Loose Blues News
(Festival Roundup below)
Lazy Lester appears at the Silver Dollar Room in Toronto on Saturday August 10. Lazy Lester is a 65-year old blues legend and no slacker. A spirited singer and multi-instrumentalist (harmonica, guitar, percussion), he helped pioneer the Louisiana swamp music style, through Lightnin' Slim and Jay Miller. Some of his seminal numbers are "I Hear You Knockin" and "I'm A Lover, Not A Fighter". He did a lot of touring and recording in the 50s and 60s, retiring from full time music until 1987, when he cut Lazy Lester Rides Again, winning the Handy award for Best Contemporary Blues Album - Foreign Release (in the UK). His latest CD, Blues Stop Knockin', features Jimmie Vaughan and Sue Foley. For this date at the Dollar, he is backed by Detroit's Doug Deming and the Jewel Tones and as a special treat, Michael Pickett will be doing an opening set. (solo)
Peterborough Annual Blues Cruise fundraiser: Sunday August 11 at 4 pm and 6:30 pm, you are invited to cruise through the locks on Little Lake while you enjoy the best acoustic blues this side of the Mason Dixon line with the Rick Fines Trio and munch on hors d'oeuvres from 4 great Peterborough restaurants - all for a good cause. For reservations call (705) 742-9912. For info/tix ($23) call (705) 755-1113 or mark@woolley.com. Website: www.ptbofolkfest.ca
Enrico Crivellaro: David "Where is" Rotundo has extended another invitation to high-powered guitarist Enrico Crivellaro to join him at Healey's on Wednesday August 21 where he will be performing with his Blue Canadians. It will be a great guitar showcase with Pete Schmidt, one of the tastiest players in town and perhaps Jeff himself. Enrico is a former student of Ronnie Earl, Duke Robillard and Kenny Burrell, who has developed a refined yet explosive guitar style which has led him to tour and record with an impressive number of historic blues, jazz, swing and rock bands, among them Lester Butler's `13', the James Harman Band and the legendary swing machine Royal Crown Revue. His reputation is growing all over the world as he tours regularly in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and even Polynesia. He recently won the Swing Award for Swing Guitarist of the Year for his work on the Royal Crown Revue's new live record Passport to Australia'.
More than a merging of CD collections: Keyboard player and TBS board member Lily Sazz tied the knot on June 23rd, marrying York University professor Paul Fayter, an historian of science and science fiction, a United Church minister, and, most importantly, a devout blues fan. His previous CD collection consisted only of "old or dead" blues artists. Sazz has changed that, adding a myriad of living Canadian artists to his collection. Turns out her new husband missed his other calling - selling CDs at her gigs. Sazz has been performing with Blue Room, Sister Act, and Brian Blain, and, as perennial Music Director, has begun preparations for this year's Women's Blues Revue on November 23rd at the Danforth Music Hall.
Beanz in Uxbridge: A new (alcohol-free) coffee house intends to feature live blues and jazz on weekends. Contact Eric Candelario, who also plays jazz guitar, and has been known to sit in from time to time, or visit www.beanzcoffeehouse.com.
Tulky's in Welland has wound down its Wednesday night jams with a final "Real Juke Joint Blues Jam" this time for a worthy cause, a "Save the CFBU Eclectic Blues Show Fundraiser".
Thunder Bay alumni: Last month, Tyler Yarema, Mike Carson, Ken Hamm, David Smythe and Gary Kendall returned to their home town of Thunder Bay to perform at a fundraising event, "Thunder Bay Brings Home the Blues", to support the Magnus Theatre. Under the musical direction of guitarist David Smythe, they teamed up with TBay legend Thomas Milestone (sax/vocals/guitar) and five other Thunder Bay musicians to put on a show for a sold-out house. Prior to the performance, Yarema, Milestone, Hamm, Smythe and Kendall received awards from the City of Thunder Bay and the Thunder Bay Blues Society: On behalf of the city and the city council, Mayor Ken Boshcoff presented them with the "Thunder Blues Award", for "bringing Thunder Bay's musical heritage to the world". The Thunder Bay Blues Society president presented them with the "Keeping The Blues Alive" award. The event raised more than $5,000 for the Magnus Theatre.
In the Studio: Danny Brooks has been "on the farm", the Studio at Puck's Farm to be precise, recording a gospel album with a collection of the best singers and players from Toronto and beyond. Singers
Amoy Levy and Hiram Joseph (who both perform with the
Rockin' Revelators) are featured as well as a "voice from the past", the great
Jon Finley of Jon & Lee and The
Checkmates, currently living in Los Angeles. They are
calling themselves the NorthernBlues Gospel All
Stars and the album (produced by Michael
Fonfara and Frazier Mohawk) will be released later this year on...you guessed it,
NorthernBlues.
New Distribution For Alligator: "Distribution Fusion III is the new Canadian distributor for Alligator Records. The first release for the new partnership will be Head's Up'from Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials. Back in 1971, Bruce Iglauer, a 23-year-old blues fan, used a tiny inheritance to record and produce his favourite band, Hound Dog Taylor and the House Rockers. Following his heart, he quit his day job with Delmark Records, and began promoting Hound Dog Taylor and his new record company full-time. Thirty years later, that company, Alligator Records, is home to some of the world's premiere blues and roots rock talent, and is regarded by fans and the media alike as the top contemporary blues record label in the world. Distribution Fusion III President Jim West commented: `We are so proud to be distributing the number one blues label in the world today. The label's founder, Bruce Iglauer, has both the integrity that is required to run a large independent operation such as Alligator, and, of course, the amazing passion for the music. We plan to work closely with him, his team and his artists in the years to come to market Alligator in Canada'." Dèv Harracksingh is the new Marketing and Promotions representative with Distribution Fusion III and Justin Time Records in Toronto (phone 416-487-4222, fax 416-487-2990, email dev@fusion3.com, or visit www.fusion3.com).
"LA Holmes" leaves Flyers: Rick "L.A. Holmes" Holmstrom's new solo CD, Hydraulic Groove, has been released, and now, after 7 years with Rod Piazza and The Mighty Flyers, and co-producing the last three CDs along with Rod, he is leaving the Mighty Flyers to pursue his solo career. Henry Carvajal will be the new guitar player for the Flyers. Now based in L.A., 34 year-old Carvajal is originally from Ecuador. He's familiar in the Southern Cal blues scene, having played with many bands, including Bill Clark and James Harman. Piazza and crew land at the Silver Dollar on Aug 22.
We remember: Blues legend Jimmie Lee Robinson, known to fans as The Lonely Traveller, died last month in Chicago following his battle with cancer. He was 71. Robinson, a Chicago native and lifelong resident, began playing guitar in that city's famed open-air market on Maxwell Street in 1942 along with the likes of Big Bill Broonzy and Robert Nighthawk. In 1952 he and Freddie King teamed for a four-year performance partnership, and King later credited Robinson as being one of his earliest and most-influential guitar teachers. In 1965, Robinson was part of the American Folk Blues Festival that toured Europe to rave reviews and featured other legends like John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy and Big Mama Thornton. He was recognized with the 2001 Blues Trust Lifetime Achievement Award from Boston-based Blues Trust Productions. In addition to his recording career, Robinson was a dedicated activist and committed steward for blues preservation. His chief cause was the preservation of the Maxwell Street Market on Chicago's south side. Robinson once fasted for 81 straight days in protest of the destruction.
Robinson was very conscious of his health. While many bluesmen could tell you where to find the best ribs or booze, Robinson was more apt to explain the virtues of vegetarianism and the importance of exercise. His discipline was unflappable, making his contraction of cancer a tragic irony. Fans and friends will remember Robinson as a truly unique bluesman, a man of unmatched dedication, sincerity and philosophy.
Memphis rhythm 'n blues pioneer and recording legend Rosco Gordon, a guiding light of both rock and reggae, died at age 74 of natural causes at his Queens, New York, residence last month. He had lived in NY since moving from his Beale Street roots in the early 1960s. A native of Memphis, Gordon skyrocketed to fame in the early fifties with a string of hits for the Chess, RPM and Duke labels, including originals like "Booted" and "No More Doggin". Many of his early recordings (some of which are available from ACE Records in the UK) were made at Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service, alongside friends and fellow music phenomenons Ike Turner, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King and Little Milton.
Thirty-Seven year-old blues guitarist Jimmy King was found unconscious in his home by his brother last month. "One of Memphis's premier modern blues players, King, whose real name was Manuel Gales, had been talking to his girlfriend on a cell phone from his house when something went wrong, according to a police report. She called his brother, Daniel Gales, who went to the house and called an ambulance after he found the musician lying across his bed near the cell phone, not breathing. The police report said Gales arrived at the hospital in "full arrest." Manuel Gales was part of a talented musical family, one of three brothers who played guitar left-handed and upside-down. While brothers Eric and Eugene veered toward a hard rock-funk sound, Manuel Gales was drawn to a sound that owed more to the blues. His guitar licks and his stage name were inspired by two other left-handed guitar players - blues legend Albert King and rocker Jimi Hendrix. Gales even played an upside-down V-shaped guitar like King. While he wasn't related to Albert King, that didn't stop the elder bluesman, known for adding branches to his family tree, from billing Gales as his grandson. Gales was best known for his live performances at B.B. King's Blues Club. `He's one of our mainstay musicians, so we are going to feel a great loss,' said Charlotte Wiseman, manager of the Beale Street night spot. `He was great at what he did and he made people enjoy what he did. When you went away you felt like you knew him as a person, not just a musician.' King's show was more than music. He also built a rapport with his audience. `He really got to know the crowd and took the time to interact with everybody. It's a great loss,' said Wiseman". A benefit show and wake was staged at B.B. King's Blues Club.
Alan Lomax, folk music's foremost pioneer and ethnomusicologist died last month in Florida. In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to The Blues Music Foundation for the Willie Moore Fund c/o Experience Music Project, 2901 3rd Ave, Seattle, WA 98121. http://www.alan-lomax.com. It is of note that a bonus track on Long John Baldry's recent recording, Remembering Leadbelly, features an interview with Lomax.
Indonesian Blues: Yudi, a blues player in Indonesia, is keen to interact with North American blues artists. He describes a local blues community, and would welcome blues artists to visit. He also advises of a radio program which features blues, and which would be pleased to play U.S. and Canadian CDs. He indicates that CDs can be forwarded to "the chief of the blues community in Bandung, and the announcer of the blues program", Hadi Pramono, at Mara Ghita FM Radio, JL Guntur Sari Wetan, no. 27 Buah Batu, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia (Phone: 62 022 7305244); Mention Yudi from Ciateul, NwhyGun1 Lostest Words, nwhygun3@yahoo.com.
- Julie Hill, Jacquie Houston
The Southside Shuffle has introduced many young blues guitarists over the last few years but this will be a record.
"Little Jimmy" Bowskill is 11 years old and will
be playing the opening night "Soiree" Thursday, September 5th, backed up by an all-star band including
Donnie Walsh, who invited the young guitar slinger to join
Downchild on stage at the International Blues and BBQ Festival last month - but only after being convinced that the kid could
really play the blues. Insiders will appreciate what a
rare occasion it is to be invited to sit in with Downchild. That appearance led to an interview on MOJO Radio and last week Jimmy was
Danny Marks' guest for one hour on the excellent BLUZ.FM radio show. Jimmy sings with real authority and is writing songs as well. Toronto's pre-eminent blues producer
Alec Fraser has taken an interest, so it's only a matter of time before he'll be cutting a CD. Jimmy is shown above jamming at a Toronto-area club with 12-year old drummer
Rory Donelly. The tall guy is Gary
Kendall, bassman for Downchild, talent booker for the Silver Dollar and long-time TBS board member.
Photo by Brian Blain
Southside Slim
Magic
Slim, along with guitarist Michael Johnson, drummer Allen Kirk
and bassist Danny O'Connor, appears at the Southside Shuffle, Port
Credit's blues and jazz festival, on September 6 at 11:30 p.m. Magic Slim and
the Teardrops play the Silver Dollar in Toronto on September 7.
A stray bullet streaking across a barroom some 25 years ago was a life-changing event for the blues legend Magic Slim, one that led to his rise from relative obscurity to the heights of the international blues scene.
A bystander at a brawl in a Chicago bar in the late 1970s, Slim got shot and was seriously injured. His doctor told him he'd never walk again, but miraculously Slim recovered almost completely after more than three months in bed.
"Before the accident, I was only playing on the weekends. I would do construction the rest of the week," said Slim over the telephone from his home in Lincoln, Nebraska. "After I recovered, I wasn't able to do construction work and I went to playing music full-time."
Ever since, Slim has played the blues non-stop at festivals and clubs throughout North America and around the world, captivating the critics and the public. After his first appearance in Brazil in 1989, the critics there gave Slim rave reviews and said that he'd stolen the show from Buddy Guy, Etta James and Albert Collins.
Magic Slim and his band, the Teardrops, have been nominated for the W.C. Handy Award as Best Blues Band of the Year several times. Downbeat has called Slim "...a true all star; a guitarist of considerable authority whose lines snap like a crocodile's mighty jaw and a singer with a persuasive capacity for wrenching every bit of emotion out of his lyrics."
Magic Slim, along with guitarist Michael Johnson, drummer Allen Kirk and bassist Danny O'Connor, appears locally at the Southside Shuffle, Port Credit's blues and jazz festival, on September 6 at 11:30 p.m. at Clarke Memorial Hall, 1161 Lakeshore Boulevard. Advance tickets, for $10, are on sale (see the Web site www.southsideshuffle.com). Slim and the Teardrops play the Silver Dollar on September 7.
Slim, one of a small group of living blues artists who migrated from the South to Chicago during the 40s and 50s, plays in the raw, intense blues style that paved the way for rock 'n' roll as well as modern blues.
Born Morris Holt in Torrence, Mississippi, in 1937, Slim showed his musical inclinations early, singing in his church choir and playing piano. He made his first guitar out of baling wire from a broom, which he nailed to a wall. "Mama whopped me when I first tore up the room," he recalls, "but she let me keep on using it. She said later that if she had known what I'd be into later, she wouldn't have given me a whopping."
After Slim lost the little finger of his right hand in a cotton gin accident, he switched to guitar from piano, playing blues at house parties on the weekends. "It didn't bother me none working (in the cotton fields) every day. We had to do what we had to do," he says. "The only time I really had to mess around with it (music) was on Saturday evening and Sunday."
In 1955, he made his first trip to Chicago, to play bass for Magic Sam, a friend from home who'd once given 11-year-old Slim some tips on playing the guitar. It was Sam who dubbed his bass player "Magic Slim," because he was tall and lean and learned quickly.
Sam, an innovative guitarist himself, urged Slim to develop his own guitar style. "Magic Sam told me, don't try to play like him, don't try to play like nobody," Slim recalls. "Get a sound of your own."
As a result, Slim developed his trademark guitar tone, hard-edged and biting, combined with vibrato created by shaking his fingers against the strings to duplicate the sound of a slide guitar while still being able to bend notes. "I slide with my finger. I use nothing on my finger," he says. "A lot of them (guitar players) try to get a sound like me and I play the same guitar everyone else plays."
Slim carries a repertoire of hundreds of songs in his head. At live performances, he does originals as well as covers by such artists as Robert Johnson, Jimmy Reed, Lowell Fulson, J.B. Lenoir, Little Milton, Little Walter and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
A reviewer for the Web site Blues On Stage (www.mnblues.com) thoroughly enjoyed Slim's version of "Mustang Sally" at a live performance in Rochester last March. "Probably the one song that impressed me the most with Magic's performance was his version of 'Mustang Sally.' I know that many hardcore fans and blues performers cannot stand this song, and I am usually one of them," wrote Rich Benson. "Magic gave a long, creative performance of the song, improvising on both vocals and guitar. He had the crowd up on their feet, dancing madly, screaming and cheering as he brought it home."
When Slim plays the Southside Shuffle and the Silver Dollar next month, he's sure to do a few tunes from his latest Blind Pig release, Blue Magic, produced by New York cutting-edge blues artist Popa Chubby.
"I'm coming through like a black tornado and we're going to have some fun," Slim says. "If you like the blues, I'm your man."
- Ruth Schweitzer
Festival Roundup
Aug 2-5 Mudcat Blues Festival, Dunnville, Ontario - David Rotundo & Julian Fauth, Michael Pickett, Rob Lutes, Jackie Washington, Big Mark & the Blues Express, Catfish, Leonard/Kendall/Keeping, Mike Branton, Slowpoke, Sharon Musgrave, Danny Brooks, Brian Blain, Odyssey Blues Band, Brian Griffith & Jesse O'Brien, Dylan Wickens Band, Big Daddy G, Curley Bridges & the legendary Mel Brown.. www.readerscafe.com or e-mail at mudcatblues@hotmail.comAugust 4 Saugeen Rockin' Bluesfest, Walkerton, Ontario Sue Foley, Michael Pickett Band, Chris Chown, Fathead, Johnny V. Sass Jordan www.saugeenrocks.com
Aug 8-10 Collingwood Jazz & Blues Festival Collingwood, Ontario, Wayne Buttery & Groove Project, Curley Bridges, Mae Cromwell, Majestics, Jay Douglas, Downchild Blues Band www.collingwoodjazz.ca
Aug 9-10 Kitchener Blues, Brews, and BBQs: At the City Hall Civic Square, 200 King Street West in Kitchener, this 2nd annual festival features 11 blues acts, including Brent Parkin, Mel Brown, James Anthony, and Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials. Also featured are several of Kitchener's finest chefs providing lip-smacking food all day long, and a beer garden with a great view of the stage. For more info: www.bluesbrewsandbbqs.ca.
August 17 Oshawa Jazz and Blues Festival, Memorial Park, Oshawa - Fabulous Tonemasters, Downchild Blues Band, Johnny V Blues Allstars, AlexPangman. info: kerri@eclipseconcerts.com
Aug 22-25 Limestone City Blues Festival Downtown Kingston, Ontario, The Holmes Brothers, Michael Jerome Browne, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, MC Dan Aykroyd, Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers, Sue Foley, Amos Garrett w/Ken Whiteley. www.kingstonblues.com
August 22-25 House Full of Blues, 100 Georges, North Bay, Ontario - Big Daddy G, David Rotundo, Michael Fonfara, Pat Carey, SAB, Sunny Fournier, Maureen Brown, Jack DeKeyzer
August 24-25 Peterborough Folk Festival Brian Blain, Terry Wilkins, Silver Hearts, more http://www.ptbofolkfest.ca
Sept 6-7 Southside Shuffle, Port Credit - Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards, Downchild, Magic Slim, Jack de Keyzer, more. www.southsideshuffle.com
Sept 6-7 Niagara Falls Blues In The Park - Steve Burnside with the Original Marquis, Odyssey Blues Band with Suzanne Hyatt, Fathead, Nightshift Blues Band, LMT Connection, Big Daddy G with Tortoise Blue, Kelley Hunt and much more. www.bluesinthepark.com
Sept 11-15 Fredericton Harvest Jazz and Blues - Taking place on 26 stages, more all-ages shows, gospel music series, more acoustic blues, jazz, blues, Zydeco and world music. Headliners include Sonny Landreth, DownChild Blues Band, Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards, Jeri Brown, Sherman Robertson, Guy Davis, Rosie Ledet, Entrain, Big Sugar, Kenny Blues Boss Wayne The Twisters, Dawn Tyler Watson, Big Mark and the Blues Express, John Crampton, Hot Toddy, Theresa Malenfant, John Campbelljohn, Grand Theft Bus and The Greg Harrison Experiment, Gospel Heirs, Harvey Miller & Freedom Jazz. the North Preston Gospel Heirs, and many more. www.harvestjazzandblues.com.
For blues with a french flavour, seasoned with Mississippi roots, and served up by the shores of the Gaspe peninsula, get out to the Maximum Blues fest, held annually in Carleton, Quebec on the Baie des Chaleurs. Running from Wednesday, August 5 to Sunday August 11, the event features numerous Quebec blues artists, plus names such as Cash McCall, Kenny Dupree, John Ruskey, Mel Brown, and Sherman Robertson, among others. It's a feast of music, ocean, and good times that Maple Blues contributor Zoe Chilco will be enjoying and reporting on next month.
As
the festival season winds down, reports are trickling in from Toronto blues
artists who have been on the festival circuit starting with Paul Reddick,
checking in from Indianapolis where the Sidemen are on a 3-week marathon
tour across the US and Canada. The new lineup with Shawn Kellerman on
guitar, Robert Parker on bass and Jody Brumel on drums gave a
knock-out performance at the Montreal Jazz Festival reports TBS member Doug
McVicar who sent this photo of the marquis at the Spectrum. There were
photos of the band's performance, too, but obliterated by cigarette smoke
("it is Quebec, after all" said McVicar). Later, the Sidemen performed
at one of the oldest blues festivals in the US, the Buck's County Blues Festival
in Morrisville, Pennsylvania. Still to come: Minnesota, Wyoming and Montana and
in September...Tokyo, Japan!
Your (barely) managing editor had the pleasure of participating in the friendliest little blues festival in Ontario last month at Porquis Junction, just around the corner from Iroquois Falls. Amos Garrett was the headliner and guitar players came out of the bush to hear this living legend and he did not disappoint. J-W Jones was back for a return engagement, Big Daddy G played and Maureen Brown was my travelling companion on the "Jazz" plane and brought a bit of glitz to the far north. Maureen played with Amos and did her own set backed by a pick-up group of local blues guys who had no trouble keeping up with the "big city" players, particularly Lee, who played bass with at least four different back-up bands, helped organize the event and even found a fishing lodge for Amos. The Blues lives in northern Ontario.
- Brian Blain
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2002