Long time London’s favourite Japanese Blues player Saiichi Sugiyama was unveiling some new tracks from forthcoming CD “So am I,� and giving a rare outing for his latest band with acclaimed lyricist, poet, and percussionist extraordinaire Pete Brown.

If bands bear any relationships to football teams this lot is Chelsea given Saiichi’s almost Roman Abramovich obsession to field the best possible players in every position. Saiichi’s latest line-up includes a rhythm section of top drummer Dave Innes long associated with such luminaries as Midge Ure, etc, the always awesome American bassist producer David Hadley Ray, whose US funk sensitivity adds a transatlantic feel to the proceedings; add in a sparkling mid field of key board supremo Paddy Milner with acclaimed singer-songwriter-guitarist Sue Ballingall and you have the makings of a great band...but its to the twin strike force of Saiichi Sugiyama guitar/vocals and Pete Brown percussion/vocals where the writing responsibility lies and the performance plaudits deservedly go.

So we had an evening with six excellent musicians performing a range of self-penned material which, with apologies to weddings everywhere, comprised the best in old, new, borrowed, and Blues. The old were in the shape of classics from The Pete Brown-Jack Bruce song book like Politician and White Room, which came over as well-remembered old friends, but given the vocal and percussive energy exhibited in performance by lyricist Pete Brown reminded us that these classics of the Blues Rock genre still have an important message for today.

The new comprised some great new songs from Sugiyama-Sugiyama Brown which covered subjects as diverse as parenting, commuting, to old and new Japan. The borrowed is the variety of genre reflected in the new material to take it from Blues/ Blues Rock to beyond. While the exciting new material stretched both band and audience, Saiichi showed that we hadn’t lost a great Blues player with his awesome guitar and vocals on the Blues tracks like “Some where down the road� and “What’s going on,� and while I don’t want to single out any of the new tracks other than to advise you dear reader to get your hands on the new CD “So am I� on its forthcoming release I would be remiss not to advise you that the new track “Old Samurai,� apart from being a high light of the album and reminiscent of the early Fleetwood Mac Peter Green, is possibly the only version of recorded Japanese Soul in existence.

George McFall

From: A. Mole, the Live Music Appreciation Society:

"To all guitar musos! What a fab blues night at the Grey Horse, Kingston. Japanese guitar maestro Saiichi Sugiyama converted newcomers to his blend of blues songs, old and new. Saiichi's expression, as he sang original and classic material show emotions and feeling from the heart and soul---the mark of an enlightened bluesman. "The Blues" is the name of the game, and that means speaking from the heart! Indulge yourselves and get down to Saiichi's next gig...it's a knockout--honest!"

From: Adrian Lovegrove, guitar enthusiast!

"The Queen's Jubilee was kicked off from the roof of Buckingham Palace, appropriately, by Queen's strutting and axe-wielding Brian May. Well, the Japanese also have an avid interest in music --- western music, to be precise --- and The Blues in particular, which can only mean wailing guitar solos from the soul, and lots of it.

"Saiichi wasn't on the roof of Buck House, but he certainly blew the roof off The Grey Horse over the Jubilee Bank holiday, playing renditions of early Clapton-Cream numbers like "Sunshine of Your Love," "White Room," and "I Feel Free." Pete Brown, the famous author of these Cream classics joined Saiichi onstage with percussion and vocals. The resultant effort created an evening of spectacular atmospheric sounds and vision that gave reminiscence of those halcyon days of the '60's and '70's.

"Saiichi's band of musical musclemen could certainly pack a punch and couldn't help but send shivers of excitement down the central nervous system...so much so that the audience were either transfixed with hallucinating fascination, gyrating body movements, or just happy to join in the fun and tap their feet to the beat, followed by rapturous applause of appreciation.

"As one audible and enthusiastic reveler put it: "If Bruce Lee can kick ass, so can Saiichi Sugiyama and his Band of Blues Boys --- it was bloody brilliant!"

"The American blues giant, Big Bill Broonzy said, "If you like what you see, and you like what you hear, then you're probably gonna like it again!"

"Saiichi and his band are playing again and again on the London--Surrey circuit...check out the gigs page for the next performance. See you there!"