Joe Bataan And Push Get Ronnie Scott’s Grooving

Being a mainly seated venue Ronnie’s can be tricky for groove-oriented acts, yet this posed no problem to the salsoul pioneer and his band who had almost the entire front section on their feet by the group’s final number.

Although Bataan is now a well-practised veteran on stage with a metric tonne of experience under his belt, showmanship still seems to be an intrinsic feature of his DNA. Clad in a bright red flat-cap and a white linen shirt, decorated by a red glittered treble clef and strands of sheet music, Bataan performed a set that evenly alternated salsa stompers with ballads such as ‘My Opera’ that at times stepped well over the ‘cheese’ boundary. Linking the numbers, Bataan would take time to tell stories about street life in 1950s New York, the problems that arise when you have 8-10 girlfriends, and balancing music with family life (an issue he’s resolved by having wife Yvonne as his backing vocalist). In the twilight of his career his voice, which has never been particularly strong, has enriched with haziness and he really turned up the heat in the moments that mattered.

The New Yorker hardly seemed to know the names of his backing band PUSH, but a synergy was present, and the group relished the opportunity to belt out the Bataan canon. ‘I Wish You Love (Part Two)’ with its sugary riff was beautifully executed and beefed up with spectacular solos from the Da Lata guitarist Chris Franck, and the well-seasoned bassist Ernie McKone who’s list of credits include Candi Staton and Leon Ware – more of this across the all-to-short hour and a quarter set would not have gone amiss. The gloriously cheerful ‘When Sunny Gets Blue’ and ‘Gypsy Woman’ as the penultimate tune, had bums wiggling on seats across the floor, which meant the audience didn’t need much persuading to get to their feet for Bataan’s uproarious latin-spiced rendition of Gil Scott-Heron’s ‘The Bottle’, which brought the set to a triumphant close, followed by a convenient but nonetheless deserved standing ovation for the Afro-Filipino latin-funk legend.

– Jake Williams

– Photos by Carl Hyde