If you are going to take on the songs of one of the best Showmen ever, you had better be good. And you’d best be dressed for the occasion too.
And if you are trying to recreate the big-band party atmosphere of a Stevie Wonder performance at Madison Square Gardens, then you are also going to need to have a very good set of musicians behind you.
Well. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tonight, we got it all!!
We had Justin Stephenson at the mic, in his grooviest outfit and cornrow-braided hair… switching between the keys of the Club’s Yamaha Grand and his Yamaha Motif M06.
And we had Nathaniel Andrew on guitar…Max Stowers on bass…James Sandon on drums…Danny Guerrero on congas/percussion…Dyon Tahana on alto sax…Ash Hutton on tenor sax…and Ben Oldham on trumpet…
…an amazing, powerful and entertaining combination that had the BJC pumpin’ to Stevie Wonder’s best, all night!!
Now, you will certainly know that Stevie has written and recorded a mountain of great music. However, you may not know that, so far, he has released 23 studio albums, three soundtrack albums, four live albums, 11 compilations, one box set, and 91 singles.
And yet, somehow tonight, out of all of that, Justin and his band were able to pick out two of Stevie’s best albums…and treat us to every song from both.
First, they gave us Hotter Than July, (which is quite appropriate, because in Brisbane, February is indeed, much hotter than July).
Every track was featured and all were thunderously applauded, particularly, of course, the biggest numbers from that album; ‘Master Blaster (Jammin’)’, ‘Lately’ and ‘Happy Birthday’.
And then they gave us Innervisions, again featuring every track, and again bringing the house down with classics such as ‘Living for the City’,’Higher Ground’ and ‘All In Love Is Fair’.
And it is oh, so obvious that Justin genuinely loves, respects, feels and lives Stevie’s social conscience and the way it is all laid out in his songs. Indeed, right across the night, Justin provided beautifully connected, moving commentary on the story and context for each song. Thank you.
And when it was all over, the eight of them took it out with a very unusual and memorable flourish.
Even though the ‘last’ song didn’t finish until well past Showtime, the audience was absolutely not about to let them go without an encore. And when Michael, the night’s Duty Manager, decided it was probably wiser, and perhaps safer, ☺️ to have the encore, the joint was absolutely jumpin’ and alive with dancers and wavers.
Most of the full house crowd, up on their feet for that encore, ‘Isn’t She Lovely?’.
What a night!!
Alan Smith
Brisbane Jazz Club