Preview

Dawnsiwch hyd berfedd bore gyda King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys! Cychwynnodd y cyfan yn Walsall yn yr 80au wrth i grwp o ffrindiau ysgol ddod at ei gilydd i ganu rhyddm a blws. Do, bu rhywfaint o newid dros y blynyddoedd ond mae King Pleasure yn dal wrth y sax tenor ynghyd a P Popps Martin a Bullmoose K Shirley. Maen nhw'n ffyddiog eu bod nhw cystal ag erioed - bellach yn fand 6 darn.

Cyfunwch arddull y band -mawr gyda blws Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner ac eraill o arwyr y 50au - mae yma egni i wasgu'r diferyn olaf mas o'r gynulleidfa a hiwmor gwyllt yn y perfformio. Ar ol perffeithio'r perfformio dros y ddegawd a hanner ddiwethaf mae gan y KPs ddigon o ddawn i gloi Gwyl 2002 mewn steil!

Preview

The act that brings our 2002 Easter Festival to a bop-till-you-drop climax was born in the early 1980s in Walsall, when a group fo schoolfriends met to plan the all-conquering rhythm-and-blues band they were going to form. Today, that band is one of the most popular live acts in Britain, with regular sell-out gigs as far apart as Ronnie Scott's in Birmingham and Don Ackroyd's House of Blues in Boston behind them, and no less than six big-selling albums on release. A number of personnel changes have occurred over the years, but the original nucleus (King Pleasure on tenor sax, together with P Popps Martin and Bullmoose K Shirley) remains intact, and the band declares that its latest 6-piece incarnation is King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys' best-ever line-up'.

The border between jazz and blues has plenty of traffic crossing it, and that border is the band's territory. Combining big-band style with the jump-blues jive of Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner and other '50s greats, driven by an unquenchable fanaticism for the sound and style of the period, this peerless outfit has the polish and the ability to assault, involve, and ultimately exhaust an audience, enhanced by crazy stage antics and zany visuals-humour, the wilder the better, has an honourable place in the story of jazz.

Having honed their act to perfection over almost a decade and a half of constant gigging, the KPs are guaranteed to bring our 2002 festival to a blistering conclusion.

'Behind the fun and rolling good times lies an outfit skilled enough to come on with the bite and precision of the Count Basie Band.' - Guardian

'Superb. A stunning range of instrumental ability...classy stuff in the style of Louis Hordan and Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, with nowt taken out! A band I'd recommend ANYBODY to go and see.' - Now Dig This

Review

Dance exhaustion and thinning wallets probably accounted for the smaller crowd who arrived for Festival-closing headliners King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys. What a great outfit! The KP's take fifties R'n'B and jump-jive and push it to it's logical limits, combining supreme musicianship (including cool period threads) and zany antics, as when the Vic Reeves-lookalike bass-player is abandoned on stage to deliver his blinding solo.

Great sax charts are matched by uncompromising period-style guitar work, while King Pleasure himself is the ultimate showman, even if his vocal style tips a little too far into parody on occasion ... as for the youthful drummer (ex-National Youth Jazz Orchestra), he literally deified the laws of gravity and physics in his solo spot. All in all, the KP's were a fitting climax to another successful Easter Festival.