Profile:
How Fred Litwin got the Northern Blues.
Rita Chiarelli's new release is coming out on a brand new Canadian blues label, and that is something to celebrate! Ruth Schweitzer spoke to founder Fred Litwin about what brought him to start NorthernBlues Music.
Fred Litwin used to be a star in the computer industry. He enjoyed such perqs as international travel and, as a marketing manager for Intel in the Far East, lived in Hong Kong and Singapore for several years. But, last year, he walked away from it all to pursue a dream - to form NorthernBlues Music, his own blues label.
"I was tired of the corporate stuff. Intel is a very hard-working company and I had had enough. I also was lucky enough to have enough money to retire," says the 44-year-old Litwin. "When pondering what I would do after Intel, it suddenly hit me one day that I could do a blues label. I was already an investor in Borealis Records, a Canadian folk music label. I figured that if they could do justice to Canadian folk, then I could do justice to Canadian blues."
A music lover with eclectic tastes, Litwin says his interest in blues music began when he was 17 and a friend had to drag him out to see Luther Allison. "I was just totally blown away. Now, I have about 5,000 CDs in my collection, and about 1,000 of these are blues."
With the arrival of spring this year, Litwin's new baby, the NorthernBlues Music catalogue, will include a half-dozen CDs, ranging from a recording by the youthful JW-Jones Blues Band to one by the late Archie Edwards. Artists in the NorthernBlues catalogue are:
* The JW-Jones Blues Band, a hot and aggressive jazz-influenced blues band that's lead by a 20-year-old guitar virtuoso, JW, and includes a 16-year-old harp player, Southside Steve Marriner, the winner of Ottawa's 1999 Blues Harp Blow-Off. Defibrillatin' is the Ottawa band's debut recording.
* Rita Chiarelli, a powerhouse vocalist with a formidable, three-octave range and a passionate delivery who is also a gifted songwriter. Along with rockin' blues, Chiarelli's latest CD, Breakfast At Midnight, features country and cajun.
* The Denver-based Otis Taylor, who plays guitar, banjo, mandolin and harp. His new CD, white african, includes protest blues that address the issues of justice, race and class. In the Toronto Star, music critic Geoff Chapman wrote that Taylor's songs will "keep ears pinned back even more than the sharp instrumental work that bursts with life."
* Toronto-based Brian Blain (a.k.a. Colorblind Brian), whose CD, Who Paid You To Give Me The Blues?, includes original, blues-based material that features a "relentless groove" (Blues Scene) and his humourous lyrics exploring contemporary themes.
* Harry Manx, a one-man band who sings, plays harp, banjo, and a lap-style, 19-string Indian instrument, the mohan veena, on his CD Dog My Cat.
* Archie Edwards, a student of Mississippi John Hurt who recorded in Toronto when he played the now-defunct Hotel Isabella. The results can be heard on The Toronto Sessions, Volume 1.
Litwin has set high goals for NorthernBlues Music - "to add substantially to the blues repertoire, and not just come out with the same old, same old. I want originality, I want crossover, I want exciting, I want different," he says. "And I want every NorthernBlues CD to be exceptional."
So far, he has succeeded admirably, and the future looks rosy indeed with Litwin at the wheel.
NorthernBlues' CDs are available at retailers throughout North America and through on-line retailers. Free samplers and CDs can also be ordered through the NorthernBlues Music Web site: www.northernblues.com
- Ruth Schweitzer
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2001