TORONTO BLUES SOCIETY TALENT SEARCH

I'm still working on my Iceland videos and preparing them for publishing but in the meantime, life goes on. This past Thursday the Toronto Blues Society presented a free concert here in Nathan Phillips Square.

The show featured the six finalists in their new talent search which, I gather, has been going on for some time. I missed the first act but got to hear the rest of the entrants. Over all the quality was pretty good and ranged from delta style blues, to a jazzier feel to wannabe Steve Ray Vaughns. Mostly, it was the kind of stuff you'd hear in a decent bar, enjoy for the evening but not necessarily remember a week later. But there were a few standouts.

Nicole Richardson is a very rootsy artist, giving a personal spin to some very traditional woman-with-a-guitar blues, her voice echoing that of Sue Foley, not a bad thing at all

Ken Yoshioka is a Delta bluesman by way of Japan .... a very respectable slide guitar and harp style colored by and ESL take on the lyrics. The man can definitely play, his harp playing is respectable and his lyrical interpretation is ... interesting.

Distillery is a trio, guitar, harmonica and female singer. Their sound was jazzy inspired, the musicians were competent but overall they seem uninspired. The singer sometimes had difficulty finding her range.

The Fraser Melvin Blues Band was a full outfit and tried for a rocking blues style. One would think that if a band was named for one of its members, that individual would be the strongest player .. but he was not. Melvin's guitar playing was adequate, he clearly wants to be the next Stevie Ray but has a long way to go and his singing seemed very forced. The sax player, however, was quite good.

Although I enjoyed the first two individual acts I was finding no inspiration .. until a man with horn rimmed glasses, a pork pie hat and a bobble head Jesus hit the stage. Bradleyboy MacArthur is a one man band; guitar, high hat, harmonica and a suit case as a base drum. This was Tom Waits visiting swamp blues and from the first frayed chaotic riff, I was pretty much in love

While Bradleyboy may not have fit as neatly into a blues slot as some of the other players, this was something primal and raw and the only thing that made me feel like dancing. Not only did his voice resemble Mr Waits, he also had the sense of humour. One of his songs begins: "When I was born at the age of sixteen ..."

I wasn't the only one in love with this darkly comedic one man band; Bradleyboy won the competition. Which means he may be soon coming to your town. Go see him. But you may want to check your back seat on the way home.






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Blues Contest

WOMEN'S BLUES REVIEW 2009

Last month Collette and I saw a terrific blues concert featuring the Downchild Blues Band A great show featuring Downchild, Colin James, Colin Linden, the amazing James Cotton, but it was definitely a testosterone fuelled event. Blues is often associated with men; Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, BB King, et al. But the first superstars of the blues were actually women, like Bessie Smith and Guitar Minnie. And one of favorite annual events in Toronto is The Women's Blues Review.

I love this show because you are always bound to see some familiar performers and get to discover some new women, which was certainly the case this year. You also get to see the Women's Blues Review Band, a group of incredibly talented performers like Suzie Vinnick, Madeline Stowe, Lilly Sass, who only come together for this event. Some of these women have been playing this event for 20 years and it shows. Suzie Vinnick is a fave of ours as an individual performer and she is also showcased in the show.

Other familiar faces included Diana Braithwaite. Diana is awesome, as close to a Canadian Etta James as you're going to get. Many of the women in the show don't make their living singing the blues and Diana is incredibly well rounded but she has a real understanding of the Blue Note sort of blues sound, even to the point of writing original songs that have a truly authentic air to them.

Saidah Baga Talibah is another performer we've seen before in this show. A Toronto local, she's a true professional, performing blues, jazz, show tunes, hip hop, all with a true flair for capturing the audience. I have a small personal connection to this girl. She's the daughter of legendary Toronto performer Salome Bey. Many years ago, I helped Saidah and her mother stage a performance of their original musical Rainbow World as part of a program I ran in Brampton, training youth to do video production. Saidah was just a little girl then. It was great to see her at the show, tall and powerful and confident; but the the bootie shorts were something I didn't want to equate with that little girl back in the day.

Sass Jordan was of course familiar to me. And yes, I knew about her even before Canadian Idol, though I've never before seen her perform live. Sass doesn't sing the blues but she has ballsy, tough, Janis-like voice that still sounds damn good. And the woman can hold your attention.

Now to the to new faces. Terra Hazelton is a local jazz singer who used to work with Jeff Healy and his Jazz Wizards. There is an undeniable connection between jazz (original jazz that is) and the blues. Terra sang two Bessie Smith songs and she carried them off beautifully. Her album art is all dark and moody but in person she was really delightful and had Massey Hall rocking.

Rachelle van Zanten is a Calgary girl who doesn't really do the blues but she absolutely impressed Collette and I. She has a full rich voice and a really unique song writing perspective but what really caught my attention was her powerful, controlled, lyrical slide guitar playing She grew up playing traditional country and toured with the female rock band Painting Daisies but I'd say she has a real solo career in front of her. Women are strong, no question, but this woman's guitar playing was tough, while still being lyrical.

The final performer was Shakura S'Aida. We've seen Shakura before and as a singer, she is power personified. Physically imposing, she prowls the stage in her 6 inch heels, her voice coming from someplace deep inside her, this woman is a force of nature. This year Shakura brought someone special with her. Donna Grantis is a very young woman who came on stage in her gold lame dress, her little open toed gold heels and her sparkly purple guitar .. and proceeded to blow the roof off of Massey Hall. Then Jimi, think Stevie (if you have to ask who Jimi and Stevie are, you're reading the wrong blog) pouring out of this young lady. A ton of technical skill and a ton of confidence. You have to have confidence to play along side Shakura and the two of them complimented each other will, trading Donna's searing electric guitar with Shakura's earth moving natural instrument.

Blues is tough music. These were strong women. It made for a powerful night.