Pete The Troubadour! 1/4/16

Just a fortnight after we saw musician, poet, writer, record producer and singer Pete Brown perform at The Proud, Camden - we took in Pete again on Wednesday at The Troubadour in Earls Court . He rose to prominence as a leading British beat poet (notably with Mike Horovitz's 'New Departures' group) in the early 1960's and went on to write a remarkable series of albums with Cream singer and bassist Jack Bruce, spanning over thirty years. The evening began with an excellent six song acoustic set from London singer-songwiter Jasmine Rodgers - the intimacy of the venue (photo gallery here) the perfect foil for her crystal clear vocals and guitar/mandolin playing, particularly on the appropriately named 'Icicles'. Forget about the jokes though Jasmine - ha ha! It was then Pete's turn to deliver some patter - not jokes - but some poetry - 75 year-old Brown firmly nailing his political colours to the mast although the standout poem was about station announcements when Pete travels home by rail to Hastings. Very funny! Brown was then joined on stage by Malcolm Bruce (Jack's son pictured) on keyboards/guitar and they knocked out an eclectic setlist which included The Interoceters 'The Old Soul Singer', Cream's 'Theme From An Imaginary Western' (Vid Of The Day) and Piblokto's 'Thousands On A Raft'. Another great performance from Pete plus massive respect to Malcolm who is just about to release an album, recorded in Nashville and London, through Pledge Music and will be touring in support of the release through the Spring. AJ.