Dino Baptiste, one of the UK’s leading boogie woogie piano-playing vocalists, considers Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Ray Charles to be his biggest influences. He has been performing professionally since 1989, and has shared the stage with performers including Mick Jagger, Donald Fagen, Roger Taylor, Lulu and Leo Sayer, along with blues greats such as Joe Louis Walker and Big Jay McNeely. He performs numerous gigs with his own band, Night Train, at Clubs and Blues festivals around the UK and Europe and undertakes over 250 gigs per year. His debut CD ‘Two Timing Lover’ was received with considerable acclaim.
Normally leading a five-piece band, Baptiste was accompanied this evening by one other tonight – Guildhall School of Music graduate Dan ‘Bam Bam’ Watt on drums, and what a talented pair they are. From his own compositions to The Liberace Boogie Woogie (hey!), he and Watt enthralled the audience with their faultless playing. At one point, Watt joined Baptiste on the keyboard for a duet. Is there anything this young musician cannot do? He certainly has an exciting future ahead of him. Watt, by his own admission, likes to talk, and entertained us with stories between numbers, providing us with a background to each piece he delivered, possibly for a bit too long sometimes, but he would probably admit this.
The venue itself, accessed through a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it doorway next to Farringdon Tube Station, is an intimate underground space, with tables and a stage to the rear. The décor comprises plush red velvet seating and red walls, and has a relaxed atmosphere, however, lower lighting could create more of an ambience. Friendly staff greet you at the door, and remain attentive throughout the evening. Food is served in the form of pizza in a cardboard box with no cutlery, possibly ordered from a nearby restaurant/takeaway? Delicious, mind, reasonably priced, and a fun quirky touch, but not what we were expecting and it could be made clearer on the advertising. A bottle of wine will set you back around £30, whilst cocktails are c.£15 each (they are very good). A fun evening listening to truly accomplished musicians, however, the abandoned grand piano sitting in the corner was a wasted opportunity, in favour of an electric piano, which, for me, took away the resonance that would have really captured our senses, and left me slightly disappointed given the talent present.
Rhea Shepherd
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