MICHAEL MESSER & CHAZ JANKEL live in concert. Sunday 29th October – 6.30pm

MICHAEL MESSER & CHAZ JANKEL

Together, these two old friends have just recorded a stunning album of new material entitled ‘Mostly We Drive.’ This extraordinary combination of two great artists can be witnessed live in concert at The CAT Club on Sunday 29th October. Be prepared – your mind is gonna get blown.

MICHAEL MESSER

Michael Messer is a virtuoso slide guitarist, singer, and blues innovator. His stunning slide guitar playing and superb vocals, ooze authenticity and integrity.

The American magazine ‘Spirit’ listed Messer as “one of the greatest slide guitarists ever, alongside Duane Allman and Ry Cooder.”

Johnny Cash was a fan of Michael Messer’s music and wrote the liner notes for his 1993 collaboration album ‘Rhythm Oil,’ a rare honour shared only with Bob Dylan on Nashville Skyline. ‘Rhythm Oil’ was awarded Import Album of the Year by the Austin, Texas, music press. Messer’s ‘King Guitar’ album reached number one in the US Living Blues chart and ‘Second Mind’ won Best International Guitar Album of the Year.

With Michael Messer’s Mitra, he once again has broken new ground, playing an exhilarating and accessible fusion of rural blues and Hindustani classical music.

Messer has released ten acclaimed albums, toured worldwide, recorded numerous live radio and TV sessions, and appeared in his own ‘Blues’ episode of BBC TV show.

“I can well understand Michael’s mighty reputation as the current king of slide playing in this country. I haven’t heard anything as lyrical and as perfect in a long time.” Blues Alive.

CHAZ JANKEL

One of the most fertile talents in British pop music, Chaz Jankel was at the epicentre of Ian Dury & The Blockheads, acting as the mercurial Londoner’s sidekick, songwriting partner and musical director. If Dury brought the rock and the roll to their music, then Jankel delivered the funk into punk.

But there is another side to Chaz: that of songwriter and solo performer and thanks to cult club hits like ‘3,000,000 Synths’ and ‘Glad To Know You’ (a huge club hit in the USA, spending 6 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100), resulted in Chaz becoming an underground dance hero. Working alongside studio wiz, Phlip Bagenal, who not only engineered many of his best works, and with whom he also founded Eastcote Studios, Jankel was responsible for some of the best and most experimental dance records to come from these shores.

Jankel’s first solo collaboration was with veteran songwriter Kenny Young (who co-wrote ‘Under The Boardwalk’) whose lyrics had been inspired by a recent and controversial Japanese movie called ‘Ai No Corrida.’ It eventually ended up in the hands of Quincy Jones, and it was enough for Chaz to win a deal with A&M, which eventually yielded five albums. His latest release is the truly wonderful ‘Flow’ album.