I've enjoyed Fame's music since the Flamingo days. I never caught him there live, but I bought the album and I have most if not all of his recent albums and have been to many of his Edinburgh concerts in recent years.

Fame is one of a tiny group of vocalists to have successfully mastered the mysterious arts of vocalese, and the quality of his own lyrics justify him a place alongside his mentor, Jon Hendricks, at the top of that select group. By contrast, his Hammond organ and piano playing tend to be placed into the background. Indeed, it's probably fair to say that he doesn't exhibit the solo technique of his other heroes, Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff or Groove Holmes. However, he is a superb accompanist, not only of his own voice, but of the solo improvisations constructed nightly by the many excellent musicians who have occupied the front line of the Blue Flames. That front line has been pretty stable for some years now, consisting typically of Guy Barker (trumpet), either Peter King (alto) or Alan Skidmore (tenor), and Anthony Kerr (vibes).

Peter King and Alan Skidmore belong to Fame's own generation and have been associated with him for a very long time. King, in particular, is renowned as Britain's foremost bebop saxophonist, although he is capable of changing, chameleon-like, to a powerful post-Coltrane style at will. 'El Skid' is a more obviously blues-derived player, a style admirably suited to the Jordan inspiration.

The Blue Flames' rhythm section is these days something of a family affair, with James Powell on drums and Tristram Powell on guitar, plus another fine young(ish) player on bass, Geoff Gascoigne

The sound guys had brought along a fairly modest speaker system, and volumes weren't uncomfortably high, so a lot of what we heard was natural sound coming direct from the stage. By and large, the balance was good, but I noticed Fame at one point asked Mark to have some changes made to the mix into his own wedge, so I guess he might not have been entirely happy.

Blue Flames gigs are nothing if not professional. Fame & Co are not just there to play a few numbers; they put on a show. So, after Fiona Alexander's introduction, the rhythm section came on to start up a groove and the rest of the guys followed one by one to take up their places in the mix. This evening, 'El Skid' turned out on sax. The program was material mostly taken from the band's recent albums, including a new variation on 'Georgia', and two recent compositions 'Vinyl', and 'Jimmy McGroove' (a tribute to three guys everyone will recognise) from the band's recent live album recorded at Ronnie Scott's. And there were a few 'standards' such as 'Let the good times roll'. Yes, they definitely did. Even 'Yeah, Yeah' is surviving well, in spite of its being played every night.

A couple of pieces were entirely new to the front line ("Hey!", shouted Fame at one point in response to a puzzled look from Skidmore, "Don'tcha just love these public rehearsals"). He wasn't kidding -- the guys really were playing these numbers for the very first time. Now if only the bands I play with could sound that tight *after* the rehearsals! The new ones were basically blues forms from a stage show that Fame seems to have been working on, on and off, for a few years. I don't think anyone was put off by the novelty, but that must be the first time I've heard the leader of a class band shouting "We're going to the bridge, now, going to the bridge. That's letter F, letter F" in the middle of a performance. At least it will make me feel better next time I'm forced to do it!

Mark's B3 sounded great throughout -- what else can I say but that it performed flawlessly; definitely no bumps, bangs or crackles! I was interested to see how often, during his comping, Fame just touched the Leslie lever from slow to fast and back again, so as to get that great sound of the rotors slowing down. Otherwise, his technique was pretty standard -- lots of small movements of the expression pedal, Leslie mostly on slow, bringing in fast at climaxes. In one of his solos he exploited Emerson's favoured technique, holding a high-ish note across several choruses whilst working a line around and mostly under that note. I think the theoretical types call that a pedal, even though it's not played on the pedals.

All in all, then, a really enjoyable show. Fun music, crisply executed, and not without ample musical value. Barker's solos, in particular, were just stunning.

Click here for a look at a vintage Georgie Fame review.

Thanks to Dr. Russ Evans for supplying this review.