Dana Gillespie - Live With The London Blues Band

The queen of British blues holds court in… Poole?

This live set gets off to a flying start, with the speed demons on guitar and piano racing through solos at warp velocity. From then on, it’s a mostly self-penned set of high-class blues and boogies. One of the two covers is WC Handy’s St Louis Blues, which, in Dana’s hands, is devastating. She’s helped along by great saxophone work from Mike Paice. The other, Mose Allison’s Your Mind Is On Vacation, is similarly sparkling. On her own tunes, Dana, a grand dame of the blues, sounds like a real predatory mama, a bona fide man-eater. On Experienced she’s almost terrifyingly raunchy (and that’s a compliment) as she hollers the titular boast. Plenty of these songs seem to be about what goes on between the sheets, with lots of ‘sugar’ and ‘big daddies’ making appearances, but it’s testament to Dana’s skilful and nuanced delivery that it never becomes crass.

The London Blues Band provide top grade backing, turning on the flash without ever losing site of good taste, and never getting in Dana’s way. Heaven knows what she’d do to them otherwise.

Ace | CDCHM 1146

Reviewed by Mat Croft
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