Jack Semple Trio at the Minstrel Cafe

Jack Semple brought his trio to Kelowna and delivered another brilliant display of virtuosity wrapped in an absolute love of performing to a sold out Minstrel Cafe & Bar.

Comprising equal parts sophisticated harmony, serious groove, reckless abandon, raw energy and stunning improvisation, Semple avoided evoking images of other great guitarists while still musically employing virtually ever guitar technique known to man. The key word here is musically. At no point did the listener feel like they were enduring someone’s need to show their stuff. Instead they were gifted with a highly entertaining mix of Jack’s originals and standards from the blues repertoire, offered up by a band that clearly enjoys what they are doing.

The highlight for this reviewer was Semple’s rendition of “Rainy Night in Georgia”. Semple opened the tune with a guitaristic nod to the original. His vocals were soulful, heartfelt, and piercing. The extended guitar solo in the middle, though, was the kind of thing that legends are made of. Combining both upper and lower register fretwork, the full palette of the dynamic spectrum, expressive bends and releases, and jaw dropping sweep picking way up the neck, references to the original were interspersed with enough frequency that if you ever forgot what song you were listening to, you didn’t forget for long. It was a classic example of a true artist taking you somewhere, stealing your breathe away, suspending you in time, extracting you from the very realm of space, and then delivering you safely home again.

Semple truly belongs to a very exclusive group of guitarists, many of them virtual unknowns outside of the music world. The late Danny Gatton (The Ultimate Unknown Guitarist), John Jorgensen of the Hellecasters, the more well known Robben Ford; it is not much of a stretch to place Semple in their midst.

Rounding out the trio were bassist Dave Chabot and Martin Blonski on the drums. Blonski did a masterful job of supporting Semple and Chabot, providing understated patterns but never lacking groove. Chabot outlined Jack’s choice of extended harmonies while simultaneously creating a pocket more than deep enough for the car keys and anything else you want to throw in there.