December
2004
Bob Walsh A Canadian Blues
Rendezvous D7/BROS DY2-2021/Universal
This rendezvous took place at the Spectrum during the Montreal Jazz Festival this past summer. Walsh invited
Jimmy Bowskill, Martin Deschamps,
Jack de Keyzer, David Gogo, Breen
Leboeuf, Dawn Tyler Watson & Glamour
Puss to join him in a live recording with his crack band. The result is here now for us all to
enjoy, and, courtesy of national distribution, to sample blues talent from across the
country. Walsh has achieved some prominence recently, rather late in a long career, and I hope this CD raises his visibility across the country. He starts the show with a stunning take on
Ray Charles' "I Don't Need No
Doctor" and keeps it going with "Teeny Weeny Bit". Jimmy Bowskill is the first guest up and brings his own "Honey Bee", from
Old Soul, for the duet (no jamming on standards here!). Jack de Keyzer brings "Jump Right
To It", from 6 String Lover, and obviously enjoys playing with this band. Walsh steps up to do a couple on his own with "Stand By Me", and "Loan Me A Dime" (credited to
Boz Scaggs) receiving stellar performances. Dawn Tyler Watson & David Gogo join Walsh for a jazzy, scatting take on
Hendrix' "Purple Haze". Needless to say, Gogo solos appropriately. Glamour Puss come up next with a dramatic version of "Boom
Boom" before David Gogo returns for a vocal duet on
Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". This one is a highlight on a CD full of highlights. Breen Leboeuf was a founding member of
Offenbach, a seminal Quebec band. "Mes Blues Passent Pu Dans Porte" was one of their best-known songs and gets a welcome reprise here.
Blood, Sweat & Tears' famous "Spinning Wheel" is a remarkable showcase for this
twelve-member band, directed by Jean-Fernand
Girard from the keyboards. It also points to the similarity in singing styles between Walsh and
David Clayton-Thomas. This must have been quite an evening and
I'm almost disappointed that it's not a 2CD set, almost, because that might have been too much of a good thing. As with Walsh's last album,
Blues, the audio is of demonstration quality, no mean feat in location recording.
Formerly because they all used to be in other bands! For those of you who have retired your turntables this CD restores an important chapter in the
Amos Garrett story - specifically the two-year residency
of Texan Doug Sahm here and his musical collaboration with Garrett and
Gene Taylor. It's not all blues, that wouldn't be Texan, but once you put it on, you'll be dancing your blues away. "Queen of the Okanagan"
is a classic Sahm original and his version of Hank
Williams' "Banks of the Old Pontchartrain" is excellent. "Smack Dab in the Middle", sung by Garrett, is straight out of New Orleans and was the `hit'. He also does
a fine "Amarillo Highway", a Terry
Allan song. Queen Ida happened to be in Edmonton and guested on "Big Mamou". Taylor gets two of his patented boogies and a
Professor Longhair-styled vocal too
("Sure is a Good Thing"). The CD issue has one previously unreleased song, Sahm's take on the
Louis Riel saga, which he explains on the new fourteen-minute interview segment. This time it's not
Holger Petersen asking the questions but an Austin radio host. The unannounced track 15 is Sahm's phone machine message!
Various Artists African Guitar
Summit CBC TRCD 3014/Universal
Tri Continental is Lester Quitzau,
Madagascar Slim and Bill Bourne with percussionist
Ramesh Shotham, although this has not yet caused a name change. The combination is still American
blues, European folk and African folk musics and the four Canadians were recorded before an invited audience in a German studio. Got all that? The end result is another superb collaboration with each of the guitarists
bringing forward music from his tradition and having the others play along with tremendous sensitivity and creativity. That such a coherent listening experience derives from such separate sources is a testament to their
skills and temperament. Not surprisingly I'm drawn to Quitzau's contributions and the "T-Bone Shuffle" he leads is a delight. "Grinning in Your Face", his Louisiana-influenced "Gumbo No. 1" and Hendrix' "Roomful
of Mirrors" round out his contributions. Slim has an interesting take on
Jimmy Reed's "Big Boss Man" as his, I guess, non-African sourced song. The African sourced one is "Salama" and it also gets a
performance on the African Guitar Summit CD. If you enjoy the longer lines and rolling melodies of African guitar music, either in the style played by Tri Continental or otherwise, you must have this album. Madagascar Slim
and another Toronto guitarist mentioned in this column,
Adam Solomon, join four other guitarists who play with no attempt to cross over into blues but whose music is entrancing. Generous notes guide you
through the various regional styles.
There may not be a single local musician in town who has not shared a stage with Gary. This has meant that he has absorbed most every blues style. He currently plays bass for
Downchild and books the Silver Dollar Room but he's often found around town with other bands or leading his own. (Those are his basses on the cover). This has been the story for some years. I first encountered him when he was busily and
happily making the Black Swan the `Oasis of Blues on the Danforth' and the
Kendall-Wall Band played every Saturday afternoon. He has been slowly writing songs and at least one of the songs here was also
performed on a Kendall-Wall cassette I still have. There is an excellent reflection on that history here: "Worn In (But Not Worn Out)" which might be one of the best `veteran' songs I've heard. He uses a world-weary voice on
this mid-tempo rocker, leaving in no doubt that it hasn't always been easy. And then there is an unexpected disaster, with the pellet gun injury to his grandson
Kadin. "Spread the Love (Kadin's Song)" is an acoustic
hymn to childhood instead of something much more hateful.
The rest of the songs reflect the groups he's been in and feature many more players than I have room to mention. "All Dressed Up" is one of several that recall
Downchild, all of whose members appear on
one song or another. "Don't Be Sad" is a solid reggae song with
Suzie Vinnick on back-up vocal. "Savin' It Up For You" is another rocking highlight.
Judy Brown takes the vocal on a song she co-wrote with Gary,
"Lucky at Love". One of the two non-originals is a
Roosevelt Sykes song, "You Can't Be Lucky All The Time", which Gary sings particularly well.
All the musicians do their bit for a bass man who steps out with a fine CD. Check out the ad in this issue for ordering info and the launch party. See you there.
Ms Davies will provide the entertainment at our Christmas Party and her current CD, her fourth, is devoted to the music of English blues guru
John Mayall. The young guitarist was familiar with Mayall's
music from seeing gigs in Los Angeles and won a spot in Mayall's wife's band, which then opened his shows. Mayall became a mentor. She would move on to
Albert Collins' band before going solo. Apparently there
has never been an album devoted to Mayall's songs even though he has been a prolific writer over his forty-year plus career. Perhaps one reason it hasn't happened is that many of Mayall's songs are extremely
personal and/or written for specific situations or albums. Davies overcomes these problems, though, with only "Room to Move" less successful. Perhaps the original is too firmly imprinted in my brain.
James Cotton blows some nice harp here and on "Chicago Line".
Mick Taylor takes Peter Green's guitar part on "Hard Road" and Peter Green takes
Harvey Mandel's on "Nature's Disappearing" from
USA Union. That she doesn't need the hired help is amply demonstrated on "Steppin' Out". Should be a good party.
Mavis Staples Have a Little Faith Alligator ALCD 4899/Fusion
Mavis Staples and the Blind Boys of
Alabama will be at Massey Hall on the
23rd. Have a Little Faith is the new album and the first of new material since 1993. It's also her first for Alligator and it's a
strong one. Duke Ellington once said the
Staples sing gospel in a blues key and that's no where more apparent than on "A Dying Man's Plea", a storming version of "See That My Grave is Kept Clean". Even more
interesting though are the songs she wrote with
Jim Tullio for this album, songs that consciously recall her past. "Pops Recipe" and "Have a Little Faith" were built on reminiscences about her father and her childhood.
Tullio and his co-writers contribute a 9/11 song, "In Times Like These", "There's a Devil on the Loose" and "I Wanna Thank You" that make this a major contemporary gospel album. It concludes with a new version of
the first song Pops taught his daughters: "Will the Circle Be Unbroken". Gospel, in the key of blues.
- John Valenteyn,
jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
Garrett/Sahm/Taylor The Return of the Formerly
Brothers Stony Plain SPCD1296/Warner
Tri Continental Drifting T&M 030/Festival
Gary Kendall Dusty & Pearl
47 Records 47R001
Debbie Davies Key to Love Shanachie 9034/KOCH
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2004