surreyrhythmandblues

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Viva FeastyFest!

It was a great pleasure to play at FeastyFest on 7th September. A great event – brilliantly organised and a super crowd. We enjoyed staying on to catch some other bands and to visit some of the excellent food trucks! Here’s a compilation of live footage taken by fans – featuring us playing Smooth, Primavera and Corazon Espinado.

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Supernatural 25 - A Celebration

This year marks 25 years since Santana released Supernatural – a landmark album that catapulted Carlos and the band back into the limelight. We are celebrating by including a host of that album’s material in our current set. As well as big hits Smooth and Maria, Maria we will be including great material like Primavera, Love of my Life and Africa Bamba … ad more! You can catch us playing this…

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Thanks Soper Hall for a great night!

Friday, 18th August saw our return to live performance after a few months off. It was great to return to Caterham’s lovely and historic Soper Hall. It’s where we made our first appearance. It was a great evening. The performance was tight and full of energy. The audience were hugely appreciative and supportive. The band really enjoyed themselves. We also had some fabulous comments from…

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Welcome to Corazon, Chris Franklin

We are delighted to welcome Chris Franklin to the band as our new keyboards player. With long experience as a touring and studio musician, Chris brings to Corazon an impressive combination of energy, professionalism and great musical talent. He also shares our love and affinity for Santana’s music. The moment we heard him rip into a Greg Rolie style organ solo, we knew we had found our keyboards…

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Getting ready for FeastyFest

Getting ready for FeastyFest

Hi Corazonistas! It’s been a great first summer as a gigging band.  We’ve been thrilled at the great reception we’ve received at festivals including Baldock, Westerham Rocks and JailFest.  It’s also great to see that Santana’s wonderful music still has the power to bring joy to people – but then, of course it would!  We’ll be rounding off our summer schedule on Sunday, 11th September by playing…

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Playing Baldock Beer Festival on May 1st

Playing Baldock Beer Festival on May 1st

We are thrilled to announce we will be playing Baldock Beer Festival on 1st May 2022. This is a great community beer and music festival with proceeds going of charity. Loads of great music, loads of great beer! See: http://baldockbeerfestival.org/

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Soper Hall, here we come!

Soper Hall, here we come!

We are excited to be returning to play SOPER HALL, CATERHAM on Friday, 18th March. It’s a great club with a wonderful audience and atmosphere! Tickets (£7.50) are available online here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/surreyrhythmandblues/644833/

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Corazon goes live!

It feels great to be back performing live again. Hopefully, venues can remain open now. It was also particularly rewarding for me to be able to bring the Corazon: The Heart and Soul of Santana project to a live audience a couple of weeks ago. I’m a huge Santana fan and this tribute is a labour of love for me. The reception we received from a full house at Surrey and South London Rhythm and…

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Wow... that was a blast!

Wow… that was a blast!

Well, due to COVID lockdowns our live debut was somewhat delayed. We finally made it onto a stage back in October. It was worth the wait. What a fabulous audience we had at Soper Hall in Caterham. Thank you to everyone who came, listened, clapped, cheered and shouted for more. We will be returning to Soper Hall in March next year. Here’s a little video form the night. Sorry, it doesn’t capture…

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Live at last!

Well, it’s taken a while … but finally, the Corazon Santana tribute gets to make it’s live bow! We will be playing at Soper Hall, Caterham alongside the Martin Smith Band. You can see details and get tickets here: buytickets.at/surreyrhythmandblues

[surreyrhythmandblues]

It's good to be back!

It’s good to be back!

We are very happy to announce that we are reopening the club doors on Friday, October 15th with a great double bill featuring The Martin Smith Band and Corazon. To see more details and buy tickets visit:  https://www.tickettailor.com/events/surreyrhythmandblues/563187

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Music Podcast number 10

Music Podcast number 10

We’ve just rolled out our 10th “You Just Can’t Have Too Much”  music podcast.   It’s now available to listen to on Mixcloud. You can also listen using this little widget: There’s 22 great tracks ranging across traditional and contemporary blues, blues rock, R&B and soul. There’s current material from Chris Cain, Curtis Salgado and Marcus King. Classic cuts from the likes of Solomon Burke, Albert…

[surreyrhythmandblues]

The Unforgettable Nat 'King' Cole

The Unforgettable Nat ‘King’ Cole

My Crooner Chronicles journey recently took me into Nat ‘King’ Cole territory (courtesy of a request from a friend). It was a real pleasure to have a go at performing the much-loved classic “Unforgettable“. I hope I’ve done it some justice. Like so many numbers Nat Cole turned his prodigious vocal talents to, his version of this song is so definitive. He was one of a handful of vocalists to be…

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Crooner Chronicles up to #10

I’ve just added my 10th video post to the growing Crooner Chronicles saga. You can find the videos in a Youtube playlist here. The series started back in February when I decided to venture back into a style of singing I’ve neglected for a while – and record the results! There’s a bit of rustiness there, for sure. Things like breath control aren’t quite at the level they were a few years ago.…

[surreyrhythmandblues]

March music podcast

March #music #podcast #saslrabc

I’ve just finished putting together the March music podcast for Surrey and South London Rhythm and Blues Club. No news yet on when the club will be re-opening – but we can offer you 22 great blues, soul and R&B tracks to listen to and lift your mood. There’s tracks from Otis Redding, B.B. King, Robert Cray, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Ben Poole, Kirk Fletcher, Tommy Castro, Walter Trout, Mica Paris and…

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day

During the latest lockdown I’ve been recording myself singing some classic ballads, swing, musical numbers etc. – trying to dust the cobwebs off that part of my vocal repetoire. This great Billy Joel song is in response to a request received last week. I do hope the requestor enjoys it. It also happens to be quite an appropriate choice for Valentine’s Day. So, I dedicate this to my lovely wife…

[surreyrhythmandblues]

Corazon - a fond tribute to Santana

Corazon – a fond tribute to Santana

Another post to help bring the news on this blog post up-to-date. I’ve always been a huge fan of Carlos Santana. Those latin beats and that trademark, singing guitar sound have greatly influenced my musical tastes and my own style of playing. Forming a Santana tribute band has been something I’ve pondered for some years. Last year I decided to take the plunge. I was fortunate that the other…