Phil Gates is an excellent songwriter, with a good vision of the actual spirit of the blues, which becomes evident in the way he performs and runs his songs He is also a very versatile musician, because he plays guitar, bass, keyboards and drums although, in these recordings, he fully devotes himself to play guitar, the instrument he mostly loves The musicians who have participated in the album are Phil Gates guitar and vocals, Ron Battle bass, Keith Williams, drums and Morris Beeks keyboards and vocals Nine of the eleven songs included in Live At The Beautiful Saloon cd are credited to Phil Gates The other two are the standard Messin’ With The Kid which became so popular performed by Junior Wells and Summer In The City coming from the former leader of The Lovin’ Spoonful, the great John B Sebastian This is a skilful appetising record, with a lot of swing, much groove and the good work of the four band musicians, perfectly led by this interesting artist called Phil Gates