For the second year in a row, I was lucky enough to schedule a trip to sunny Phoenix, Arizona for a weekend of warm weather and hot blues. After receiving repeated warnings from friends and family in Phoenix that the weather had been absolutely miserable, with days and days of rain (yes, rain), I was greeted to warm sunshine and more than three straight days of sun and blue skies.
The Phoenix Blues Blast is a fan friendly one-day festival held annually at the Mesa Amphitheater in Mesa, Arizona, an East Valley suburb. What makes the event special is that the sponsoring organization, The Phoenix Blues Society, turn the event into a weekend extravaganza with Grade A shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at Phoenix’s premier blues venue, Bob Corritore’s Rhythm Room. This year offered another exciting weekend with Smokin’ Joe Kubek and B’nois King, Roy Gaines and Johnny Rawls holding court at The Rhythm Room each of the three weekend evenings. Coupled with the excellent line-up for the Blues Blast, the weekend represented a blues lovers dream.
The first two events at The Rhythm Room were laced with a decidedly Texas flavor; opening on Friday night with the stinging guitar of Smokin’ Joe Kubek and the silky vocals of B’nois King. The Rhythm Room was packed for the first night of Blues Blast Weekend with blues fans from all over the United States, among them familiar faces from my blues travels to Las Vegas, Chicago, South Florida and elsewhere. The master of ceremonies for the evening jokingly suggested that Kubek and King must be doing well these days since Joe had switched his jewelry fashions from turquoise and silver to gold and diamonds. The performance itself was the usual “gem” that blues fans have come to expect from Smokin’ Joe and B’nois, filled with hard edged guitar from Kubek, along with smooth vocal presentations and some jazzy guitar riffs from B’nois King in a set laced with old and new material from the Smokin’ Joe Kubek Band’s extensive catalog.
On Saturday night, I made sure to arrive at The Rhythm Room earlier in the evening so that I might get an opportunity to sit down (something I was unable to do the night before). My decision to arrive early was a wise one, given the fact that the crowd turned out to be at least as large for guitar legend Roy Gaines as it had the night before. Rather than working with his own band on Saturday evening, Gaines was capably backed by The Rhythm Room Allstars, led by club owner and musician, Bob Corritore. After the Allstars performed a trio of songs on their own, Roy Gaines took the stage for his opening number, “Next Time You See Me”. Unlike the stoic Smokin’ Joe Kubek, Gaines is an animated guitarist, making all kinds of faces, moving around and even playing the guitar behind his head (a rather good trick since it was an electrified acoustic guitar at the time). Gaines also differs from Kubek in his guitar style, playing with a technique that is more reminiscent of the legendary T-Bone Walker, smoother and jazzier. The show was equally as good as the previous evening with most of the crowd sticking around for multiple sets.
Sunday was the day for Blues Blast 2005, the thirteenth year for this fine one-day festival. As in year’s past, Blues Blast 2005 offered another fine line-up of local and national performers including Phoenix acoustic blues legend Hans Olson opening the show and playing between every set; along with the local, talented Jim Glass Band, following Olson to finish off the morning portion of the event. This set the stage for a fine array of national acts; this year including guitarist Michael Burks, Detroit blues diva Bettye Lavette and Little Charlie and the Nightcats. As was the case in 2004, the event culminated with another local act, Sistah Blue, who finished off the event as the sun was setting on the day.
Phoenix blues legend, Hans Olson, opened the event on a bright Sunday morning. With over 30 years in the music business and work with a number of blues immortals over that period (including touring as the accompanist for Brownie McGhee), Olson was elected into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame in 1996 and was a part of my musical experiences as an Arizona teenager in the 1970s. After a brief opening set, Olson made repeat performances between each performance set throughout the day.
The first full set act of the day was another local act, The Jim Glass Band, featuring long time guitarist, Jim Glass. Performing with Dr. John, Sam Lay and Muddy Waters throughout his 30 year career, Glass is an excellent guitarist with an excellent band. The opening set consisted of a combination of original blues and well done cover tunes to get the growing blues crowd warmed up for the day.
The first national act of the event, guitarist Michael Burks, definitely did everything he could to get the crowd energized during his set. His stinging guitar licks rang through the Amphitheater, conjuring up images of blues powerhouses of the past, most notably Albert King. In fact, Burks’ set included a number of Albert King covers, along with a very nice cover of Voodoo Chile from another god, Jimi Hendrix. Burks' guitar was a sharp as ever with the only real disappointment being that he did not play many of his own exceptional original material.
Burks powerful guitar was followed by another blues power of a different kind; Detroit singer Bettye Lavette. Before Lavette’s set began, I encouraged by friend David to make sure that he got close enough to the stage so that he could SEE Bettye sing; knowing that the emotion in her voice is more powerful when you can see the emotion on her face. Lavette did not disappoint with a powerful, emotion-filled set, including a number of tunes from her 2002 release A Woman Like Me and her 2000 release, Souvenirs. The set included two of my favorite Lavette tunes, “Serves Him Right” and “Souvenirs.”
The mood of the day changed one more time when the final national act of the day, Little Charlie and the Nightcats took their place on the Amphitheater stage. The mainstays of The Nightcats, guitarist Charlie Baty and harp master Rick Estrin have worked together since the early 1970’s. Little Charlie and the Nightcats released their first recording on Alligator Records in 1987 (All The Way Crazy) and the band has been together ever since, touring the world with their brand of blues, jump blues and jazzier sounds. The band was dead on as they performed on Sunday afternoon, emphasizing their set with several songs from their latest release, That’s Big!, including “Real Love”, “I Know She Used To Be Your Woman” and “That’s Big!”. The band lived up to their reputation as a party band, getting people on their feet and into the music.
In a déjà vu of last year’s event, Blues Blast 2005 with the local blues combo; Sistah Blue. Sistah Blue is an all-female blues band that got its start as one of the first all-star women’s blues revue at The Rhythm Room in 1993. Since then Sistah Blue has continued as a full time working band with a new recording entitled Movin’ On and a second win at the Arizona Blues Challenge which will result in a visit to the 2005 21st Annual International Blues Challenge. Featuring Rochelle Raya (vocals/harp), Dejah (vocals), Nancy Dalessandro (guitar), Kati Ingino (bass) and Janet Daniel (drums); the band performed a stellar set made up of mostly original material, demonstrating the band’s amazing talent. The band finished the day strong, ending a day of great blues.
Blues Blast 2005 was every bit as good as last year’s event, putting it on my calendar of must see events for 2006 with its well though out combination of local and national acts to go with the fine weekend of events at The Rhythm Room. It was unfortunate that I was unable to attend the final blues jam at The Rhythm Room on Sunday evening, particularly since it as being hosted by one of 2004’s Blues Blast headliners, Johnny Rawls. With the talented Rawls running the show, and expected guest appearances by several Blues Blast 2005 performers, it was undoubtedly worth the visit
To find out about next year’s event, keep and eye on the Phoenix Blues Society web site (www.phoenixblues.org) and try to schedule a winter visit to the Valley of the Sun for Blues Blast 2006.
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