Joanne Shaw Taylor

Sometime you have to accept your own mistakes – last May I had the opportunity to see Joanne Shaw Taylor at London’s Borderline but chose to go to see another artist elsewhere the same night – I don’t remember who the other artist was but, based on this incendiary release, I missed one of the finest shows of the year.

JST is one of the best young guitarists that Britain has produced in the last ten or twenty years – well up there with Oli Brown or Aynsley Lister – but also possessed of a fine, husky and emotive voice; soulful and sexy but also powerful and subtle too. With the long blonde hair she commands stage centre and but she has the confidence to go with it and it is little wonder that she is garnering a reputation as one of the hottest live acts around.

This record of the night at the Borderline has no overdubs or retunings on it – as they say “One night, one chance” – but she doesn’t sound as though she needed any help. I’ve seen her live maybe 5 times before and you can always tell when she is up for the show when he voice develops a Janis Joplin like ‘cackle’ as though she is simply unable to hold back how much she is enjoying herself. This is one of those nights and don’t the crowd react to it too.

The set kicks off with ‘Soul Station’ from the latest album and she cooks along with a blistering solo and that husky voice challenging her guitar playing as she goes. The band is great and the keyboards of Jools Grudging really bring the music to life with a dense rolling background. Joseph Veloz plays bass like his life depends on it and every time I’ve seen him he impresses a little more while drummer Tony Dicello brings a fast and powerful sound. The three of them drive Ms Taylor along and the result is much more than the standard live playthrough.
The show includes numbers from all of her albums including a desperately heartrending ‘Jealousy’ and Hendrix ‘Manic Depression’ and she shows that she is capable of so much more than just solo after solo – she can do Blues and soul with real passion.
‘Beautifully Broken’ swings with a soft touch but great emotion and then ‘Almost, Always, Never’ played for her recently passed mother shows that she can sing soft as well.
‘Let It Burn’ is a terrific balls-out Blues and she closes the main set with a huge ‘Jump That Train’ before coming back for a couple of encores.

Joanne Shaw Taylor is at the point in her career – 3 albums in and plaudits from all over the place – that the live album is almost a given and she has been touring enough over the last couple of years to have put together a pretty fair set but this is the lady at her peak and playing a set that was all about getting it right, walking that tightrope – the result is one of the best live albums I’ve heard in years.

I wish I’d been there but she is touring again this winter and I won’t be missing out this time.