EJBF 2026 Jerron Paxton Queen's Hall Edinburgh 24 July Review
Jerron Paxton was at the Queen's Hall Edinburgh tonight with another visit to the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. This show started about 15 minutes later than scheduled and, as we all soon found out, we were lucky to have Jerron with us at all as he had experienced lost luggage problems at the airport, one of his treasured banjos had been picked up by someone else it seems.
As always, despite this set-back, a mixture of Jerron's talents as a multi-instrumentalist, his gentle humour, and his love of the history of the music that he plays, endeared him to this audience from the moment that he stepped out onto the stage.
If you have not heard the music of Jerron Paxton before, then a brief introduction to it is maybe needed here. Jerron Paxton is originally from the Watts district of Los Angeles, but much of his music is influenced from the Louisiana roots of his grandparents. Jerron has evolved his deep personal interest of the blues of the 1920s and 30s into a unique personal playing and performance style. Watching Jerron Paxton perform is a little bit how I imagine a trip in a musical time machine would be like.
It may surprise some people that the banjo actually pre-dates the guitar as the main instrument of the blues, dating back to a time when much of the music would have simply been called folk or old music, and Jerron's finger-picking skills on both instruments are impressive. Watching his smile and his face light up with joy as he tunes guitar and banjo, gets happy with the sound then plucks a few strings, is something special to watch.
Tonight was an eclectic mixture of music ranging timewise from an 1889 song, "No More the Moon Shines On Lorena" to the self penned title track of Jerron's latest album "Things Done Changed". In between, a little bit of everything musically as he played guitar, banjo, violin, harmonica and piano tonight, from "Michigan Water Blues" to a Great American Songbook/Pop classic, "The Very Thought of You".
Whatever the song, whatever the style of music, one thing that never changes is Jerron Paxton's ability to share his love of the music and its history with his audience.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
As always, despite this set-back, a mixture of Jerron's talents as a multi-instrumentalist, his gentle humour, and his love of the history of the music that he plays, endeared him to this audience from the moment that he stepped out onto the stage.
If you have not heard the music of Jerron Paxton before, then a brief introduction to it is maybe needed here. Jerron Paxton is originally from the Watts district of Los Angeles, but much of his music is influenced from the Louisiana roots of his grandparents. Jerron has evolved his deep personal interest of the blues of the 1920s and 30s into a unique personal playing and performance style. Watching Jerron Paxton perform is a little bit how I imagine a trip in a musical time machine would be like.
It may surprise some people that the banjo actually pre-dates the guitar as the main instrument of the blues, dating back to a time when much of the music would have simply been called folk or old music, and Jerron's finger-picking skills on both instruments are impressive. Watching his smile and his face light up with joy as he tunes guitar and banjo, gets happy with the sound then plucks a few strings, is something special to watch.
Tonight was an eclectic mixture of music ranging timewise from an 1889 song, "No More the Moon Shines On Lorena" to the self penned title track of Jerron's latest album "Things Done Changed". In between, a little bit of everything musically as he played guitar, banjo, violin, harmonica and piano tonight, from "Michigan Water Blues" to a Great American Songbook/Pop classic, "The Very Thought of You".
Whatever the song, whatever the style of music, one thing that never changes is Jerron Paxton's ability to share his love of the music and its history with his audience.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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