Georgie Fame Trio (Great Britain)
Georgie Fame's music provides a swinging and surprisingly credible blend of jazz and American R&B. His albums continue to gather fans from all musical tastes. The Trio features his two sons James and Tristan Powell.
Line Up:
Georgie Fame - leader, organ
James Powell - drums
Tristan Powell - guitar
On Stage: 3
Travel party: 4
Biography:
Entrepreneur Larry Parnes gave the name to this talented organist during the early 60s following a recommendation from songwriter Lionel Bart. Parnes already had a Power, a Wilde, an Eager and a Fury. All he now needed was Fame. It took a number of years before Fame and his band the Blue Flames had commercial success, although he was a major force in the popularizing of early R&B, bluebeat and ska at London's famous Flamingo club. The seminal Rhythm And Blues At The Flamingo was released in January 1964. Chart success came later that year with a UK number 1, "Yeh, Yeh". Fame's jazzy nasal delivery, reminiscent of Mose Allison, made this record one of the decade's classic songs. He continued with another 11 hits, including two further UK chart toppers, "Getaway" and "The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde", the latter of which was his only US Top 10 single in 1968. The former maintained his jazz feel, which continued on such striking mood pieces as "Sunny" and "Sitting In The Park". Thereafter, he veered towards straight pop. His recent change of record labels (from Columbia Records to CBS Records) had attempted to re-market him and at one stage teamed him with the Harry South Big Band. While his albums showed a more progressive style his singles became lightweight, the nadir being when he teamed up with Alan Price to produce some catchy pop songs. Fame has also played straight jazz at Ronnie Scott's club, performed a tribute to Hoagy Carmichael with singer Annie Ross, and has sung over Esso advertisements. In recent times Fame has been content touring with Van Morrison as keyboard player, given a brief cameo to perform the occasional hit. During the renaissance of the Hammond B3 organ (an instrument that Fame had originally pioneered in the London clubs) during another jazz boom of the early 90s it was announced that Fame had recorded a new album Cool Cat Blues; and its subsequent release to favourable reviews and regular concert appearances indicated a new phase. The album was recorded to the highest standards and featured smooth contributions from Steve Gadd, Robben Ford, Richard Tee, Jon Hendricks and Boz Scaggs. A reggae reworking of "Yeh, Yeh" and a graceful version of Carmichael's "Georgia" were two outstanding tracks. Morrison joined Fame on the former's classic "Moondance". Fame followed up with The Blues And Me, an album of a similar high standard. Tragedy struck Fame in 1994 when his wife committed suicide. Since then he has continued to work and record with Morrison and Bill Wyman as well as gigging with his latter-day version of the Blue Flames, which features two of his sons. Tristan Powell (guitar) and James Powell (drums) are both excellent young musicians, moulding well into their father's warm musical niche Fame has reached a stage in his career where he can play what he chooses, now he has reverted to his first love, jazz. He is an exemplary musician whose early and latest work is necessary for any discerning record collection.
Discography:
1963 Rhythm and Blues at the Flamingo [live] - RSO
1964 Fame at Last - Columbia
1965 Yeh Yeh - Imperial
1966 Sound Venture - Columbia
1966 Sweet Thing - Columbia
1967 Hall of Fame - Columbia
1967 Two Faces of Fame - Columbia
1968 The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde - Epic
1968 Third Face of Fame - CBS
1969 Seventh Son - CBS
1970 Does His Own Thing with Strings - CBS
1971 Going Home - CBS
1971 Together - CBS
1972 All Me Own Work - Reprise
1972 Fame Again - Starline
1974 Georgie Fame - Starline
1977 Daylight - Island
1979 Right Now - Pye
1979 That's What Friends Are For - Pye
1980 Closing the Gap - Piccadilly
1981 In Hoagland - DRG
1985 Together - CBS
1986 With Lena Ericson/Lasse Samuelson - 4 Leaf Clover
1988 No Worries - 4 Leaf Clover
1988 Selection of Standards - DRG
1991 Cool Cat Blues - Blue Moon
1995 Three Line Whip - Three Line Whip Music
1996 Blues and Me - Ridgetop/Bean Bag Entertainment
1999 Walking Wounded - Go Jazz
1999 Name Droppin' [live] - Go Jazz
2000 Poet in New York - Go Jazz
YouTube Videos:
Georgie Fame live in Ribera de Arriba, Spain (2010)