Take some extract of Little Richard, essence of Jerry Lee Lewis, place it in the cooking pot… and stir in the rich, gravy tones of Ruth Brown. Then add a sprinkling of Roy Milton, topping the whole lot off with a generous shot of Larry Williams. What have you got? I’ll tell you. It’s the hottest rhythm and blues groove this side of Kansas City. And you’d better believe it.

Dressed in one of his many garish stage suits, the Bossman of Boogie is sweating from the first number in, staccato piano figures firing from the stage like a machine gun stuck on the rapid-fire notch.
Part Latin gigolo, part rockabilly hellcat, Sanchez is phenomenal. Such is his power that the sidesmen lurk reverently in the shadows, each one neatly punctuating this keyboard-led onslaught with taste and finesse.
And what a band. Led by Al Nicholl’s rasping sax, the formidable Harlem Horn underpin the proceedings, harnessing the great man’s relentlessly pounding keyboard, while Al ‘Slap Happy’ Gare (double bass) and Mark Morgan anchor the beat. But it is the spiky, edgy Fender guitar lines supplied by Andy Silvester that confirm the authenticity of the Sanchez band. There are no endless, tedious Clapton-esque journeys up to 12th and 14th frets – this is sparse, smoky blues guitar played as the Devil intended.

As for the numbers, they spoke for themselves, testimony to the immoral music of the American ghetto. Blue Boy, Breathless, Every Day, Every Night… Love My Baby, Fast Train. These are songs that wear thumping hearts on their sleeves, facing the world in all their glorious directness and simplicity.
And their greatest living ambassador must be Mike Sanchez – the rocking and reeling alley cat from deepest Worcestershire whose music never fails to set our feet tapping and pulses racing to what surely must be the biggest, meanest beat in town.

--John Phillpott