In This
Issue:
• Colorblind
Brian's Blues Campfire Every Tuesday at Highway 61
• Brian and
the Blainettes at the Silver Dollar Room Sat July 18th....
•
Saab Story
gets a second wind
• Jazzfest
Adventures....
....
....
Brian
Blain at The Silver Dollar Room, Saturday July 18 (showtime 8:00pm)....
Looking
forward to playing with two of the top sax players in town, Colleen Allen and
Carrie Chesnutt. Colleen will be playing baritone, not her main axe but she
loves the change and I love the driving sound of a baritone and tenor pumping
together. If you've heard James Hunter, you know what I'm talking about.....
....
I'm also
delighted to bring the wonderful harp playing of Butch Coulter to the Silver
Dollar stage. There's a lot of great harp players in this town, but you will
hear right away that Butch doesn't sound like any of them. I'd like to say it's
a "European" sound, but I think he always played like that. I've done
three European tours with Butch, two as a duo and most recently backing up
powerhouse vocalist Kathi McDonald. Both were long standing band mates of Long
John Baldry and I too can wear that mantle having subbed for Papa John King on
a Baldry gig here in Ontario a few years back.....
....
Colorblind
Brian's Blues Campfire Every Tues (7:30pm) at Highway 61 BBQ
Some of you long
standing Blainfans might remember my Thursday sessions at the Tranzac a few
years back. That residency lasted about a year and just about every blues guy
in town (and many visitors) guested with me. Since then I have hosted many
blues "campfires" at the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals, Blues
Summitt and the Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival in New Brunswick. Now we'll
be doing it every Tuesday at the best BBQ joint in town (don't take my word for
it, check it out). The location is 1620 Bayview. Come and join in the song circle
or just sit back and enjoy some of the fine up-and-coming blues players in
town…and maybe a few veterans will grace us with their presence.....
....
Saab
Story still has some traction....
Jazz-FM
has Saab Story on their playlist for the longest time…a couple of years. Once I
had the opportunity to thank head honcho Ross Porter and wondered aloud how long they play a track and he said
"Once it's in the computer it stays there until someone takes it
out". Well it must still be there, because I heard it was being played as
a segue from the news items about the purchase/sale of the Saab car company. I
knew I should have approached Saab with my song….I might try it yet if they're
still making cars a year from now.....
....
Jazzfest
Adventures....
Maybe I'll
have a chance to relate some of my behind-the-scenes gossip in a future blog
but suffice it to say it was ten busy days fore this old blues guy – Those ten
days are the closest I ever get to a full time job. My discovery of the year
was drummer Antonio Sanchez who just amazed me in his performances with Pat
Metheny/Gary Burton and then with Kenny Werner…that is until the last night of
the festival when I hear a young organist called Corey Henry playing with Kenny
Garrett in the closing concert. I have heard DeFrancesco and Tony Monaco close
up and I heard Corey pull some sounds out of that B3 that I've never heard
before…phenomenal. I never had an angle where I could see his feet annd asked him
after the show if he used the pedals sometimes and he replied that he had used
them on three of the tunes…and I never even noticed!....
....
I was
unable to make my usual appearance at the Jazz Festival Volunteer Party,
because I was attending the Twilight Memorial service for Jackie Washington in
Hamilton (what a beautiful gathering) but I did get a festival "Gig"
of sorts, but it was not the Brian Blain we all know and love but rather my
"dark side" ambient electronica persona pumping out loud aggressive
beats with my son the DJ (COI) with the addition of Rob Gray and a couple of
keyboard interventions by John Farah - a brilliant musician...and I think he
knows it. He says he's headed for Carnegie Hall and I believe him. I don't know
enough keyboard to say but I think this guy is the next Keith Jarrett or Chick
Corea - with an nuclear arsenal of modern sounds to satisfy the dub-step
demographic. ....
....
Overheard
at an electronica venue -"Play us some sounds that we've never heard"
- They're more interested in sounds than music. But at least they're interested
in something! More audiences should be like that.....
....
My
favouriite show of the festival was the same night as my gig, and despite the
protestations of my boy Joel, I was not going to miss my hero Mose Allison and
he fulfilled every expectation - he played a non-stop selection of tunes that
he'd written interspersed with some blues, which he always credited comprehensively.....
....
I was
overseeing the daily blasts about (Toronto Jazz) festival goings-on and the only one I wrote
myself was about Mose, and wouldn't you know I didn't recognize the drummer and
assumed he had come up with Mose. Well, I was immediately corrected by an
astute jazz fan (dare I say "jazz police"??) Look at what he wrote to me:
"Codswallop, BrianB! John Sumner is as local as you can get – unless you
want to invoke his Irish ancestry – living on Isabella St. and plays regularly
with Mark Eisenman and Steve Wallace. Sheesh." Apparently Mose doesn't
like to be hearing a lot of back-beat, and sure enough Sumner kept his brushes
going and shuffled along quite nicely.....
....
Meanwhile
I at least knew who the bass player was - Neil Swainson...a most highly
regarded player who could play anything I'm sure, but was that a bead of sweat
forming on that brow? Mose had some great tunes I'd never heard -
"Certified Senior Citizen" was one of them and there were several
others just as funny and insightful as his well-known material. He certainly
has his own approach to the blues - something I strive for myself.
More Festivals: A youtube clip of me doing "The Day Coke Saved The Blues" at the Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival was just uploaded by a fan <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtZpKhg6Ufw >. I missed the Saturday at Orangeville becasue I took in the Luminato guitar extravaganza at Metro Square with Alvin Youngblood Hart, Taj Mahal, a charming new guitarist/singer/songwriter called Fiona Boyes and a great kora player, Mamadou Diabaté. Harry Manx and Kevin Breit did a fiery duet.
Luminato reminds one of the golden days of cigarette sponsors, at least behind the scenes. After posting my last blog where I was whining that I got media accreditation for the Emmylou Harris show but not for the Neil Young Canadian Songbook extravaganza. Well Blainletter reader Dan Oleksiuk took pity on me and took me along and what a great show it was (not to mention the munchies and open bar before *and* after the show). My fave was The Cowboy Junkies, not one of my favourite groups but they really captured me, especially tha mandolin man who was a one-man cinematic orchestra. Honorable mention to Emilie Claire Barlow and friends who nailed their tune... Harry Manx with the Sisters Euclid were a crowd favourite and Harry got even props from Colin Linden as he was being interviewed. The Sisters have ended their 13-year run of Monday nights at the Orbit Room - Kevin felt bad for Orbit Room owner Tim Notter and gave him the band's Juno Award to remember him by. At Yorkville Park, Luminato set up a big stage to present some of the big stars of Brazilian style guitar. My son the DJ says I should learn some Brazilian guitar licks so I checked it out. Had a great chat with a living legend of the Yorkville scene, Chick Roberts. I had met him back in the sixties and he regalled me with stories about the old Riverboat. They're celebrating an anniversary (the 50th?) and apparently a plaque will be laid. I noticed there were some Riverboat related events...I should get on the bandwagon as an artist who did play that illustrious venue. I remember it well, I was opening for Fraser and DeBolt and some CBC types thought I was the next Randy Newman or something and had me come down to their offices for meetings but alas nothing came of it. Also saw the amazing one-man play about the life of Lenny Breau. They didn't miss any aspect of Lenny's life with ups and downs and right up to the tragic end. It's a big leap from the $15 million Luminato festival to the (maybe) $50 thousand Waterfront Blues Fest, mostly local artists but a beautiful setting - One thing about Jack de Keyzer, the bigger the stage, the bigger he gets. How about that organist McMorrow!!!
....
I must
jump now, try to get this out and do some preparations for another gig which I
cannot tell you about "officially". I think I will need a new persona
– "Slim-Something"…....
....
Facebook
Friends: I have
created a "fan page" for folks who like what I'm doing musically and
if you count yourself in that select group then please click here and
"become a fan"....
....
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Quote of
the Day: "I don't think, I just concentrate." (Jaco Pastorius)