Habit Forming Yet? (Blue Spirits)

Another visit to Jazz At The Fleece and another overnight stay at Stoke-By-Nayland Resort, although on this occasion we decided to have lunch in the lounge and upgraded the room (worth the extra we both agreed). Still extremely good value for money and, as the title indicates, it’s starting to feel like a home from home, although I’m convinced it’s going to be years until we will be considered anything other than naïve novices. It is however a great way of getting to grips with superb jazz players (not literally obviously, that would be rude), knowing that if someone doesn’t ‘float your boat’ for whatever reason, you’ve still had a lovely break at a fine hotel.

No such worries on this occasion however, as we were treated to another excellent set, this time by John Etheridge and Blue Spirits. It has taken me longer than it should, but I have now realised that in the realms of jazz, these groups are often simply aggregations of personnel who come together for gigs whilst maintaining relationships and indeed playing with other artists at the same time. And so it was that on this occasion, as in addition to the guitarist John Etheridge (even I knew him and you can read all about his career here and here) we had Pete Whittaker on organ (fresh from his stint with Zoë Schwarz Blue Commotion at this very venue a mere four weeks ago) and George Double on drums / percussion.

One of Van Morrison’s later albums argued that all a musician needs is three chords and the truth, but what happens if you happen to be a guitarist who knows thousands more. Well, if you’re John Etheridge, you clearly have the talent to use it but not abuse it and he and the band delivered a set full of passion and inventiveness. We should have known we were in for something both innovative and a little unusual when they kicked off proceedings with a slow and blues inflected version of ‘Sealed With A Kiss’ (I kid you not). I won’t simply regurgitate the set list in full but a few highlights included ‘You Don’t Know Me‘ (Ray Charles version is my preference), Hank Williams’ ‘Cold Cold Heart‘ and an Etheridge original (‘Broken Hill‘), which I believe he recorded with Soft Machine but don’t quote me on that. He finished the first section with another of his own compositions (‘Distant Voice‘)

He started the second half with a solo rendition of ‘God Bless The Child‘ – spellbinding, not least because it was the first appearance in public for the new guitar acquired from the luthier ( if you don’t know, you’ll have to look it up like me 🧐) Martyn Booth. I can’t really help with the specifics, but it sounded pretty damn fine to me!

There were great renditions of a wide variety of material (‘Bye Bye Blackbird‘, ‘Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen‘ amongst them), including the most overt jazz number (Sonny Rollins’ ‘First Moves‘) but the set finished with the up-tempo ‘I’m Comin’ Home Baby‘, which saw John stretching out on guitar with a more rock oriented sound, Pete matching him with one of his many funky organ solos and George providing propulsive drumming as Blue Spirits proved that the group was more than one supremely talented guitar player. Irritatingly, the whole structure of the tune was very reminiscent of a similar song, but I can’t for the life of me remember the specifics!! That all being said, John Etheridge is without doubt one of the most talented guitarists I’ve ever witnessed and I’d describe the set as rooted in jazz but with a fiery blues sensibility (if that makes any sense).

As a very dubious Geordie was once quoted as saying “I never wanted to be a star, I wanted to be a respected musician like John Etheridge“. Given that he is reputed to have an ego the size of Giant Haystacks, I’m not sure Sting really meant it, but never a truer word etc.