Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

THERE WERE three musicians on stage before a near full house at RedBones the Blues Café, Braemar Avenue, New Kingston, on Friday evening - one bass guitarist, one drummer and one keyboard player.

However, the music Maurice Gordon, Deleon 'Jubba' White and Harold Butler respectively made was more than their number, the last especially being the focal point of the evening billed as 'Harold Butler and Friends'.

And near the end, before the encore of What's Going On, Gordon, who did almost all the talking that night, said: "the Butler himself, Mr. Harold. He did it. He did it."

And he had, rocking and smiling on Fly Me to the Moon in the first segment of the concert, mouth open as he played, then sitting quietly and looking at Gordon and White in turn as they took solo turns.

Excellent playing

Butler started off Feel Like Making Love, playing very softly near the end of Gordon's solo run on bass, then compressed his lips as he played lower and lower notes, leaning in the direction of his right hand as it moved away from his body and then returning to an upright position as the song ended.

The trio went into Reggae with Money Maker, which started off with drum and bass, Butler first playing with his left hand only, then his right, then both. He rocked in his seat as Gordon rocked back on his right leg, poised on the ball of his left foot, closed his eyes and let the bass go and, in the end, White tinkled on the cymbals, Gordon laid down the bassline and Butler's fingers danced as they took the volume down and down and down.

Gordon announced a special tune and there was applause as Love Me Forever, Butler's composition, originally sung by the late Cynthia Schloss, was recognised instantly.

The music intensified from its calm beginning and, as it hit a peak, Butler swept the keyboard from the high notes down and then the low notes up, then came the calm playing again.

Intermission song

After a half-hour intermission, the trio returned with Gordon lodging a complaint about the difficulty in opening a bank account for Butler, what with the bank's requirements for a Justice of the Peace and accounting for the source of funds.

It was back to music with The World Is A Ghetto, Butler's tongue sticking out on the second post-intermission song. He sat with his hands in his lap, watching Gordon and White as they combined bass, hi-hat and rimshot, his hands darting up and forward intermittently to play a few notes.

On Blue Velvet Butler swept his hand across the keyboards from the higher notes once, then twice, thrice and then a fourth time in succession, then the trio went very slow on Midnight in Vermont.

A diner from Norway ditched her cutlery and took to the microphone for Summertime, her little black dress serving both activities nicely.

She started out high and the applause came after the second line, her hands moving from their hanging position to more expressive positions as the song progressed.

But there was someone in the audience who was not satisfied.

Good ol' summertime

"When you play Summertime uptempo you know what's what!" he shouted.

Gordon shaded his eyes against the stage lights and demanded who was speaking.

"Every time we play somebody is shouting about Sunmertime," he said good-naturedly and, without announcement, the three duly delivered the uptempo version of the song.

"OK? OK?" a smiling Gordon demanded of the shouter when it ended.

"We're going to take one step ahead on the next song," Gordon said and the Butler composition, sung by Beres Hammond was duly delivered the reaction from the audience did not indicate recognition of the outstanding song.

Woman No Want No Bangarang and Kiss Me Once kept the Jamaican flavour going and, on the uptempo closing note, the shouter became the dancer, literally talking to the floor in front of a large fan whirring against the summer heat.

"Never you on the floor while ago? What happened? You had a seizure?" Gordon asked before the encore.