Craftsmen at work

JANUARY is early to nail your colours to the mast with a claim for gig of the year.

But Paul Jones and Dave Kelly's performance of classic blues at The Fermain Tavern on Friday of last week will be one of my choices and, I suspect, that of many others.

A 'craftsmen at work' sign could have been placed at the door as the pair knocked out an evening featuring the roots of rock 'n' roll.

After declining an offer by Brian Jones to join The Rolling Stones, Paul, 68, became a 60s pop icon, topping the charts as lead singer with Manfred Mann. He left the band to go solo in 1966, had an acting career and for the past 25 years has had his own rhythm 'n' blues show on BBC Radio 2.

Dave, 64, has a pedigree that includes jamming with Muddy Waters and being a friend of Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker, with whose bands he toured.

In 1979, Paul and Dave were founding members of The Blues Band, which is still going strong after 17 albums.

Paul told the Tavern crowd that he was often asked how a pop star became a blues man.

'I was a blues man before I became a pop star,' he said.

Anybody who came to hear Do Wha Diddy would have gone home disappointed, but the pair did play Without You.

'Can everybody remember what the other side was?' asked Paul.

It was the flip side from Manfred Mann's first hit single, 5-4-3-2-1 - the theme music for Ready Steady Go.

The pair opened the first of two sets with a great cover of Jesse Fuller's San Francisco Bay Blues. From then on, the duo shared their encyclopedic knowledge of their subject with a story before each tune, usually about the composer. In many cases this was a person who had shuffled off this mortal coil poor and without fame and who would have been surprised to know of the legendary status they now hold with the cognoscenti.

Paul took the opportunity several times to drop in the name of his own hero, Little Walter, who, he said, was the greatest harmonica player of all time. That is some compliment from a man who has been recognised for his own mastering of the instrument.

On one number, he played and sang while Dave just sat on his stool and watched with his hands resting on the top of his guitar. It was sheer class.

Quite early in the set, Dave asked people in the crowd to stop talking. Though some might not have liked that, it does beg the question why people pay money to see top performers and do not bother to listen to them, aside from being disrespectful to the artists.

A word has to be said for the third element in the evening. The Fermain Tavern is by far the island's premier music venue and it lent itself to a great, club-like atmosphere on the night.

Chris Staples must be commended for his work in redeveloping the place into a far more user-friendly venue and for giving Guernsey audiences the chance to see high-quality performers at reasonable prices.

With Georgie Fame reported to be one of the next in line, just say Yeh Yeh and try the place out if you've not done so already.'I was a blues man before I became a pop star '