With a brisk wind ruffling the waters of the River Thames and threatening to blow all four seasons across the city in the space of a single day it was totally appropriate that Peter White should open his Thursday night set at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Dean Street Soho with ‘Autumn Day’ from the ‘Perfect Moment’ CD. White was in London as part of his annual UK mini tour and the Pizza Express, this most intimate and rare of venues, was sold out as his fans congregated to witness the welcome return of one the true smooth jazz superstars. He played six nights and seven shows and, in a year that finds him ‘between’ releases, took the opportunity to delve generously into his back catalog for a succession of much loved favorites.
Unlike his appearance in 2004, when ostensibly he was there to promote his then new CD release ‘Confidential’, this time he created the space to tell his little ‘between tune’ stories and widen the range of his song selections as far as the Joni Mitchell composition ‘River’ from his ‘Songs Of The Season’ album. On the original the vocals were provided by Kenny Lattimore but, at the Pizza Express, Whites regular collaborator on sax, the DC based Jaared, did the honors and proved that as an all round entertainer he is simply getting better and better. Jaared also found time to feature the up beat and funky title track from his own CD ‘Hang Time’ and the crowd, already loosened up by the high tempo ‘Beuno Funk’ from Whites CD ‘Glow’, were instantly in he mood.
As well as Jaared on sax the remaining backing musicians ensured that the performance burst with energy throughout. With another regular, Acoustic Alchemy’s Frank Felix, on bass and Ami Rothenberg on drums the new guy on the scene was keyboard player Adrian Conington. Conington, who is both English born and based, has his own CD ‘Sacred Roots’ on release and enthused the audience with a track from it, the classy piece of smooth jazz piano ‘Storm In Manhattan’.
Despite the fact that ‘Confidential’ was perhaps the smooth jazz CD of 2004 White revisited it somewhat sparingly. However, when he played the Brenda Russell number ‘She’s In Love’, Jareed again stepped up with the vocals that were sang on the original by Christopher Cross.
Those who have seen Peter White live will recall his story of how hearing the Isley Brothers play saved him from a life of rock and roll hell. He tells the tale as his intro into ‘Who’s That Lady’ from ‘Glow’ and he had his usual fun with the track segwaying it, as he tends to do, with ‘Papa was A Rolling Stone’. Another of his Motown memories ‘Just My Imagination’, also from ‘Glow’, went down well and whetted the appetite for his new release that is rumored to be a collection of choice soul covers.
White treated the audience to his hits ‘Caravan Of Dreams’, ‘Perfect Moment’ and the classic ‘Midnight In Manhattan’ where, shrewdly, Jaared did not attempt to emulate Grover Washington but instead remained his excellent self. In so doing he provided one of the highpoints of the evening. Despite the full house that included his brother, Danny (Matt Bianco) White, there was one person missing. Peter’s mother, who regularly attends his shows, is currently recovering from a knee transplant so could not be there. Of course Peter gave her a name check and played what he described as her favorite tune, ‘My Prayer’ from ‘Perfect Moment’.
White also featured another gentle track, ‘Lullaby’ from ‘Caravan Of Dreams’ and when he again reached back to ‘Confidential’ he let the crowd into the secret that as a youth he had been, of all things, the British Harmonica champion. He divulged this to explain why he was using the instrument in the introduction to ‘Swept Away’, which, on the CD, is played by White on the accordion. Such personal insights are typical of the connection that White is able to make with his audience in live small venue settings, a connection that invariably brings about a joyous reaction.
As the set drove on toward its rapturous conclusion the band deftly merged ‘Bullseye’ from ‘Glow’ with ‘San Diego’ from ‘Perfect Moment’. It provided a fine end to a fine evening and sent the crowd home both happy and exhilarated by yet another memorable Peter White experience.