Jon Amor Trio at the Tuesday Night Music club ,Coulsdon

Images by Ken Jackson

This review is written by Nigel Foster and shared with his permission .

Jon Amor Trio – The Tuesday Night club – 5 August

Tonight the club moved into its 12th year and what a massive way to start with a brilliant gig thrown down by the Jon Amor Trio, a proper power trio in every sense of the word. This is very much meant as a compliment when I say this was not overly complicated, it was just 3 incredibly talented musicians making a statement of intent, this is us, this is our music, fend or please and I know it pleased every single one of us lucky enough to be there.

Jon Amor fronts the band on vocals and guitar and his co-conspirators are Jerry Soffe on bass and Tom Gilkes on drums. Tonight the Trio’s music slipped between classic British R&B, blues rock, funk rock, straight ahead rock and some roots. The trio took to the stage and immediately dived into a frenzied funk workout in the shape of Bird’s Nest, Tom and Jerry (no cat and mouse) locked in a heavy rhythm and Jon threw down some chopped hard licks all of which dropped under his forceful vocal.

The heavy bluesy shuffle of Graveyard followed built on the rhythm section pulses and topped by languid lead guitar licks and a strong vocal. To open John had used a battered Red Stratocaster but he then switched to a Pink Telecaster and during Make You Mine John showed the instrument has a real sweet spot as he eased out a sharp taut solo that sliced open the groove.

I Know What You’re Using was an epic slab of slow blues that featured an anguished and threatening vocal from Jon as he laid bare the lyric. The guys in the engine room threw out a really low end groove of venom and Jon poured out a series of virulent licks. Adding layers of atmosphere and feel to the song Jon then sang into a Megaphone that produced that trademark echoed sound and he then sang with no amplification, so intoxicating to witness.

Relentless brought Jerry to the fore as he gave his beautiful 5 string bass a full workout, both hands working overtime on the strings generating big fat lines. Tom provided deft support to flesh out the sound. Way Down Low featured Jon’s extensive use of the Wah Wah pedal as he pulled out those crying screaming sounds and Tom and Terry locked in again to drive Jon on and he also drooped in a howled vocal.

To up the ante even more the trio ended the set with the filthy dirty head knock rock of Miss James, a punch the clock rhythm boomed out and locked against Jon’s grinding riffs and he then went walkabout as he plunged deep for the vocal. After a short break where Jon did a brisk trade at the merch desk, no surprise there, the guys returned and in The Turnaround they delivered a freight train rocker again featuring heavy use of the Wah Wah Pedal as the guitar tones were draped over the drum and bass patterns and Jon’s voice was clear and powerful.

Rideau Street revealed itself as a slab of pedal to the metal rock ‘n’ roll boogie with driving rhythm patterns vying with hooked up lead breaks jumping in and out of the voice. We were then treated to a drum masterclass from Tom, rolling and thundering sounds were emitted from the bass drum, snare and cymbals, Tom feathered and punched the skins to generate the depth and variety of the sounds.

Eagle was another explosion of sonics as Jon pushed out the low guttural vocal and the rhythm section pulsed out vivid patterns over which Jon splayed some six string wizardry as he first detuned the guitar to generate the heavy sustained vibe and from there he took the volume to almost zero as he feathered the strings before building it right back up. The set closer was another heads down no nonsense hard rocker, Jon’s fiery and furious riffs butted heads with the deep driving groove and the trio then floored the accelerator to take us to the finish line. A standing ovation followed and ensured an encore, a final chance for the guys to shine and us to show our appreciation with a second standing ovation.

A measure of the gig was that it was obvious Jon, Jerry and Tom had as much fun as we did. Richard and Rosalind and your staff, particularly sound man Mike thank you once more for making this memorable night.