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Coffey was guitarist of choice for major artists as diverse as Del Shannon, Funkadelic and The Temptations, Coffey was a member of the original Motown ‘Funk Brothers’ backing band and was key in bringing heavy wah wah guitar to soul and R&B during the late ’60s. The canon of classics featuring Coffey’s work is immense — from Temptations’ ‘Ball Of Confusion’ and ‘Cloud Nine’ to Edwin Starr’s ‘War’ and Freda Payne’s ‘Band Of Gold’, the list is a roll-call of classic soul and R&B landmarks.

As a solo artist, Coffey is perhaps best known for a series of rare groove classics during the early ’70s including the million-selling breakbeat staple ‘Scorpio’ and soundtrack to cult action flick ‘Black Belt Jones’. Alongside producer Mike Theodore, his ’70s ‘Theo-Coff’ productions and his prolific guitar work ranged from raw funk to classic disco, including CJ & Co’s ‘Devil’s Gun’ and The Sylvers’ ‘Boogie Fever’.

For 2011, Dennis Coffey’s new self-titled album on Strut Records was a revelation, a dense, fuzz-heavy haze of incendiary psychedelic soul. Much of the set and tonight’s show recalls the sentiments of earlier solo work such as his seminal, trippy ‘Hair ‘N’ Thangs’ album. For these sessions, in addition to a host of new compositions, Coffey personally cherry-picked tracks upon which he first appeared and enlisted an illustrious guest list for all-new interpretations of such classics as The Parliaments’ poignant mid-tempo swayer ‘All Your Goodies Are Gone’, Wilson Pickett’s psych-soul jam ‘Don’t Knock My Love’ and the 100 Proof Aged In Soul stomper ‘Somebody’s Been Sleeping’ .

For tonight’s show, now a standing show, at XOYO, Coffey is joined by very special guests vocalists Alice Russell and Mayer Hawthorne and the set-list will feature new tunes, versions of some of the classic tracks Coffey played on and funky new versions of some his greatest solo hits, including the legendary Scorpio, Sagittarius, Theme From Blackbelt Jones and It’s Your Thang.

Tickets £20 standing

Box Office: 0845 120 7550 www.barbican.org.uk/blaze