Porretta Soul Festival

My annual pilgrimage to the Porretta Soul festival was, as ever, enjoyable and fun (despite my girlfriend having to cry off at the last minute), but the line up was rather more low key than usual.
Day one was dominated by New Orleans piano men who, although both excellent exponents of their art, were just a little too similar. Davell Crawford (minus his grandad ‘Sugarboy’ who was originally slated to accompany him), played a solo set which never quite caught fire, despite some solid New Orleans R and B numbers and a good version of Randy Newman’s Louisiana 1927. Later we were able to compare his nimble fingers with the huge digits of blind New Orleans pianist Henry Butler, who pounded the keyboards to within an inch of their lives. I’ve always regarded Henry as being a jazz man, and hence haven’t taken much notice in the past, but he is clearly much more than that, with a varied repertoire taking in jump blues, funk and New Orleans R and B. I didn’t warm to him much on day one, but he appeared again on days two and three with shorter sets and I appreciated his quite incredible mastery of the keyboard rather more. Not sure about his deep voice though – reminiscent, to me at least - of Screaming Jay Hawkins. The highlight of day one was without doubt Mable John, whose clean soulful voice is as strong as ever. Her versions of Bad Water, Your Good Thing, brother Little Willie John’s Need Your Love So Bad and others were powerful and beautiful at the same time. Prior to the main acts we had to suffer an hour of a strange, spoof French soul band led by Captain Mercier – doing a tribute to Nino Ferrer (who?) – and a 75 year old rock and roller called Clem Sacco. Both were awful. Day two was a marked improvement, the highlight being Bishop Joe Simon with the 24 strong Avenue D male choir from Florida. I had grave reservations about Simon as we were told that he would not do any secular music. He was true to his word, but did include a slightly changed version of My Special Prayer and his first hit A Teenager’s Prayer, which he clearly didn’t regard as being ‘satan’s music’ (his description of his early works). Joe’s voice was strong and the choir were good, if a little camp in their mannerisms, and he still has what it takes. Just a pity that we will never again hear him sing The Chokin’ Kind or Drowning In A Sea of Love. Mable John and Henry Butler reprised their first night highlights and a first for me was Otis Redding III. Although clearly not in the same class as his dad, he’s a pretty competent guitarist and singer who ran through a selection of his hits including a moving version of Dreams To Remember (written by his mother Zelma). Special mention has to be made of the backing band led by Austin Delone which was superb throughout, with a first rate horn section, and the girl backing group Sweet Nectar. There was a single song from Charlie Woods with his tribute to Rufus Thomas and Porrette Terme and the final act on Saturday was Sugar Pie DeSanto, appearing for the second year running, who again wowed the crowd with an act that was funny, bawdy and excellent entertainment. The final night saw more glimpses of the acts from the previous two nights, climaxing with an amusing encore with them onstage together. Joe Simon refused to join in at first – Sugar Pie mischievously said that he couldn’t possibly join in because he’s a bishop – but then did a great duet with Mable John on Lay My Burden Down. The main act on Sunday was Chaka Khan, who appeared with her own band and seemed in good form. I’ve never been a great fan of her rather bland seventies soul style, but it was professionally produced and she came across well, looking good in the process.

So another Porretta comes and goes. It's not in the same league as the Ponderosa Stomp - but then nothing is - but it's a laid back weekend in beautiful scenery with some good music thrown in. More pictures and some movies will follow soon.