Talented band keeps blues spirit alive

Two New Zealand music legends are rolling north to play with their equally skilled and seasoned band mates in Takapuna.

Wayne Mason, writer of Nature for The Fourmulya in 1969, the Kiwi anthem voted the nation’s most popular song at the turn of the millenium, and his old mate guitar guru John O’Connor tread the stage this Friday at The Pumphouse Theatre.

They’re in the rock n’ roll group Laura Collins and the Back Porch Blues Band, out of Wellington, who are some of the leading exponents of American roots music in this country.

Mason plays a mean keyboard, striking the keys like the Southern masters he admired as a youngster. And with the recent passing of the great Antoine ‘‘Fats’’ Domino, for those who want a reminder of the excitement of that style of New Orleans boogie piano playing, Mason alway delivers - he found his ‘‘thrill on Blueberry Hill’’.

A famous Domino composition penned and performed for decades with Dave Bartholomew, Let the Four Winds Blow , is a Mason favourite, as is an original 1940s rock n’ roller, Down the Road Apiece, by Don Raye.

Collins, a high-class singer and entertaining leader, describes Mason as ‘‘one hell of a fine boogie piano player’’.

‘‘He’ll be firing it up. Think Fats Domino, Dr John, Professor Longhair and you’ll be in the right honky tonk.’’

Collins moves between ‘‘ballsy blues and soulful ballads’’, she says, making them her own after drawing on the stylings of divas Nina Simone and Etta James.

‘‘Blues comes straight from the heart and that’s just how I like it,’’ she says. ‘‘It’s accessible, joyful, heart-full music and not only that it makes me want to move – what’s not to like?’’

O’Connor, a master pedal-free guitarist who’s played with everyone from BB King to Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, is in the rhythmic engine room with George Barris on ‘‘warm’’ upright bass, and onthe-backbeat Pete Cogswell on back porch drums.

‘‘Having a pulled-back rhythm section allows us to be at lower volume and bring a really warm vocal-led sound. We’ll still make the crowd want to dance though, this band just swings,’’ Collins says.

* Laura Collins and the Back Porch Blues Band play The Pumphouse Theatre, Takapuna, 8pm November 10. Tickets $25, see pumphouse.co.nz.

SUPPLIED Laura Collins and the Back Porch Blues Band are Wayne Mason, Laura Collins, Peter Cogswell, George Barris and John O’Connor. They play The Pumphouse Theatre, Takapuna, on Friday, November 10.