CD LAUNCH - Dana Gillespie and The London Blues Band

Dana Gillespie has been a major figure on the UK music scene for over 40 years. Starting on the folk circuit in the mid 60’s she graduated to pop and glam-rock (fortunately short lived!) before settling on the musical love of her life – the Blues, which she describes as “…my first musical love because it's earthy, spiritual and honest”. Since the late 70s she has been singing, recording and touring with blues musicians from all over the world, including a two-year stint in America working with some of the finest players in the industry. She has recorded over 60 albums for various prestigious labels including Pye, Decca, RCA and her current label, Ace, and has performed on every continent. As evidence of the high esteem in which she’s held Dana was voted “Top British Female Blues Vocalist” by the British Blues Connection and Blueprint Magazine five times and has now been elevated to their Hall Of Fame. And just in case you have any doubts how good she is, suffice it to say that Bob Dylan invited her to perform as support on his ’97 UK tour as he has been a fan of hers since the 60’s. Her current backing band, The London Blues Band, is a terrific high-energy band featuring the cream of UK blues musicians. Tonight Dana and the band will be launching their latest CD “Cat’s Meow” released by Ace Records, the second album co-written and co-produced with her long-standing guitarist Jake Zaitz, and as before the pair’s approach to writing and recording is sincere and straightforward. Spare and organic production complement well-crafted songs that capture the essence of the blues’ rootsy, lowdown and dirty feel, so long associated with this great outfit. Tonight’s opening set will introduce the new album almost in its entirety featuring not only Dana but her great band: Dino Baptiste on piano, Jake Zaitz and Artie Zaitz on guitars (see Mon 13th), Mike Paice on sax and harmonica, Jeff Walker on bass and Evan Jenkins on drums. And a heads up that Dana is celebrating 50 years in show business, so watch out for her memoirs, which are due out some time next year. This is fantastic authentic Blues from one of Europe’s finest exponents and if you want to be the first to own her latest recording (and who wouldn’t!) this gig is not to be missed.

“It’s an index of Gillespie’s empathy with her material that the originals blend so seamlessly with the classic covers…she literally beats the pants off anything done by a British bluesman these last 10 years” Essential Blues;
“A master of rhythmic subtleties with purity of intent” Downbeat(USA)