John Etheridge – ‘Blue Spirits: Live’

By londonjazz on 27 January 2024 • ( Leave a comment )

John Etheridge – Blue Spirits: Live
(DYAD Records DY033. Album Review by Adam Sieff)

In last week’s London Jazz News, Sebastian Scotney spoke with guitarist John Etheridge about this album (link below),

Without recapping too much, this is the first time that the Blue Spirits lineup of Etheridge, organist Pete Whittaker and drummer George Double (and before that Nic France) has released anything at all in their twenty year existence. It’s been worth the wait, as this is a fine album of eight songs recorded live one night at Nottingham’s wonderful Peggy’s Skylight jazz club/bar/kitchen (the garlic prawns are supposedly to die for). The music sounds great, with minimal editing and a warm mix by Ru Lemer, although a little more audience ambience would have been good.

If you only know Etheridge through Soft Machine or his many other lineups (The Globs anyone?), you may be surprised how bluesy his playing can get. He’s the main soloist here, fearless and intensely melodic, knowing when to stick to the tune and keep it simple before really taking off, as the version of Stevie Wonder’s Cos We’ve Ended As Lovers demonstrates so well.

He uses his palette of different tones exceptionally well always working with Whittaker’s organ, listen to Mal Waldron’s Soul Eyes where he’s clean and mellow with a modern edge. The two original tunes, A Distant Voice (Eric Johnson would love this) and the tender Broken Hill contrast nicely with the intense high speed soloing of Sonny Rollins’ First Moves, a hard swinging version of John Scofield’s Wabash III and the country funk rhumba of Hank Williams’ Cold Cold Heart. Whittaker and Double take their moments where they can, but the whole thing just wouldn’t work without them. The final track is a second song covered by Jeff Beck, Charles Mingus’ elegiac Goodbye Pork Pie Hat complete with shimmering harmonics and plenty of soul.