 |
The 15th
Annual
|
|
The 15th
Annual
|
Texas
Bluesman Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Rock and Blues
pioneer Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm, Rhythm &
Blues legend Ruth Brown, British Blues-Rock patriarch John
Mayall, New Orleans' funky Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Blues-Rock
innovator Al Kooper, and Texas Roots Rocker Michelle Shocked
highlight an eclectic lineup of more than 80 Blues artists performing
on three stages as the West Coast's largest Blues festival runs five
full days this year, July 3-7, in Tom McCall Waterfront Park. The
Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival
benefits the Oregon Food Bank.
Admission is a suggested daily donation of just $5 and 2 cans of food.
For the past 15 years, the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival has brought the finest Blues artists in the world — some seldom seen west of the Rockies — to Tom McCall Waterfront Park on the banks of the Willamette River in downtown Portland. The two alternating main stages — the Co-Op Network Blues Stage at the north end of the bowl, and the Miller Blues Stage to the south — provide the audience nonstop performances.
The third stage, The Oregonian A&E Front Porch Stage, located just north of the Hawthorne Bridge, will again feature acoustic acts, jam sessions, artist workshops and archival Blues films from the Northwest Film Center.
This year's lineup once again features a diverse, eclectic sampling of wide-ranging musical styles based in the Blues. Highlights include British Blues pioneer John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, who introduced the world to Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor; Rock and Blues legend Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm, whose "Rocket 88" is considered the first Rock recording; Rhythm & Blues icon Ruth Brown, in a special appearance with the Duke Robillard Band; Soul legend Rev. Howard Tate, whose '70s Verve releases are considered among the greatest Soul recordings of all time, appearing with the Uptown Horns and also in a Sunday afternoon gospel set; Blues-Rock innovator Al Kooper, co-founder of the Blues Project and Blood, Sweat & Tears; and Portland's lap-steel guitar master Kelly Joe Phelps, with his acoustic trio, which features bassist Larry Taylor from Tom Waits' band; and New Orleans' premier and funkiest brass-only group, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band. The festival closes with a day of "messing with Texas" featuring Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown; Austin Boogie-Woogie pianist Marcia Ball; roots rocker Michelle Shocked, who will team up with Gatemouth as she delves into her Texas roots; an "Austin Kick-Butt Gospel Hour" featuring Austin's Papa Mali and Malford Milligan; Houston guitar slinger and Blues belter Carolyn Wonderland; and acoustic guitar master Monte Montgomery, considered by many critics in Austin — a city known for its guitar slingers — to be its finest picker.
Additional festival highlights include San Francisco Blues crooner Tommy Castro; Chicago guitarists Phil Guy (younger brother of Blues legend Buddy Guy) and the phenomenal Melvin Taylor & The Slack Band; West Coast jump-Blues revivalist Junior Watson; bawdy Blues-belter Candye Kane; the searing guitarist Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers; Los Angeles' Blues-funkers, The Boneshakers; Deborah Coleman, one of the few young African-American women Blues guitarists on the international Blues circuit; San Francisco Bluesman Craig Horton; East Coast guitarist George Boone, hailed as a young Otis Rush; Austin, Texas Soul-Blues guitarist W.C. Clark; Mississippi Bluesman Lil' Dave Thompson; Folk-Blues trailblazer Alice Stewart; Baton Rouge's renowned Blues clan, The Neal Family, featuring Raful, Kenny, Jackie and Tyree; and Oklahoma-born Blues guitarist and songwriter Scott Ellison.
Throughout the festival, The Oregonian A&E Front Porch Stage will host Blues workshops, clinics, jam sessions and other special programming. Plans include a new Blues photo presentation by Blues historian Dick Waterman, electric Blues guitar workshops by Junior Watson and Jimmy Vivino, acoustic Blues performances by legendary Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards and many others. For the second year, the Front Porch stage will host both Bill Rhoades' Annual Harmonica Blow-Off, featuring national as well as regional Blues "harp" masters, and an evening Zydeco Dance Party headlined by the popular Queen Ida & Her Bon Ton Zydeco Band.
Many of this year's featured artists have come a long way for the Festival — from New Orleans, Austin, Chicago, Baton Rouge, New York, Boston, Los Angeles. But many of this year's festival highlights will be provided, as always, by the Northwest's own stellar crop of Blues acts, including Curtis Salgado, Paul deLay, Lloyd Jones, Duffy Bishop, Linda Hornbuckle, Margo Tufo, Terry Robb and more.
This year, the Festival will also produce an after-hours Blues Cruise on The Spirit of Portland, featuring Festival artists to be announced. Tickets will be available through FASTIXX.
KBOO 90.7 FM will once again be broadcasting the festival live, and OregonLive.com will be netcasting much of the event.
The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival received the Oregon Festivals & Events Association's 2001 Ovation Award for Best Festival, Civic Celebration or Community Event. Last year the Festival and its Talent Coordinator, Peter Dammann, won the Memphis-based Blues Foundation's coveted W. C. Handy Keeping the Blues Alive Award for Excellence in Festival Promotion.
The Festival has raised more than $1.5 million and 650,000 pounds of food for hunger relief to date, and organizers hope to add another $350,000 and 100,000 pounds of food to that total this year. All festival proceeds benefit the Oregon Food Bank's work to eliminate hunger and its root causes in Oregon and Clark County, WA. In the first half of the current fiscal year, requests for emergency food are up an average of 18 percent.
Below you'll find a rundown of the day-by-day highlights. Note that as of this writing, scheduling details are still being worked out and final pieces of the lineup falling into place. For updates, in-depth artist bios and sound clips, visit the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival Web site, or phone the Festival's information line: 503-973-FEST.
The
Festival kicks off with an evening concert July 3, headlined by John Mayall,
the British Blues pioneer whose early Bluesbreakers lineups introduced
the world to Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor.
Another
legend takes the stage when Ruth Brown makes a special appearance
with the Duke Robillard Band. Brown, whose 1949
#1 hit, "Teardrops From My Eyes" was Atlantic Records'
first single, remains with Ray Charles, Dinah
Washington and Chuck Berry one of the undisputed architects
of Rhythm and Blues. Robillard, one of the most versatile Blues
guitarists working, founded Roomful of Blues, replaced Jimmie
Vaughan in The Fabulous Thunderbirds, has toured and recorded
extensively with his own band, and has performed or recorded with such Blues
and Rock legends as Johnny Adams, Pinetop Perkins
and Bob Dylan.
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band returns to the Waterfront with its irrepressible mix of traditional New Orleans Jazz, Funk, R&B and Pop.
Fans of gritty, Urban Blues are in for a treat when the San Francisco Bay Area Blues Caravan are joined by Chicago Bluesman Phil Guy, the soulful younger brother of Buddy Guy; 26 year-old Mississippi guitarist Lil' Dave Thompson, whose '98 Fat Possum debut garnered a W.C. Handy nomination; and South Carolina vocalist Chocolate Thunder.
Vancouver, Washington favorite Kelly Joe Phelps, considered one of the finest living slide guitarists, returns to the festival, this time with his formidable trio.
The July 4th pyrotechnics start early with New Jersey guitarist George Boone. Boone, who worked with Albert Collins, Phillip Walker, and Lowell Fulson, has an intensity reminiscent of a late '60s Otis Rush.
San Francisco-based guitarist Craig Horton earned his stripes working on the road with a legion of legends, from Count Basie and Duke Ellington to Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Sam Cooke and Buddy Guy.
In
Austin, Texas, one of the roots music hotbeds of the world, few musicians have
been more influential than Blues, R&B and Soul master W.C. Clark.
Jimmie Vaughan, Marcia Ball, Angela Strehli, Lou
Ann Barton and The Fabulous Thunderbirds have all been
influenced by the man known as "The Godfather of Austin Blues." A
key figure in Austin's music community for 40 years, W.C. recently
released his Alligator Records debut, "From Austin With Soul,"
featuring the seamless marriage of smooth Memphis Soul and hard Texas Blues.
Deborah Coleman, from North Carolina, is one of the few African-American women who is a guitar slinger, singer and songwriter. That alone puts her in a category by herself, but it is her artistry and passion that have won her raves and spots on major festivals worldwide.
Candye
Kane, a former Los Angeles stripper turned "Big Mama Blues Belter,"
emerged as the queen of Jump Blues on her Antone's Records debut. Kane's
risqué set was a huge hit on the A&E Front Porch
Stage two years ago, and returns this year on the Main Stage.
Coleman and Kane highlight a July 4th lineup that will include a number of formidable Blues women, including Portland's Margo Tufo, Sister Shake and Linda Hornbuckle, and not least of all, Seattle's Alice Stewart.
Those who like their Blues served with a twist will want to check out the Rev. Billy C. Wirtz on the A&E Front Porch Stage.
Closing on the main stage before the 10 p.m. fireworks, San Francisco's popular Tommy Castro Band blends straight-ahead Blues and Memphis-style Soul.
On Friday, a legend of Rock returns when headliner Ike Turner
closes the show. Three years before Bill Haley recorded "Rock
Around the Clock," Turner released what most Rock historians
agree was the first Rock and Roll record, "Rocket 88." Any
who doubt Turner's central role in the evolution of Rock need
only ask B.B. King: "When you talk about Rock 'n' Roll, I
see Ike as one of the founding fathers." In the past two
years, Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm have been rocking
major festivals across Europe and the U.S., released a critically-hailed comeback
recording, and garnered a slew of W.C. Handy Awards.
Blues résumés don't get much deeper than those of Al Kooper & The Rekooperators. Kooper himself may be the greatest unknown Rock star of the past four decades. Kooper is best known to Blues fans for his work with the Blues Project, the horn band Blood, Sweat and Tears, and with the late Michael Bloomfield on "Super Sessions".
Touring
Blues acts typically spend their days far from the comfort and support of their
families. Not the Neal Family. Whenever Baton Rouge guitarist
Kenny Neal sets out on the road, his brother Frederic
is on keyboards, and brother Darnell on bass. For his Waterfront
debut, Kenny is joined by several of his kin: father Raful,
the legendary harmonica ace and "godfather" of the Baton Rouge Blues
scene; sister Jackie, a flamboyant, crowd-pleasing vocalist; and
17-year-old nephew Tyree, who this year won the Memphis-based
Blues Foundation's Albert King Award, given annually to a promising young
guitarist.
Also on Friday, Buddy Guy's soulful younger brother, Phil Guy, teams up with Chicago's Nick Moss & The Flip Tops. Moss, who held down the rhythm guitar spot in the late Jimmy Rogers' band for three years, has become a regular fixture on Chicago's Blues scene, having worked with Otis Rush, Jimmy Dawkins, Pinetop Perkins and Junior Wells.
Fans of Blues guitar pyrotechnics get plenty from Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers. Thackery is a founding member of the East Coast's most popular and durable bar band, The Nighthawks.
Junior
Watson appeared at the festival several years back with Canned
Heat, but guitar cognoscenti have long revered him as a cult figure
for his role in California's Jump Blues revival. Watson will also
lead a Saturday afternoon guitar workshop on the A&E
Front Porch Stage.
On Friday evening, the A&E Front Porch Stage hosts for the second year Bill Rhoades' Annual Harmonica Blow-Off. Rhoades, a KBOO-FM Blues DJ and harmonica ace, has assembled another stellar lineup of blowhards, including Austin's Gary Primich, Boise's John Németh, Raful and Kenny Neal from Baton Rouge, and Portland's Paul deLay.
Saturday's lineup opens with three of the Inland Empire's finest and most popular Blues acts: Boise's John Németh Band (known, before he shed a few pounds, as Fat John & The Three Slims); Pat Coast & Out of the Blue from Spokane; and Perry Roper & The Howlers from the Tri-Cities.
Scott Ellison, a recent addition to Portland's Burnside Records roster, is a talented singer, songwriter and guitarist. A prolific songwriter, Ellison's material has been covered by Francine Reed and Jimmy Dawkins. Ellison's new Burnside release, "Cold Hard Cash", showcases Ellison's versatile vocals and energetic electric Blues guitar playing.
Chicago-based
guitarist Melvin Taylor is equally adept at playing Jazz or Blues,
and, opined Guitar.com, "may well be the most talented new guitarist
to come along since Stevie Ray Vaughan."
Zydeco, that infectious, hard-grooving mix of Louisiana Cajun, Blues and R&B styles, dominates the A&E Front Porch Stage on Saturday, with Grammy Award-winning Queen Ida.
In the late 1960s, Howard Tate recorded what critics hail as some of the finest Soul recordings of all time. "For Soul fans," proclaimed the New York Times, "the work of ... Howard Tate holds its own against the best of Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Joe Tex..."
Tate will be backed by the Uptown Horns, the veteran New York horn section whose original sound and innovative arrangements have been heard on albums like the Grammy-winning "Living in America" by James Brown, Joe Cocker's "Unchain My Heart" and Albert Collins' "Cold Snap" and "Iceman".
Closing
the main stage on Saturday will be Portland's soulful Bluesman Curtis
Salgado, who has been relentlessly touring the U.S. in support of his
recent Shanachie Records release, which garnered a W.C. Handy nomination
for Best Soul Recording.
On Sunday, the Festival "Messes with Texas" by featuring a cadre of Blues and Blues-Rock artists from the Lone Star State, headlined by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.
Louisiana-born,
Texas-raised multi-instrumentalist "Gatemouth" Brown
has been dishing up his unique blend of Blues, R&B, Country, Jazz, and Cajun
music for more than 50 years. A virtuoso on guitar, violin, harmonica, mandolin,
viola, and even drums, Gatemouth has influenced performers as
diverse as Albert Collins, Frank Zappa, Lonnie Brooks,
Eric Clapton and Joe Louis Walker.
In earlier incarnations, Michelle Shocked has been a street busker, a punk rocker and a big band crooner, but for her new project, "Deep Natural", Shocked returns to her roots. Shocked and Gatemouth have worked together on previous projects, so expect them to mix it up during their back-to-back closing sets on the Miller Blues (South) Stage.
Closing
the Co-Op Network (North) Stage is Austin-based bayou boogie queen Marcia
Ball. Over her three-decade career, Ball has earned a
huge and intensely loyal following all over the world. Her exquisite piano playing
and passionate, playful vocals fuse New Orleans and Gulf Coast R&B with
Austin's deep songwriting tradition. She has garnered no fewer than five W.C.
Handy nominations this year — more than any other Blues artist.
The "Austin Kick-Butt Gospel" project — a series of recordings as well as live performances — has featured artists from the full spectrum of Austin's music scene. The Sunday afternoon Waterfront segment features Malford Milligan, the powerful Albino, African-American vocalist.
In an earlier Gospel segment Sunday, Soul legend Howard Tate, a minister, teams up with Portland Soul/Gospel diva Linda Hornbuckle, pianist Janice Scroggins and others in what should prove one of the most rousing sets of this year's Festival.
In addition to backing the "Austin Kick-Butt Gospel Hour" segment, Papa Mali & The Instigators will be featured in a set of their own on the A&E Front Porch Stage.
Expect funked-up Rock and Blues, deep grooves, soul sorcery and world-class musical alchemy from the Boneshakers.
Carolyn Wonderland is a multi-award winning Texas band led by their namesake, a fiery young guitar slinger and chick singer with a huge voice and sharp wit. Though still in her 20s, she's led the band through lots of territory, both musically and geographically over the past decade. In that time she's managed to release four CDs (two of them Grammy-nominated) while constantly criss-crossing the country on tours.
In Austin, a city of guitarists, Monte Montgomery is now "the man." Just ask Delbert McClinton: "My favorite guitarists are Stevie Ray Vaughan and Monte Montgomery." Named one of the top 10 Best Undiscovered Guitarists in America by Guitar One Magazine, Montgomery, raved the New York Times, is "a guitar virtuoso who blends down-home country vibes with smooth pop and hints of R&B."
Rounding out Sunday's lineup will be a Main Stage set and A&E Front Porch Stage workshop by Blues veteran David "Honeyboy" Edwards. One of the few living links to the delta Blues tradition of Robert Johnson, "Honeyboy" Edwards was born in the heart of the Mississippi Delta in 1915, and later moved to Chicago. Over the years Honeyboy worked with Little Walter, Sunnyland Slim, Howlin' Wolf, Big Walter Horton, Big Joe Williams, Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson, who was touring with Honeyboy when he was poisoned by a fan's jealous husband. Honeyboy Edwards' slashing, delta-drenched guitar and gruff vocals, says Living Blues Magazine, "evokes the smoldering intensity and elusive spiritual brilliance of the fabled Delta tradition as well as anyone alive...a national treasure."
© 2002 Cascade Blues Association