Porretta Soul Festival Day two

Day two of Porretta really delivered with some good performances from some artists I hadn't seen before and the return of some old faces. There was some blues, a bit of New Soul and quite a lot of Memphis and New Orleans sounds,  making it a satisfactory evening overall.
First up was J P Bimeni  and the Black Belts. He's a refugee from Burundi who has made his home in London and who has joined up with a Spanish band and recently recorded an album called 'Free Me'. Most of his numbers were original - an exception being 'Keep On Running' - and not immediately memorable  but he is a good looking young man with a decent stage presence and a touch of the Otis Redding about him. One to watch I think and a great back story.
Next on stage was the Luca Giordano band with Boston resident Sax Gordon (and his son), who did a couple of crisp instrumentals, including 'Get Ready, before introducing another Boston resident Leon Beal to the stage. He was a revelation, and his anguished versions of Soul classics such as 'Don't Cry No More', Solomon Burke's 'None Of Us Are Free', 'Glory Of Love' 'Cry To Me' and 'A Change Is Gonna Come' were nothing short of sensational. So too were up tempo numbers such as 'Hole In The Wall, 'I'll Take You There' and a duet with Curtis Salgado on Sam Cooke's 'Aint That Good News'. Nothing original, but good old school soul delivered well and just what the festival needed.
The Anthony Paule Band has been a regular fixture at Porretta in recent years and they provided excellent backing for the rest of the evening, firstly to backing singer Sandra Griffith, who did a couple of songs including 'Kiss Me Like You Mean It', and then Khylah B, an attractive young singer whose short set included 'Proud Mary'. New Orleans based Willie West came next and was perhaps the weakest act of the night. I saw him at the Ponderosa Stomp in 2017 and was impressed but this time he failed to ignite a spark, looking slightly ill at ease with trousers threatening to fall down at any time. The former Meters singer brought a touch of NO funk to proceedings, but 'Wind Beneath My Wings' hardly qualified as soul. Rather better was Allen Toussaint's 'The Greatest Love' and 'Talking To Myself' but this was a slightly disappointing set.
The next artist, Annika Chambers  more than made up for it. She is a shapely lady with a powerful bluesy voice who came across strongly on such hard hitting numbers as 'Six Nights and a Day', 'Put It Where You Want It', Sweet Sensation'  (A duet with backing singer Larry Baptiste), an original song called 'Move', 'City In The Sky' and 'Jealous Kind'. Very enjoyable and I would like to see more, a lot more, of her.
The final acts of the night saw the return of two Memphis singers who are very much in the mould of Sam and Dave, Chilly Bill Rankin and Jerry Jones.  Both did some solo numbers, with Bill doing well on 'Hard To Handle' and 'Last Two Dollars' and Jerry contributing 'Got To Get You Off My Mind' and 'If Loving You Is Wrong ' before combining on a medley of Sam and Dave numbers including 'Hold On I'm Coming'  'I Thank You' and 'Soul Man'. It was an appropriate end to what was a varied and highly enjoyable evening. Well done Graziano for another triumph.