Last night saw a special evening for hard core bass fans in and around London. Yolanda Charles, Steve Lawson and Todd Johnson took to the stage for a spectacular evening of solo bass.

Todd was out with the crowd before the show, sharing his passion for bass and showing off his rather nice signature Zon Bass. By the time it came to kick off a very good size crowd had gathered at Darbucka. It is a superb venue (unless you happen to be a photographer, in which case the ambient light will render even your best kit useless – that’s my excuse anyway 🙂 ). Check out their menu, you will want to eat there!

Yolanda Charles took to the stage for her first solo gig. Yolanda has played with artist like Robbie Williams and Paul Weller, but is now an artist in her own right. Quite rightly too, as she filled the room with her grooves, using just a simple loop pedal and raw her talent. Very funky stuff, a wonderful voice!

Next up was Steve Lawson himself, and my chance to see the Looperlative in action. It is a very serious piece of kit, judging by the other-worldly sounds Steve coaxed out of it as he tap danced on more pedals and controllers than this blogger could count. Some old and some new tunes, all very Steve, resulting in very satisfied fans in the audience. I don’t think that anyone there will ever forget his rendition of ‘a wonderful world’. Which leads us neatly on to Todd…

Todd Johnson‘s first trip to London since he was a teenager! This was just one stop on his hectic European schedule, he was off to the lucky folks at ACM next. If you like Jazz, you’ll love Todd. He is well known in the bass world for his tuition DVDs (check him out youtube) and the A-list of artists he has played with. With the able support of a digitech Jamman for a couple of the tracks, he swung the house.

The finale featured Todd and Steve playing a piece together, seamlessly alternating melodic rolls like true solo bass brothers! For those in London, keep a look out for other events from Steve at Darbuka (for facebook folk, check out steve’s fan page), which is a regular haunt for the recycle collective. I’ll definitely be back!