozart held sway, there was none of your Reverential Hush here – as Dale was playing in The Cafeteria to a wide and diverse audience of polite tea-drinkers ranging in age from eight to eighty. I last saw him playing to a standing-room only crowd of exhuberant fans. This was a rather different challenge!

A squillion years ago, The Hat used to play in pubs in Chelsea and knows well the train-crash that awaits you if you misjudge your audience. Although the piano was not best placed in the Cafeteria and many were reluctant to cross the shiny noisy floor for a better view, Dale nevertheless offered up a short master class, not only in stunning piano skill but in getting your agenda absolutely spot on. There was no microphone, no singing and not a lot of foot stomp but from his opening very cool 'Dance a la Negres' Dale took his unusual audience with him on a classic New Orleans piano journey.

In a set based largely on his live CD – 'New Orleans Piano' – he left it till a few numbers in to open up his kaleidoscopic swing version of 'Sunny Side of The Street' that had the teacups swinging with him. Once in his grip, he didn't let them go and when he finally broke out the boogie with the self-penned 'Radiatin' The 88s' it was a delight to watch young and old responding visibly to his blinding left hand. There was also a fun relaxed 'musos' moment at this point when Dale invited Daniel Smith – a terrific boogie pianist in his own right – to come and join him briefly at the top of the piano.

No such performance would be complete without an appearance from Fats Domino and after a stonking version of 'Blueberry Hill', Dale finished his set with a long and beautiful Booker style arrangement of 'A Taste of Honey'. It was a delight to see both young and old politely queuing to shake his hand and thank him for a wondrous entertaining hour or so. A real professional musician sharing his talent – and it would be nice to think that this could be the spark that will get some of those young people up and running and out there playing and singing, like Dr John, 'Oh, Such A Night, Such A Night'...