Jay Tamkin Band (Page 3 of 3)

Hi Maggie, it was great to see and chat with you and Simon, too. I think CSB could become a regular meeting place.

For a resumé of the new blues venue, Charlotte Street Blues see http://www.jbonamassa.com/forum/viewtop … 55#p115955

I arrived at CSB at around 7.45pm to find plenty of room and a duo of guitar and keyboards on stage entertaining the early evening drinkers with some popular blues numbers. I was pleased to see Maggie and her friend Janet arriving at around 8.15pm and we found a good place to sit in the upstairs lounge area. Simon (eldo56) appeared around 8.45pm. Simon introduced me to Caz, a very friendly lady who acts as the band’s manager and chauffeur. Caz was really pleased to see some keen blues rock fans and I heard all about tea at La Maison Tripsy and that Caz also knows “Duncan Greenose” I also heard that, after driving 300 miles from Torquay in the west of England, Jay and Caz stopped for a coffee in Kensington and sitting in the corner on his own trying to look inconspicuous was Jimmy Page. Unfortunately, his attempt to melt into the background was undone when he dropped his phone on the floor with a clatter. Before leaving the café Jay decided he couldn’t let the opportunity pass without speaking to Jimmy. He strode up to Jimmy, introduced himself and said he was playing at CSB that evening. Jimmy said he knew of the venue and Jay invited him to join him for a jam if he could make it.

The current line up of the Jay Tamkin Band is Jay on guitar (principally a Stratocaster) and keyboards, Harry on bass and Nick on drums.

Jay went on stage at around 9.15pm, played until 10.00pm then came back on stage at around 10.40pm and played till 11.30pm. I had the chance to have a few words with Jay during the interval. He was genuinely pleased to see some real fans and was keen to know what I thought of the first set. I was very impressed. Jay’s playing is technically very good and full of energy. Despite it being obvious he was having slight trouble with the tuning of his Strat caused by new strings, he played an assured and confident set. He is an excellent musician being competent on the keyboards, bass (in his teens he was the principal bass player with the Devon Youth Jazz Orchestra) and outstanding on lead guitar and near the end even took a turn on drums as Nick, Harry and Jay did a “dance” around the drum kit as they became a three man percussion group.

Although Jay’s musical background is in jazz, his set leant more toward the rock end of the blues/rock spectrum. He also seems to have plenty of new material as I think his set featured only three of the numbers from his debut album, Sorted, which bodes well for his next CD and the future. In fact, the band played one song that even Caz said she hadn’t heard before.

As mentioned in the notes on CSB on the O/T forum, it was disappointing that there appeared to be very few punters who were there to see Jay and the chatter was audible over the music during the quieter moments. The band did, however, receive warm and deserved applause at the end of each number. The suggestion that many in the audience were not there to see Jay specifically was reinforced by Simon’s valiant attempt to sell copies of Sorted amongst the crowd resulting in only a couple of sales. A few copies were sold to the real fans, of course.

If you haven’t yet heard Sorted, I would recommend you add it to your wish list. Listen to it twice and you’ll be hooked, as I was. I’ve hardly stopped playing it over the last few weeks.

Like Maggie, I’m really looking forward to seeing Jay at the Jazz Café in December, if not before.

Did Jimmy appear at CSB? Sadly, not before I left at 11.30pm as Jay was ending his second set. To see Jimmy after already seeing surprise appearances by EC with Joe and Dave Gilmour with Jeff Beck is probably expecting a little too much.   Mind you, now that he knows about CSB, he could turn up anytime.

Phil