Andy Lackow & Mess Around made their Reckless Steamy Nights debut to a full house of blues lovers and did not disappoint. It was anything but a smooth road to Red Bank for Andy, as his regular keyboard player Steve Skinner fell ill and even though it was thought he would be better by gig time, that didn’t happen. After several calls, Andy was able to get Eric Lessor to come down from Westchester New York on a day’s notice to fill in. Soundcheck that night turned into a mini rehearsal with Andy running through a number of tunes on the set list which he, bassist Curtis Fowlkes and drummer Sal Coffaro had rehearsed, and he then let us know when they were ready to go.
The band kicked off with an old favorite, T-Bone Walker’s “T-Bone Shuffle,” which received a warm welcome from those in attendance. Next was the eponymous song “Stop Messin’ Round,” by Peter Green, which got the band in a groove as they moved into a spirited version of Richard Penniman’s “Lucille.” Andy then slowed it down for a clever coupling of one of the Temptation’s signature tunes, “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” and Bill Wither’s “Who Is He.” “Oh, Pretty Woman,” the Albert King gem, was a hard driving version which had that intensity of the great Gary Moore. The band really got cooking with the Ray Charles version of “Unchain My Heart.” Andy’s strong vocals and guitar lead as well as the keyboard play of Eric over a strong rhythm section made this a great choice. They followed that up with Chuck Berry’s “Oh Carol,” which harkened back to the Stones version on “Get Your YaYas Out.” A point of interest here, Eric actually played with Chuck back in the eighties, as he was notorious for using local musicians because, as he said “every young musician knows my music.” He was a shrewd businessman and a difficult taskmaster, knowing he could get very good backing musicians for very little money. B.B. King’s “Sweet Little Angel” was a welcome addition to the set, with a Firey version of James Brown’s “Papa’s Got a Brand-New Bag” putting an exclamation point on the music, heading into the break.
Albert King’s “C.O.D.” opened the second set, and was followed by an outstanding version of the Allman Brother’s “You Don’t Love Me.” Next up was one of my favorites, Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train,” made famous by Elvis. I haven’t heard a local band do a live version this good since Sonny Kenn left for Florida. Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor” was a great blues song choice by Andy, as was Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Early in the Morning.” The Chuck Berry catalogue was then revisited for “Oh, What A Thrill,” to the delight of those listening. The band then switched gears for the jazz funk sound of Grover Washington Jr.’s mid seventies classic “Mister Magic,” which the expertly presented. Another blues nugget associated with Albert King, “I’ll Play the Blues for You,” featured a terrific solo from Curtis. The night ended with James Brown’s “I Feel Good,” and everyone in the room certainly left feeling that way. Kudos to Andy and the band for a fun night of music where only those of us at the sound check knew this wasn’t the full band.
More information about Andy Lackow & Mess Around on www.facebook.com/andylackowandmessaround