Caught Live (3): The Trevor Burton Band @ Katie Fitzgerald's 08/03/14

 Photographs courtesy of Tony Smith

#677: Hello ... Hello ... my old friends ... It's great to see you once again! It must have been written in the stars that, having had the pleasure of seeing The Trevor Burton Band at least half a dozen times over the last few years, I would have the honour of witnessing what had to be one of the bands finest moments during their superb gig last night (Saturday 8th March) at the wonderful and homely Katie Fitzgerald's venue in Stourbridge on the eve of the 65th birthday of one of the Midlands greatest yet most unsung guitarists as he also celebrated entering his fiftieth (50th) year as a professional musician.

A deserved recipient of his King's Heath Walk Of Stars award last year, Trevor and his two gigging cohorts Pez Connor (Bass/backing vox) and Bill Jefferson (Drums) delivered a stunning evening of high class Rhythm coupled with the highest quality Blues. On the back of what must have been some superb rehearsals for the upcoming national tour by The Move, Trevor was on top form as this tight knit family of a Blues trio wowed the truly fortunate and appreciative onlookers with not only his prowess of the six string - particularly with: "Dear Mr. Fantasy" and "Hey Joe" but also his tales of working with Stevie Winwood and Traffic, Eric Clapton and, of course, Jimi Hendrix back in the day after his departure from The Move back in 1969.

Never have I seen such a threesome so tight and unified (the contributions of ace bassist Pez Connor and driving drummer Bill Jefferson should not be overlooked) as they seamlessly combined Trevor's own songbook with covers of Blues classics by the likes of Freddie King and John Hiatt. There were certain moments last night that, if you closed your eyes, you could well believe that you were in a blues bar in New Orleans or that you were listening to early Dire Straits in their Muscle Shoals team produced "Communique" phase.

l-r: John Collins (Forever website), KJS, Trevor Burton, Pez Connor, Bill Jefferson (Tenor)

Such was the range in style and content that I was (for a change) lost for words. The highlight of the night must have been the whole house singing "Happy Birthday" to a much loved man.

Set list highlights were: "Down Down Down" ~ "Tough Enough" ~ "Hey Joe" ~ "Master Of Disaster" ~ "Dear Mr. Fantasy" ~ "Heartbreak Hotel" ~ "Feelin' Alright" ~ "Little Rachel" ~ "Down The Road" ~ "Going Down" ~ "The Highway Is Like A Woman"

The Trevor Burton Band is taking a break for a while as Trevor joins The Move on tour from Wednesday 12th March until Saturday 21st June. In the meantime, Bill will take a breather and Pez will continue with John Caswell and Howard Smith (from The Steve Gibbons Band) in Al Jolson's Dog - who will covering classics by Eric Clapton, Cream, Derek and The Dominoes, Jimi Hendrix, Rory Gallagher etc. The next scheduled gig for The Trevor Burton Band is on Friday 18th April at The Queen's Head in Wolverley.

ELO Beatles Forever (ELOBF) recommends The Trevor Burton Band to those enlightened folks who enjoy the music of ELO/Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, The Move, 'Brum Beat', The Beatles and related artistes.

Until next "Time" in the ELO (and related) Universe ... KJS ... 09-March-2014