Location: Postojna
Concert date: 29.03.2007
Attendance: 200
Ticket price: 12.00€
We rarely get the chance to see fiercely independent, completely dominant musicians caught in a relaxed atmosphere of all-round enjoyment, where each of them, in a totally spontaneous hunt for new ideas and inspiration, freeloads off their bandmates like the world’s worst leech. Well, as usual, to our joy and luck, Postojna Blues came through again with one of those unforgettable moments, this time with the appearance of Sax Gordon.
Sax Gordon, a Detroit-born saxophonist, is one of those madmen who, with his animalistic, no-compromise playing, always squeezes out even the last atoms of strength that keep him on his feet. With the help of his friends, Raphael Wressnig on Hammond organ, guitarist Alex Schultz and Viennese drummer Rafael Lucas, he managed to fill the cold Postojna evening to the brim with positive energy. The ease with which Gordon approaches his gigs is simply unbelievable. You first figure he’s just another concertgoer, some clueless, bespectacled goofball gently swaying as he “defends his territory” right next to your table, and then he suddenly picks up a sax, and rough, jazz-tinged motifs start parading proudly out of it like off an assembly line. Gordon can’t be distracted. His cheerful dancing across the parquet of Jamski dvorec quickly pulls him up on stage, where a trio of wildly mixed-generation, fun-loving uncles is already waiting, and he throws himself straight into the ragged funk-jazz rhythm of DD Riden. The fun instrumental opener works mainly as an icebreaker, with the sax suddenly stepping politely aside for guitar blues, served up in a seductively smooth way, strongly reminiscent of Mick Taylor’s style. The young Wressnig quickly joins in on the playfulness of sax and guitar, and his ancient Hammond sound delivers the peak of this opening jam session. In their obvious ease, the guys put on a peculiar exhibition of their musical chops right from the start, merrily carrying on with their “debating club” from song to song. The next two, Hot Wheels and Cherokee, are a similar playground for all fans of instrumental jazz. Especially the latter, where Gordon steps off stage and gives Raphael and Alex a moment to do their own thing, brings some rhythmically very lively moments. The guys clearly enjoy these improvised, jazzier excursions into the unknown most, spoiling us rotten with constantly swapping motifs and themes of every color.
When Gordon, who soon reappears on stage with a beer in hand, announces the arrival of the melancholic Melancholy Serenade with a tender call from his sax, an obedient hush falls over the hall, and through it Wressnig’s Hammond glides gently in all its mysterious sadness. When this gorgeous glimpse of the other side of Gordon’s crew ends with his sudden outburst of pain, total silence takes over the Jamski dvorec hall. Unbelievable! From Postojna we head to Dallas, where blues legend T – Bone Walker awaits, once again dressed up in jazzy clothes. The guys bring us closer to proper blues with The Misfit, where Gordon this time also treats us to his raspy vocals. When he completely lets loose, the gentleman suddenly finds himself bouncing merrily among the totally petrified audience, trying to raise the temperature of the “ice hall” of Jamski dvorec at least a little. The fact that we Slovenes just don’t have the looseness of some especially fired-up Chicago crowd left visible traces of disappointment on Gordon’s face more than once. The crowd couldn’t muster a stronger reaction even for the bouncy funk of Boom Bello, after which the gents allowed themselves a well-deserved short break.
The continuation of this thrilling evening in R & B à la Yardbirds style, with Vinnie’s Blues, means a trip back to the wild ’60s. Blowing into his “magic whistle,” Gordon suddenly conjures up a wild mood, masterfully seasoned with a bluesy guitar solo. The peak, and at least a slightly livelier reaction from the crowd, comes with an eruption of psychedelic Hammond sounds, and on top of them, surprise, Smoke On The Water is waiting for us! Next up is Jam Up with its rock & roll jazzy flavor, full of humorous bits of familiar musical motifs of all sorts, and we can be proud that the uncles picked the lovely Postojna location for their “sandbox.” Banana Boogaloo and Half Horn Will Travel carry on at a similar tempo and energy, this time with vocals again after a long while. The flirting with different musical genres, all handled in the incredibly easy-going jazz way we had already settled into quite comfortably over the evening, finishes off the bulk of Gordon’s multicolored setlist with Junior Walker’s Hot Cha, embellished with the “chaos” of masterful solos of every kind. The gents quickly slip off stage and leave the crowd to some shy chanting. After its intense “sweating it out,” with all the thrust of a rocket under a hayrack, the guys return to the stage with their own take on King’s Blues Power, which on top of that features a near-identical Gordon address to the audience. The unforgettable night wraps up with an honest-to-goodness boogie jam, full of thrilling energy, that the sub-Alpine crowd will probably never fully understand. Which is of course normal, since after all this time, despite the many excellent concerts of the Postojna Blues Festival, we Slovenes sadly still remain a nation of uptight farmhands. Good thing we have Alya and Šank Rock!
Setlist
1. DD Riden (Gordon) 2. Hot Wheels (Aley) 3. Cherokee (Raphael) 4. Melancholy Serenade (Gordon) 5. T – Bone Jumps Again (Alex) 6. The Misfit (Raphael) 7. Boom Bello (Raphael) 8. Vinnie’s Blues (Raphael) 9. Jam Up (Alex) 10. Banana Boogaloo (Raphael) 11. Have Horn Will Travel (Gordon) 12. Last Train To Aalter (Alex) 13. Hot Cha (Junior Walker) 14. Crazy Frog Jam —encore— 15.Talkin’ Blues (Gordon) 16.Soulful Strut (Raphael)
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