December
2002
Mainline The Last Show @ the Elmo Bullseye Canada
The concept of a Mainline Re-Union certainly was a hit with the band. The energy literally jumps out of the speakers as
Mike McKenna, Tony Nolasco, Mike
Harrison, Ted Purdy and Bob
Adams play the songs everyone expects them to play.
Mendelson Joe has never been interested in a band reunion and wasn't this time either but it certainly doesn't sound as though he was missed.
The Last Show @ the Elmo was recorded live Sunday, November
4th, 2001, the last day of the fabled El Mocambo Nightclub. And that is
still true, although the downstairs has now re-opened for music under the guidance of the indefatigable
Yvonne Matsell. No matter, it's the music that counts! The set list (on the
CD): "That Woman", "Beltmaker", "Mainline", "Wine, Women & Whiskey"(by
Papa Lightfoot), "Get Down To" (dedicated to the late
Zeke Shepherd), "Toilet Bowl Blues", "Drive You", "Brain Damage", "I Am Normal" and, of course, concluding with "Going To Toronto" re-jigged as "Going To The Elmo". Full marks for the recording to producers
Glenn Belcher and Tony Nolasco, they have captured a magnificent live event beautifully. This band was all about playing the blues and making it rock _ they succeeded this night, for new fans and old. They all get together again to celebrate the release of the CD on Tuesday,
December 3 at The Hard Rock Café's Club 279 at 279 Yonge Street for a free show and then again on December 14 at the Dollar.
Pat Carey's Jazz Navigators
Starlight Iridescent PC2-001
Yes, he has won three Maple Blues Awards for his horn work with Downchild but as all of us at his Horn Workshop discovered, he has an impressive knowledge of jazz, something purchasers of this CD will quickly realize as well. While he credits the motivation for forming this band and its CD to the revival of swing blues in Toronto, there isn't much blues here of the kind I normally write about so I won't, I'll leave the specifics to the experts. There is, though, obvious talent and creativity - an hour of always-interesting jazz. The Jazz Navigators are Ted Quinlan, guitars, the father and son team of Ted and Jason Jestadt on drums and piano respectively, and Kieran Overs on acoustic bass. A couple of other familiar names join in as guests: Tyler Yarema on piano, Janice Hagan, vocals and Laura Hubert also on vocals. The music is all generated by the front line and Debbie Carey wrote the lyrics for the two vocals. Beautifully recorded by the ubiquitous Alec Fraser, who co-produced with Carey and Jason Jestadt. Iridescent Music is a new company formed by Canadian musicians, composers, writers and business people who are dedicated to supporting Canadian music. I hope we hear a lot more from them. Their web site, where this CD is available, is www.iridescentmusic.ca.
Pete Schmidt The Ultimate Blues Jam Stone Pillar SPP002
Schmidt is the excellent guitarist with Dave Rotundo and with Little Bobby & the Jumpstarts and this instructional CD is his latest project. It is in effect your very own Chicago blues band (guitar, piano, bass, drums) that you can play along with in the comfort of your home (and presumably at a reasonable hour). Various shuffles, slow blues and swings are among the ten tracks and you can stop, start or start over whenever you like. You can order from www.peteschmidt.com.
Harrison Kennedy Mungumbo Man/Indie
Hamilton native Kennedy was one of the four vocalists for Chairmen of the Board, the group founded by Holland, Dozier and Holland the famed songwriting team for their new Invictus label after they left Motown. After hit singles, several albums and a solo album he left the group, and music, for a while and remained in Hamilton where he eventually started The Rockin' Hurricanes and continued to release locally available albums. A CDR of the most recent one of these is at hand and it's excellent: a nine-song acoustic blues session done in September with Brian Griffith on acoustic slide guitar, Les Smith on harmonica, Tone Valcic on percussion, Randall Hill on mandolin ("& other instruments") and Pete Ri
hbany on contrabass. Keith Lindsay is listed at the web site as playing keyboards but is not audible here, however it says 15 songs were recorded and perhaps your quick response to acquire it will help Kennedy put out the whole thing.All nine songs are original and excellent with "Mungumbo Man" and "Ain't No Puppy" getting special mention. Special mention should also go to bass man Pete Ribnay and to Les Smith (of Lester & the B
flats fame). This man can't stay Hamilton's secret for too much longer! Go to www.harrisonkennedy.ca or call 905-528-1391 you will not be sorry.Reverb Rockers Nickel Plated Blues Indie
This is a veteran Windsor-based band that is backing the legendary Johnnie Johnson on November 30 at the Dollar. They are James McInnes and Kevin Peterson on vocals, guitars and bass and Glenn Brandt on drums and percussion. There are three hired guns on hand on keyboards, harmonica and tenor sax. For all my carping about the lack of good singers, this band has two, with McInnes in the David Clayton Thomas mold and Peterson with only slightly less presence. McInnes is also a songwriter to be reckoned with, "Let Old Dogs Lay" and "Nickel Plated Blues" being particularly impressive. Peterson's "She's Got The Sugar" is another stand out song. Pretty good electric blues here, it should be a good show. The CD is available at www.webspawner.com/users/thereverbrockers.
Phillip Walker Big Band Live at Biscuits &
Blues M.C.
The liner notes stress what a road warrior this veteran Texas-born, LA-based bluesman is but he has never made it to our part of the continent. Now we have this document of a live show in San Francisco that will do nicely until he does get here. His regular band has been augmented for the occasion, bringing the lineup up to four horns to go with the keyboards, bass & drums behind his guitar. Angela Strehli, Charlie Musselwhite and Rick Estrin, who has his own CD from Biscuits and Blues with his band Little Charlie & the Nightcats add their seasoning to the Texas stew served over these two evenings this past June. This is only the ninth album in a career spanning some forty years now, the first two were with the then young production/songwriting team of Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker. They would go on to greater commercial success with Robert Cray and there is no complaint about that but their work with Walker resulted in some of the finest modern blues you're likely to hear. "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" and "90 Proof" are on this disc as proof of that. This is a career-spanning live introduction to a major contemporary bluesman.
The Delta Jukes Working For the
Blues Black Magic 9044/Allegro
This band is the latest incarnation of a group that goes back to Robert Nighthawk and Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller). The connecting link is Sam Carr, a son of Nighthawk and the drummer in his band. Frank Frost was on guitar. After backing Sonny Boy on KFFA, they picked up a young guitar player named Jack Johnson and recorded for Sun. They had a minor hit with Frost's "Jelly Roll King" and were known by that name thereafter. There were additions and subtractions over the years but this trio was a Delta mainstay, earning their spot in the movie Crossroads. Big Jack left for his solo career in the eighties and Frost passed away a couple of years ago. Fred James had taken over the guitar chores and after Frost's passing, he and Sam decided to re-constitute the band with Delta players Dave Riley and John Weston. The point to all this history is that this new lineup is indeed a worthy one. This is modern Delta Blues with new songs played firmly in the tradition of which they are so integral a part. With Riley on lead, James plays rhythm but more importantly, produces, achieving a crispness that you don't usually hear in a juke but without sacrificing any blues feeling. Highly recommended.
John Mayall Stories Eagle P2 59669/EMI
Mayall has found himself a pretty good groove here with a stable Bluesbreaker lineup and careful selection of songs. He will be 70 next year, but you would not know it from this CD or from his appearance. He was playing blues in Manchester, England in the early `50's and has been recording steadily since 1964 and Live at Klook's Kleek. Highlights of this generous program: his version of Julie and Buddy Miller's "Dirty Water", sounding just fine performed by a blues band; Eric Bibb's "Kokomo" which cooks along nicely and his own "I Wished I Had" which features some fine Mayall piano, something he doesn't do nearly enough in my opinion.
Jonny Lang Smokin' Eagle/EMI
This is not a new album but the indie release that landed him a major label deal. He was in Minneapolis, a 14-year-old guitar ace playing the blues and escaping from Fargo, ND. He was immediately compared to Stevie Ray Vaughan and recorded the disc that sell in the kind of numbers record labels pay attention to. The music here was all written by the band and all firmly down the road paved by SRV. In retrospect, it seems odd that his major label debut actually had more traditional blues than is here. This CD is not just for completists, though, Lang's potential shines through.
Various Artists From Clarksdale to Heaven-Remembering John Lee Hooker Eagle WK 23629/EMI
The liner notes take great pains to point out that this tribute was carried out with the involvement of the John Lee Hooker Foundation, which receives a portion of the proceeds, and his family. They also point out that this is Volume One, concentrating on the British Connection that did so much to re-introduce blues to North American audiences in the '60's. First the family connection: daughter Zakiya provides a poignant note and a good performance of Dad's "I Want To Hug You" with Johnnie Johnson & Bobby Murray. The family also released a version of John Lee rehearsing and singing Hendrix' "Red House" with Booker T and Randy California as a bonus track for the CD. Then it's off to Britain (literally, most of these songs were recorded there) with Jack Bruce, Gary Moore, Jeff Beck, T.S. McPhee, Mick Taylor and Peter Green performing the master's songs. McPhee, as you might expect from someone who named his band after the Hooker song he performs here ("Groundhog"), backed Hooker on European tours and recorded with him, does the most authentic Hooker-sounding song. Also not too surprising, Peter Green and Splinter Group are there too. These are very good, even reverential performances. More interesting is the duo of Jack Bruce and Gary Moore, each of whom take a vocal, and Jeff Beck. They take Hooker's music to a new place via their own styles and have clearly given the project much thought. It's a mixed bag, then and perhaps not the only tribute disc we'll see. And then there's Volume 2.
- John Valenteyn, jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2002