Page 1
Blues in Britain Issue 48
Joshua Blue
Marsden Jazz Festival
Blues fans, seeking a last celebratory fling before those long winter nights draw in, should check out this most friendly of festivals in its beautiful moorland setting. The fringe events almost always feature artists of interest to Blues in Britain readers and this 14th annual get-together proved no exception.
Then it was back again to The Railway, where a good crowd was beginning to assemble. I was expecting great things from Joshua Blue, and they didn't disappoint. The opening instrumental brought those knowing nods and smiles from the punters that say "we're onto a winner here". And how right they were. Ripping it up from the word go, Chris Leyton Bennett (drums), and Constantino Tancredi (bass), formed an inexhaustible engine room allowing Paul Garner and Cliff Campbell to launch a twin fender attack that's out of the top drawer. Cliff, who possesses a deep soulful voice capable of the necessary fire when required, looked cool in hat and shades. Every inch "The Hoochie Coochie Man" he professed to be in his opening vocal number, "Stormy Monday" soon brought him down to earth. And after his emotive renditions of "Five Long Years" and "Born Under A Bad Sign", I was starting to feel pretty sorry for the chap, needlessly, for this band was having a ball. Mark and Constantino, urging each other on, could not keep the grins from their faces. Whilst the duelling guitars of Paul and Cliff performed more high-class licks than two pedigree cats let loose in a dairy. Halfway through the second half, Cliff dedicated "Ain't Nobody's Business" to Mark's Mum, Liz. Then presented her with a bottle of champagne and a wrapped mystery present, as a thank you for putting up the band over the previous week. Towards the end they slipped in a few originals, including the closer, a white-hot funky workout with marathon solos by all. Cliff showboated, eye to eye with us on the front row, whilst simultaneously stuffing his face with a cold Yorkshire pudding! Thankfully the previous number had seen his last vocal offering. This was their fourth gig in the area in as many days. Judging by this Marsden reception, I can't be alone in hoping they stay that bit longer next time around.
Martin Byrom - Blues in Britain
Page 2
Blues in Britain Issue 45
Joshua Blue
Red Lion, High Wycombe
It is a Tuesday night and time for some Blues in High Wycombe. The Red Lion has been growing steadily in popularity with a knowledgeable Blues loving audience and is now High Wycombe's best "Live Music" venue. It's well set up with a low stage and lights and a good selection of real ales. Following the response from the regular attentive fans, many of the top bands who have appeared are seeking to come back again. Tonight people had travelled out from Oxford and West London to hear the band. The four-piece took to the stage and opened with a fast instrumental shuffle. A rousing track, which let the band warm up, and give the audience a chance to try out a loud applause. Suitably prepared, the band went into Muddy Waters' "Hoochie Coochie Man", followed swiftly by a slow blues, with great guitar solos from Joshua, which went way down low and quiet and then rose to a resounding crescendo, which had the audience whoopin' and clappin' in the isles. Joshua Blue's guitar for the evening turned out to be a Gibson Les Paul, he had a semi-acoustic with him, which looked as though it would sound very tasty, but a slight misreading of the audience meant that it got tucked away at the back. Of course this could be a marketing ploy to get you out to the next gig! The band did a great interpretation of the classic "Don't you lie to me" and then followed through with a request for "a bit of Hendrix" with "Little Wing". Paul Garner did the honours on his Strat for this with Joshua concentrating on vocals. The rest of the band got introduced and had a chance to solo on a funky beat number "Don't come back baby". Mark Layton-Bennett was none-too shy on drums and Italian Constantino had us enthralled with his bass solo. Time for a break, beer and re-string of the Gibson. The three piece opened up the second set with a fast tempo version of "I just wanna make love to you", with Joshua joining them part way through for the vocals. They kept that tempo going with "Goin' down". A great addition to the evening's entertainment was the arrival on stage of a local member of the audience to play harmonica on Freddie King's "Tore Down". Young Vic got a great opportunity to strut his stuff and received a well deserved round of applause from the audience. A slow rendition of "Ain't nobody's business" followed and then Albert King's "Born under a bad sign". It was a funky bash with a frenetic wah-wah bass line to close, but we did just manage to squeeze a slow blues for an encore before retiring gracefully into the night. Hopefully they're re-booked later in the year, and I for one will be there, but will he play that semi-acoustic?
Paul Stiles - Blues in Britain Issue 45
Page 3
Shetland Blues Festival
...London heroes Joshua Blue were receiving rave reviews. Mr Leach thought both were fantastic.
"Joshua Blue were a surprise. They are an absolutely brilliant band and I think everybody's general view on them was much the same." So good were they that they were hastily added to the bill for the Sunday night finale at the North Star, coming on after Nine Below Zero.
"We wanted to give as many people as possible an opportunity to catch them," he said. Nine Below Zero were impressed too. "The comments came back from them that they thought the band were excellent and that's a pretty good endorsement."...
Shetland Times Ltd
Page 4
www.redliongigs.co.uk
JOSHUA BLUE
This was a welcome return for Joshua Blue and they played two good sets of blues. With Eddie Angel and Joshua trading guitar parts their contrasting styles worked well with some good playing from them both. Michael and Mark kept it all very tight on bass and drums with Mark playing really well and several people commented on his playing afterwards. With material including 'Don't You Lie To Me', 'Hey Joe', 'Going Down Slow' and they were joined by Vic, one of the Red Lion regulars on harmonica for 'Tore Down'. This was a really good night with some excellent playing, as we've come to expect from Joshua and his band. CDL
...
Returning for his second visit Joshua Blue had a new band with him and very good they are too. The twin guitars of Joshua and Paul worked very well with them both complimenting each other and sharing the solos. Costa played some excellent bass with a good solo thrown in for good measure. Mark kept things tight on the drums providing a good solid backline with Costa. The two sets were a good mix of material with varying tempos, 'Hoochie Coochie Man', 'Don't You Lie To Me', 'Little Wing', 'Going Down' and they were joined by one of the regulars here, Vic, on harmonica for 'Tore Down'. This was a good night with everyone enjoying themselves and I'm sure it won't be long before they are back again. CDL
...
This was a gig that was much anticipated after Joshua's appearance at a jam night. The band were late arriving as a result of getting caught in traffic due to an accident, but were well worth the wait. They played two sets of great, classic electric blues, which was well appreciated by the good sized crowd. The band, Joshua Blue - Guitar/Vocals, Craig - Guitar, Michael - bass, Mark -Drums
and Sean - Keyboards, were very tight and all are accomplished musicians. They kept up a quite rapid tempo all night with just a few slower numbers to let you catch your breath. The guitar playing of both Joshua and Craig was superb, with their solos receiving applause throughout the night. The other three members of the band also had several solos and all played great and were warmly received. This was a great first visit and hopefully we will see them back again soon, when they do return be sure to catch them. CDL
RED LION ROCKS
Page 5
Pete Feenstra Real Music Live
Just when everyone is becoming depressed about the shrinking lack of Rock/Blues output on the radio in connection with live gigs, along comes guitarist Joshua Blue and his band to sweep away any complacency or moans and groans.
A man born to sing the blues, and play his old Gibson guitar, Joshua came to the blues from a completely different direction. His back ground is a million miles from anything to do with blues, but he always liked Taj Mahal. So he checked out the albums, from BB King to Jimmy Reed to Jimmy Witherspoon listened to a few friends collections, and found the missing link.
Joshua sat down wrote some killer songs, full of feel and guitar led blues, and a voice drenched in blues history.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we present Joshua Blue the fastest rising blues star with a cutting edge band.
www.feenstra.co.uk
Page 6
... an energetic mix of quality Blues / Funk ... beautiful deep vocal register & lovely guitar in new school RB style ... SHEER HEAVEN ... if you love Blues a definite must...
Essex Radio / Blues DJ Ashwyn Smith