Guitarist extraordinaire, Paul James was the very special guest performer at Healey’s in Toronto, Ontario, Thurs. Oct. 7, 2004, as part of their regular Thurs. night ‘Special Guest’ spotlight. The club was packed with Jeff Healey/Paul James fans, and with good reason.
Paul is one of the best known and most respected blues and rock ‘n’ roll guitarists in Canada. His band backed up R&B/blues icon Bo Diddley from the early 1970’s to the late 1990’s. Paul has also sat in with Bob Dylan at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre and the Masonic Temple, as well as at Centennial Hall in London, Ont., and Buffalo, NY’s Marine Midland Arena. He opened for Mr. ‘Bojangles’ Dylan at Canada’s Wonderland once – a theme park in the Toronto area.
In like fashion, Dylan showed up at Paul’s gig at Nag’s Head North in Richmond Hill, Ont. once, and sat in with him there. Dylan was also Paul’s guest at one of his gigs at Toronto’s historic El Mocambo. (The Stones played two spectacular concerts at the Elmo in 1977. One of the guests that night, was Maggie Trudeau, wife of Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau.) Paul once backed up Bo Diddley at a private party for the OPP (Ont. Prov. Police), and Dylan was his guest that night, too!
Most recently, Paul was Bob Dylan’s guest at an invitation-only party at Toronto nightclub Kool Haus, but didn’t join him on stage. (Back in 1994, when Kool Haus was called R.P.M., the Rolling Stones performed a surprise concert there. I saw Jeff Healey open for the Stones at that ’94 event. He appeared with them in their encore that evening – helping send the finale over the top in a big way – pumping his guitar on the floor with his foot, like a wa-wa pedal!)
Paul has also performed on several occasions with close friend and blues great John Hammond. Blues legend Honey Boy Edwards sat in with Paul once at the Hotel Isabella and another time at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, (another Stones ‘surprise concert’ venue in the ‘90s.) Honey Boy was playing at the Rivoli down the street, and borrowed Paul’s acoustic guitar for his gig, when his own guitar was lost in the airport baggage area.
Jeff Healey is part owner of Healey’s -- one of the finest blues clubs around, http://www.jeffhealeys.com/. This means that Jeff often shows up at the club bearing his name, to sit in with some of the most impeccable world-class blues talent to ever grace a stage anywhere. That includes harp great James Cotton, drummer Levon Helm, late blues great A.C. Reed (brother of guitarist Jimmy Reed); blues guitarists Son Seals and Anson Funderburgh, harp impresario Sam Myers -- and even unofficial Beatle keyboard player from back in ’62, Roy Young, http://www.royyoung.com/.
This night at Healey’s with Paul James as special guest, was another of those very special evenings of great blues and rock ‘n’ roll. The place was packed when I arrived, and with good reason. Paul is a real showman, in the true sense of the word. When he gets on stage, ‘magic’ happens – eyes are glued to his every move, facial expressions, and twist-around dance moves. He’s well-known by his fans for using any item on hand, to play some of the most entertaining slide guitar one can ever hope to hear, or see.
Paul spontaneously used his mic stand to play some amazing southern U.S. delta-style slide blues, that would make Elmore James or Hound Dog Taylor sit up and take notice. The audience was transfixed by every note in this unique demonstration of imagination and talent, which Paul happily performed for the fans at Healey’s. At one point he even played some out-of-this-world blues riffs while holding his guitar behind his head – then finished off by spinning the neck of his guitar around in his hand, like a whirling top.
Later in the evening, Paul left the stage, guitar in hand, while playing some of the sweetest sounding, melodic guitar leads I’ve ever heard. He wandered through the audience like a minstrel of days gone by, wailing away on his hollow-body red Guild Starfire, and never missed a beat, while wowing the audience with his talent and true showmanship. This wasn’t an ‘act’ – this was a real show, by a performer who truly lives to entertain an audience, just like he lives to play guitar. When Paul got near the bar, somebody handed him a beer bottle, which he immediately put to good use, playing some of his trademark slide guitar riffs with ‘real’ bottleneck style and precision, as only he can.
Jeff Healey’s Thurs. night house band backed up Paul all through this impeccable performance. The Healey house band features Jeff on lead/rhythm guitar and lead/background vocals; Alec Fraser on bass; Dave Murphy on keyboards; Al Webster on drums, and Dan Nordmeer on rhythm/lead guitar.
I feel I should mention that Fraser (as well as being one of the most sought after bassists in Canada) – is a gifted recording engineer, and owner of Juno and Maple Blues Award-winning Liquid Studio here in Toronto. Liquid has recorded the likes of Garth Hudson and Levon Helm of The Band, as well as Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith (Muddy Waters’ drummer), Paul Oscher (Muddy Waters Band alumnus), and countless other blues legends. Fraser has just completed the final mix on the Paul James Band’s most recent, soon-to-be-released CD, tentatively titled ‘Lost In the Blues’. He and Al Lerman (harp/sax in Juno-winning Fathead) recently completed the Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith Band CD, ‘Bluesin’ It’ -- available on the Electro-Fi label, http://www.electrofi.com/.
When I arrived at Healey’s Thurs. night, Paul was already ‘full speed ahead’, performing a dynamite version of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”. He followed this legendary Dylan classic, with the rousing, “Bo Diddley”. The audience sang out, ‘Who do ya love?’, in response to Paul’s ‘Hey, Bo Diddley’. Only an upbeat Howlin’ Wolf tune like “You’ll Be Mine” could follow something that intense -- complete with gravel-voiced ‘Wolf’ vocals. It felt as if Howlin’ Wolf himself, was present in the room, and was being channeled through Paul’s impressive singing. The upbeat rockin’ ‘n’ rollin’ “Nadine” completely mesmerized the room after that, and finished the second set on a high note.
The Healey house band warmed up the third and final set of the evening, with Huey ‘Piano’ Smith’s, “Don’t You Just Know It”. It was a fun tune to hear, and for the band to play and sing along with. After this bit of musical brevity, Jeff sang his million selling hit, “Angel Eyes”, and dedicated it to a ‘birthday girl’ in the audience. You could hear a pin drop, with the respect and appreciation the fans gave Jeff while he sang his heart out -- doing likewise playing guitar, on this very deep tune. Next up, keyboard player Murphy, sang the stimulating vocals on Bad Company’s “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love”, featuring a blistering guitar solo by Nordmeer, who’s Murphy’s guitarist in the super-popular Dave Murphy Band, http://www.davemurphyband.com/. Jeff’s guitar soloing on this one excelled too, as did Webster’s drumming. Webster’s an indispensable part of the internationally touring Jeff Healey Band, as well as being in the Healey Thurs. night house band. He’s also drummer in the ‘Blues Monkeys’ featuring harp virtuoso Jerome Godboo from Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, http://www.ronniehawkins.com/.
Paul joined the others on stage after the Bad Company rocker, and sang “She’s Mean and Evil”, with ‘wolf-like’ vocal intonation; while playing some amazing electrified acoustic guitar and slide. His original “Red Hot Mama” really got the crowd going, and featured his slithery slide, Fraser’s heavy-duty bass lines and Webster’s ‘scorching’ talent on the skins. “G.L.O.R.I.A” set the place on ‘fire’, with the band giving it their all; while the audience chanted ‘Gloria’, in response to Paul’s awesome lead vocals and guitar work. The classic 1960s rocker, “Louie, Louie” finished off this final set of the evening, with as much impact as two trains colliding.
The audience eager to hear more, demanded it and got it. For the encore, Paul played one of his two new Halloween blues tunes, aptly titled, “It’s Halloween”. This tune was a lot of fun to see performed live. Paul’s facial expressions were harmlessly scary, like going into an old-fashioned, spooky Fun House at an amusement park in the 1960s. Jeff’s eerie guitar leads were like something right out of a Universal Monsters movie from the 1940s – very atmospheric and spine tingling in the best possible fun way! I think we all had the ‘kid’ brought out in us with this highly enjoyable finale (especially so close to Halloween), to an incredibly entertaining evening of blues and rock ‘n’ roll, as only the true master of this musical art form can muster up -- the great Paul James.
Paul’s official web site offers a special ‘Xmas at Halloween’ – ‘Trick or Treat’ gift to his fans – two very ‘scary’ new Halloween blues tunes he’s just written – the previously mentioned, “It’s Halloween”, and the equally fun and ‘spooky’ “Trick or Treat”. Both of these well-crafted blues ‘novelty’ tunes capture the Halloween season with flair, personality and atmosphere. They can be listened to for free, on full length Mp3’s, by just clicking on Paul’s web site at: http://www.pauljamesband.com/. Nostalgic orange and black Halloween graphics will greet you. All you do is click on this imaginative Halloween art, and it’ll take you right to the Halloween tunes page.
These two fun-filled Halloween tunes are available now, as a two-song CD, to radio stations who’d like to offer them airplay, while the ‘spook season’ is upon us. Radio stations can listen to these Halloween winners at Paul’s site. If they like what they hear, the two-song CD they’re on, can be sent to them from the Paul James Band web site at: http://www.pauljamesband.com/mailorder/index.htm. These tunes will also be on Paul’s forthcoming CD, ‘Lost In the Blues’.
There are some other incredible blues songs on the ‘tunes page’ to listen to. They’re from Paul’s previous three CD’s, including some from Paul’s rousing, fun 2003 CD, ‘La Vie en Bleu’, which captures the feel of a live Paul James Band performance. There are also Mp3’s to listen to at Paul’s site, from his earlier ‘Lazy Crazy Blues’ and ‘Acoustic Blues’ CDs, also available for purchase.
Have fun .. and HAPPY HALLOWEEN, everyone!!!
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