Brian Auger and his current Oblivion Express returned last week for their annual stand at Nighttown in Cleveland Heights, and once again gave old and new fans alike four outstanding shows of keyboard driven jazz/rock. One of the true legends of that wonderful time when commercial rock radio actually played artists from the jazz world (Auger, Tom Scott, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, and George Benson to name a few), Auger was once again backed by a trio that featured his daughter Savannah on vocals and son Karma on drums.
They played four shows over two nights, and each eighty-minute set featured music from all stages of Auger’s career. The early show on the second night featured three songs from his landmark Closer to It album from 1973, a great version of “Season of the Witch” which showed off Savannah’s vocal range, and even went back to a jazz arrangement of a late 1800’s piece by classical French composer/keyboardist Gabriel Faure. And, of course, the band closed each set with a spirited version of “Compared to What.”
As always, Nighttown has a lot of great show coming up, including this Wednesday, April 2, with St. Louis vocalist Erin Bode returns. For more on shows at Nighttown visit www.clevelandnighttown.com.
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