Loose Blues News
If you were planning to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in some anonymous Irish pub, forget it. The guitar player's guitar player,
Duke Robillard, Handy Award Blues Guitarist
of the Year, will be appearing at the Silver Dollar Saturday, March 17. Duke is a perennial favourite in Toronto and has just signed a world-wide contract with Stony Plain
Records, no surprise considering his deep involvement with the label over the last few years as artist and producer. Coming up next is his production of harmonica player
Billy Boy Arnold.
Kudos: Juke Joint Records' Willie "Big Eyes" Smith has once again been nominated for a W.C. Handy Award for best drummer. Toronto-based globe-hopping slide-meister "Papa" John King had a stake in the Grammy-nominated Koko Taylor album. He co-wrote the lead track with Kathi Macdonald, a fellow alumnus of the Long John Baldry band.
Swing Celebration: Come out to Barcode, 549 College Street, on March 14th to celebrate the third anniversary of The Swing Gang. The Swing Gang Deluxe will be on the bandstand led by Terry Wilkins and featuring Tyler Yarema, Janice Hagan, Tory Cassis, Jake Chisholm, Mitch Lewis, Chris Gale, Richard Underhill, Stephen Ruttan, Alex Thompson, and more special guests including the newly formed Junior Swing Gang with Julian O.W. and Gabriela (who just turned 11 years old). Get there at 9 pm for free swing dance lessons before the band's first set.
The Michael Pickett Band will be in Europe from April 18 to May 9 doing a tour of Germany and Austria. Michael is taking Shawn Kellerman, Steve Chadwick, and Jim Boudreau with him. This will be Michael's first trip overseas. Some festivals are included in the itinerary.
25 Years of Stony Plain: Stony Plain celebrates it's 25th Anniversary with a new double CD sampler featuring tunes from most of Stony Plain's extended family including some rare unreleased tracks by Duke Robillard and Herb Ellis, Long John Baldry and King Biscuit Boy. To celebrate, there will be four nights at the Horseshoe in April: Maria Muldaur and her band play April 11, The Holmes Brothers on April 12, David Wilcox Saturday, April 13, and Juno-winning Tom Landa and the Paperboys opening for the Rockin' Highliners on April 14. Tickets for the first three shows will be available in advance at the Horseshoe
Wal-Mart Blues: Blues with a Feeling award winner Jack De Keyzer has a new band, or rather a new "brand". Jack de Keyzer and the Wal-Mart Canada Band played at Wal-Mart's "Year Beginning Meeting" last month to great success and will be Wal-Mart Canada's official band for the next year.
Quake Aid: Two local blues acts contributed musically to a benefit to help victims of the Indian earthquakes. Raoul & the Big Time and Jake & the Blue Midnights joined other musicians, including the Toronto Tabla Ensemble and the Cameron Family Singers, as well as comedians Pat Kelly (YTV) and Peter Oldring (SIN CITY, Second City), Jessica Holmes (The Itch, Comedy Network), David Tomlinson, and Shaun Majumder (Comedy Now, Gemini Nominee), at the Silver Dollar Room in Toronto. In addition to raising the Toronto profile of the earthquakes in Gujrat, $3,255 was raised for UNICEF and The Canadian Red Cross to help the more than 600,000 homeless and displaced survivors of the Northern India earthquakes.
Black is back: "Following a juggernaut whirlwind tour of Tierra del Fuego, The Grampian Hills and Eastern Pernicia", B.C.'s Black Night Blues return to their local fans. For more info, contact www.blacknightblues.com.
Digital Blues: Blues programming is available on digital services. Holger Petersen programmes blues on Galaxie, the digital service of the CBC, while Peter Silversides programs blues and other roots musics on Digital Music Express, available to subscribers of Shaw Cable, Rogers Cable and Cogeco, and viewers of Star Choice satellite. "DMX Blues is eager to play Canadian Blues artists and welcome any new releases... all blues releases will be considered for airplay and can be sent to: DMX Programming, Suite 501, 630-3rd Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta T2P 4L4, Attention: Peter Silversides, Phone: (403) 444-4233, Fax: (403) 444-4240, peter.silversides@dmx.ca."
Chicago's Jimmy Burns (right) made his first record as a member of the vocal group,
The Medallionaires over 40 years ago; but he didn't cut his first CD until 1996 with the
critically acclaimed Delmark release Leaving Here
Walking. The time between recordings was well spent acquiring a huge repertoire of songs that's only hinted at on both his debut
and the follow-up, 2000's Night Time Again, (also on
Delmark). It's as a live performer that the Mississippi born Burns excels. He's an entertainer- on stage, Burns
skillfully maneuvers through down and gritty blues and sweet uptown R&B. The two styles define his music - firmly rooted in the Delta and filled with generous reminders of the
styles Chicago greats like Gene Chandler,
Curtis Mayfield, and Jerry Butler. It's an approach that's opened doors for Burns and spread the message that West Side
audiences received a long time ago. The tour: March
8th- the T-Rex Smokehouse & Bar B-Q,
Ottawa 9:00 P.M.; March 9th-The Legendary Red Dog, Peterborough 10:30 P.M and Saturday
March 10th -The Silver Dollar Room, 10:30 P.M
Shakin Buffalo: Longtime Buffalo bluesman Shakin Smith has a new release. "In recent years, Shakin Smith has played a number of gigs in Southern Ontario. Titled Wizard of the Harmonica, the new album features contributions by legendary blues guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr. Shakin Smith has been playing harmonica from age 5, and has been heavily influenced by harmonica legends Sonny Boy Williamson (a.k.a. Aleck "Rice" Miller) and Little Walter. He has been playing at clubs since he was a teen in the 1960s, and has shared the stage with many blues greats, including Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Junior Wells, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Rogers, Albert Collins, James Cotton, and others. In 1985, he became the first blues artist to be inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame". The band's new website, www.shakinsmith.com, features audio clips from the new album, in addition to news, biographical information, and club listings.
Tone Cool: Double Trouble's new album on Tone Cool, Been a Long Time, debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Blues Chart, with over 10,000 sales in its first week of release. The top selling blues album spot had previously been held for 35 weeks by Eric Clapton and BB King's Riding with the King.
Rhino Records: Beausoleil
"live"; The DVD Audio format re-release of the first
Buena Vista Social Club; And a new
Eric Clapton blues-rock studio album,
Reptile is due March 13th.
Mark Hummel (right) plays the Silver Dollar on Friday, March 30. Mark is known as the torch bearer for West Coast Blues and is a true road warrior who has crafted his own trademark harmonica sound - a subtle combination of tone, phrasing and attack combined with a strong sense of swing. In the 80s he toured and recorded with some names familiar to local blues fans including Sue Foley and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith.
The Complete Allman Brothers Band Discography: Long time Allman Brothers Band friend and record collector Dean Reynolds has published The Complete Allman Brothers Band Discography, a comprehensive study of the entire recorded output of the popular band and its members throughout its long history. The Limited Edition Collector's Item contains over 300 full color reproductions of cover art from around the world, as well as many rich details about each recording. It also features a complete Duane Allman discography that includes a chronological list of sessions and appearances on other artists' recordings. Cover art from many of these recordings is also represented. It is the first book of its kind ever published about the band and its members. The Complete Allman Brother Band Discography is not limited to The Allman Brothers Band itself, but also includes recordings by the Allman Joys, Hour Glass, The 31st of February, The Second Coming, Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Sea Level, and various members of the band through the years. Details include the recording studio, songs recorded, songwriters and musicians. Photos of 45 rpm discs, albums, 8 tracks, reel to reel, cassettes, mini discs, and CD's are shown in detail, as well as compilation albums, collectibles, videos, rare imports, bootleg, guest appearances by band members, and former Allman Brothers members recordings. Vintage record magazine advertisements featuring some of the releases are also represented. Fans from around the world have long-awaited such a comprehensive and colorful book on the recording history of the band". www.geocities.com/abbbook
When the touring permitted it, the members of Saffire-The Uppity Blues
Women went off on some of their own projects.
Ann Rabson normally contributes piano and guitar and takes her turn at the vocals. Last summer, she recorded her second solo album and if you liked the barrelhouse segments of a Saffire show, just think what a
whole evening might be like! Her new album is called
Struttin' My Stuff (on M.C. Records) and she'll be playing songs from it at The Silver Dollar Room on April 6. Ann has been nominated for six
Handy Awards and this year is on the short list for Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year. Come out and see why.
We Remember:
Roebuck "Pop" Staple 1915-2000: Pop Staples, patriarch of the gospel-rhythm-and-blues group the Staple Singers, died at the age of 84. Staples recently suffered a concussion in a fall near his home in suburban Dolton, IL near Chicago.
Roebuck Staple was born in Winona, Mississippi, on December 28, 1915. He grew up in nearby Drew, dropping out of school after the 8th grade, to pick cotton at Dockery's plantation for ten cents a day. At an early age, he fell under the influence of the blues, and Charley Patton, another Dockery plantation worker, was an early inspiration. In 1935, Roebuck grew tired of the hard life in rural Mississippi, and moved to Chicago with his wife Oceala. The move marked the end of his involvement with the blues. "I was a Christian man. I figured the blues wasn't the right field for me. My family was a real religious family, there were 14 of us. In the evening, when we used to get through working in the fields, we didn't have no amusement but to sing to ourselves, we didn't have no radio, no television, nothing like that. That's the way my family got started singing. I took it from my father's family and brought it to Chicago." Roebuck started to teach gospel music to his children, Cleotha, Mavis, Pervis and Yvonne. Pretty soon, the family produced a stirring and unique sound. "I knew how to get harmony and teach each one. I'd hit the guitar string where they were supposed to sing, and they caught in." The Staple Singers began appearing at Roebuck's brother Chester's congregation in Chicago in 1948, and soon branched out to other churches. Mavis, then 7 years old, sang the bass parts. Pretty soon, they made their first recording sessions for the Royal and United labels. It was not until their fourth session, however, the second one for VeeJay, in September 1956, that the group fell into full stride. Captured in all its purity with Roebuck's minimalist guitar backing, his own vibratoless tenor and the throaty harmonies of daughters Mavis and Cleotha and son Pervis, the Staples recorded two gospel classics: "Uncloudy Day" and "I Know I Got Religion." During the next five years, the Staples recorded some of their best work for VeeJay, where they remained true to the essential strengths of their style, elements they expanded later. The increasing use of protest songs, followed by popular hits like "I'll Take You There" during the early seventies, introduced yet another facet to their music as it became on the Stax/Volt! label.
Tommy Bankhead 1931-2000: Blues musician Tommy Bankhead, who was a premier messenger of the blues in St. Louis for more than 50 years, died at age 69 from complications of emphysema. His bio reads like a script for a bluesplayer: born in Mississippi to a family of sharecroppers; played the local circuit; woodshedded with Howlin' Wolf's band. For decades Bankhead played the rooms down in Soulard, on the Eastside and Northside, and in downtown St. Louis. His longtime band, the Blues Eldoradoes were regulars in Soulard, in particular Mike & Min's. They recorded an album Please Mr. Foreman in 1983. He then formed the Cryin' Shames, and, in 2000, they released "Message to St. Louis" on New York City's Fedora Records. The album, recorded in St. Louis by Doug Rayburn, features Bankhead on vocals and guitar; Bob Lohr on piano; Charles "Nephew" Davis on bass; drummer Kenny Laurence; and sax player Erskine Oglesby on three cuts. It's straight-ahead blues, with little extra adornment. A good listen from a performer who didn't record nearly enough. Longtime St. Louis music critic Michael Kuelker writes in the liner notes: "Bankhead is ingrained in the past and present of St. Louis blues. He demonstrates the difference between representing a style of blues and epitomizing one."
James Carr 1943-2000: Memphis' James Carr was arguably one of this century's finest soul singers, rivaling Otis Redding and Percy Sledge in sheer vocal intensity. As one reviewer wrote, "This is soul so deep it knows no bottom." After a series of medium-sized hits in the late 1960s, Carr's career took off. Illiterate and poorly equipped for his new lifestyle, however, Carr could not handle the pressure of a rapid rise to stardom or the heightened expectations brought on by success, and he became confused, anxious and depressed. In the 1970s, he started becoming disoriented at performances and recording sessions. James Carr's developing mental illness cut short a promising career. He was living with relatives in his native Tennessee.
A compilation of Carr's finest moments is presented in The Essential James Carr, issued in 1995 by Razor & Tie Music. "You Don't Want Me" (1964) was James' first record, reminiscent of the blues tunes recorded by B.B. King and Little Johnny Taylor at around the same time. "You've Got My Mind Messed Up" (1966), was Carr's first hit, written by O.B. McClinton, an Otis Redding-style ballad, demonstrating his vocal pyrotechnics, and featuring the Memphis Horns and lyrical lead guitar by Reggie Young. "Love Attack" (1966), was James's next hit. "The Dark End of the Street" (1967), was James Carr's biggest hit, written by Dan Penn and Chips Moman. "Pouring Water On a Drowning Man" (1966), was recently covered by Elvis Costello. "To Love Somebody" (1969), was written by the Bee Gees, who later recorded their own version of the song.
Jack McDuff 1926-2001: "Brother" Jack McDuff, aka Eugene McDuffy, was born September 17, 1926 in Champaign, Illinois. He started out in music as a bassist and pianist, playing with Denny Zeitlin, Joe Farrell, saxophonist Johnny Griffin, and Max Roach in Chicago. McDuff was playing piano at a Chicago club when the club's owner suggested that he switch to organ, eliminating the need for bass, in order to save the owner money. McDuff didn't have the slightest idea how to play the organ, but "I didn't want to lose the gig so I said yes." It took McDuff some time to learn how to manoeuver the bass pedals, but once he got it down, his organ playing took off. Additional inspiration came from the legendary Jimmy Smith, whom McDuff heard one night when the Chicago club McDuff was playing closed an hour early. "I couldn't believe how exciting he played," McDuff remembers. "Everyone was going crazy. I knew right then that I had to get an organ of my own." Soon after, McDuff purchased his own Hammond B-3, and his career took a serious turn when he joined Willis "Gatortail" Jackson. McDuff's recorded work with Jackson on Prestige is some of the choicest organ/tenor sax music extant. After performing with Jackson's band and quickly establishing a reputation as a major organ voice, McDuff's first recording as a leader was with a studio pickup band that featured Count Basie tenorman Jimmy Forrest, composer of the immortal, "Night Train." They made a pair of outstanding albums, Tough Duff and The Honeydripper.
Bob Riley: Publisher of the Southern Ontario entertainment paper Spotlight Magazine (circa 1982-1992), and lover of blues music, died on January 2, 2001.
Blues Lit: Been Here and Gone (William Morrow / Harper Collins), a memoir of the blues by David Dalton, a former contributing editor at Rolling Stone who has written definitive works on celebrated rock musicians, is a tribute to the source of this music. The book is described as a "gripping, often humourous and sometimes heartbreaking tale that embraces the immensity of the human experience in a fictional character's remarkable journey through America and its musical consciousness, crossing paths with blues icons along the way, their authentic voices drawn from autobiographies, memoirs, and oral histories... the world through the eyes of great blues musicians, told with a passionate description of the development of blues culture." Chicago Blues: As Seen from the Inside (ECW Press), contains the photographs of Raeburn Flerlage, documenting the Chicago blues scene of the 60s and early 70s. Flerlage's photos have appeared in numerous magazines, television programmes, art exhibits, and record covers for Chess, Delmark, Folkways, Prestige and RCA. Photos include Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Spann, James Cotton, Son House, Little Walter, and many more.
Armstrong's Lost Guitar: Gary Kendall wears many hats as we all know but who would have thought he had a touch of Sherlock Holmes in him. After noticing a guitar case in the Silver Dollar tech room and seeing that no one was claiming it he asked around, made calls to artists that played a similar G&L guitar, sent a letter to the address on the baggage tag and finally brought it. Last week while playing in Indianapolis, Gary was looking at a copy of Living Blues magazine and noticed a photo of James Armstrong holding an identical guitar. Gary called James and sure enough it was his guitar that he thought had gone missing in Ottawa on a previous tour. The guitar is being shipped back to a very pleased James Armstrong, who played a roof-raising show just last week at the Dollar.
Surprise: TBS president Derek Andrews was feted for his fiftieth at a surprise gathering at the Top O' The Senator. A large aggregation of friends, family and musicians were present with music by a very diverse group of players led by Terry Wilkins. And yes, Derek was surprised. Congratulations to Linda, Devon and Desiree for keeping a secret.
Chicago Pete, Alford Harrell, passed away following hospitalization in Detroit with fluid in the lungs. Montreal blues correspondent Brian Slack was one
promoter left with an indelible impression: "…he was truly the gentleman of the blues. He always went out of his way to make sure everybody was happy, signed
every autograph and gave of his time without hesitation. One of my fondest memories was having a limousine bring Chicago Pete to the outdoor stage in Victoriaville
this past summer, splitting the crowd, a royal treatment that he rightly deserved... it was a blues friendship that I will never forget". In Southwestern Ontario Pete
played mostly with Chris Murphy, who sent the following tribute:
Chicago Pete had a lot of friends in Canada and performed regularly in Ontario and Quebec, usually with Canadian musicians. He will be fondly remembered for his huge voice, his smile and his wardrobe. Pete was always the best dressed guy in the room. He wore these great suits often red or white with matching hats and boots.
His smile was contagious and he loved to make the people around him happy. He had a genuine love of people and always made time for his fans. I was lucky enough to have performed with him about 150 times over a period of 4 or 5 years. He was fun to work with and he enjoyed sharing his insight into the true meaning of the blues. The highpoint of his show was often the slow blues tunes where he would walk into the crowd and preach the blues without the aid of a microphone. When the audience was really quiet he would almost whisper one of his favorite lines, "You know the Blues Doesn't have to be loud it just has to be Good".
Pete knew hundreds of songs and he liked to play really long sets. Often the last set was 70 minutes followed by a 30 minute encore. He loved coming to Canada especially playing the festivals in Quebec and the matinee at Poor Folks Deli. Sometimes Pete talked like a beatnik. He had these hip little phrases he liked to use. When people asked him for a definition of the blues he would always respond with "Blues is the Truth". If someone asked him a question a typical answer might be "kool" or "melody". When you asked Pete how he was doing you could count on him responding with "Ain't Nothing Going on but the Rent". When he wanted a musician to play a solo he would often say "Get Yourself Some".
Pete was very fond of the musicians he worked with in Canada especially Shawn Kellerman with whom he had a very close bond. His real name was Alford Harrel, he lived in Detroit and he was a devoted family man. He was a good friend and he taught me a lot of things. I will miss him dearly.
The funeral for Chicago Pete was held in Detroit at the Liberty Temple Baptist Church on Wednesday Feb 14. Cards and condolences may be sent to Pete's wife, Valeria Harrell, 5575 Oregon, Detroit MI 48204, U.S.A.
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2001