The Steve Gadd Band brings delicate thunder to Ronnie Scott’s

Steve Gadd may be approaching his eighties, but his playing remains as fresh and lively as ever. Since the late 1960s, he has collaborated with almost every major name in the worlds of jazz, rock, and blues – including Steely Dan, Michael Brecker, Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, and Grover Washington Jr…  just to name a few. For this three-night residency at Ronnie Scott’s for the EFG London Jazz Festival, Gadd was joined by his quintet comprised of Walt Fowler on trumpet and flugelhorn, Larry Goldings on Hammond B3 organ and electric piano, Michael Landau on electric guitar, and Travis Carlton on electric bass. Infectiously bluesy, tastefully minimalist, and propelled by Gadd’s signature shuffle grooves, the music was simply wonderful.

Since their first album in 2013, the studio output of this ensemble has been consistently top-notch. The majority of their setlist therefore featured original material from these albums, Gadditude (2013), 70 Strong (2015), and Steve Gadd Band (2018). They opened with ‘Africa’, a moody, brooding composition by Landau, before launching into ‘The Long Way Home’, ‘Timpanogos’, and ‘Sly Boots’, all jazz fusion compositions with dense harmonies and subtle, angular melodies. This was followed by tunes such as ‘Blues For…’ and ‘Green Foam’, straight-ahead 12-bar blues romps with exhilarating solos from all members. This contrasted with a selection of ballads which showcased Gadd’s delicate brushwork.

These original compositions were interspersed by a few standards, the cerebral swing of Keith Jarrett’s ‘The Windup’, Jan Hammers funky ‘Oh, Yeah?’, and even a bluesy reinterpretation of Bob Dylan’s ‘Watching the River Flow’ for an encore. Landau was in particularly fine form, displaying a vibrant mixture of influences from Stevie Ray Vaughn and Hank Marvin to Mark Knopfler and Miles Davis-era Robben Ford. Fowler was also fantastic, his fragmented trumpet lines adding an eerie, mysterious timbre over Golding’s swirling mix of organ chords. A joy from start to finish.